Caisse enterants : J.I.Gutierez, J.V. Garcia Acosta, A.Amador, M.Drujon, V.Kiryenka & L.Pasamontes.
Might be a race where I won't go this year, but it's still the first ProTour race of the season. The first stage was took by Stuart O'Grady. Hoever, our team bounced back and took a well deserved win by Gutierrez. The third and fourth stages were won by Pozzato . On stage 5th, our team decided that Gutierrez should laung a surprise atack. So he did, and he manage to held of Ignatiev in the sprint to take both the victory and the Leader's jersey. The peloton came at about 11 sec behind those two. The final stage was won by Allan Davis. It was a great tour for us, having won the GC and the KoM jersey (Garcia Acosta did this). We are very happy and hope for more to come.
GC result :
The next day was my B-day. The guys who went to Oz came and congratulate my. I also congratulated them too, and telled them to keep up the good results. It seems that everybody knew that it was My b-day. Gutierrez brought me from OZ a boumerang as a gift. In the end, we all had a great time and some of us drank maybe a bit too much Champagne (don't worry Oscar, I won't tell them what you done after the party in that club... )
Edited by unnamed on 31-08-2009 11:36
My first race of the season kicks of with the tour du Haut Var. I admit I'm pretty worried, all of my teammates have at least one day raced, whilst I start only now.
Here I am in the peloton. Today's goal was to protect our leader, Valverde. It's going to be pretty tough for him to win this race, but our manager is confident that we can win it.
I think there were about 5-6 unsucsesfull breakaways. It was unbelivebel : as soon as a breakaway was formed, the peloton started to push hard and reel it in. After a while, when nobody atacked, Agritubel and AG2R were in the front of the pack.
10-15 km we didn't had a breakaway. Until Charles Wegelius atacked. It looked like finally a break was actually going for the win. With 100 km to go, the gap between him and the peloton was more than 5 min. Could he goet away ?
When we saw that the gap was still big, we decide to help the saxo guys chase him down.
Working together with Saxo Bank.
After the leaders saw that the guy was escping, it ws theyr turn tu atack. Betwen those guys were names such as Pineau, Gilbert, Fran Shclek. Also, Vlverde was there too. Because of my fitness, I was dropped a bit behind but managed to come back
When Valverde saw that there's no way he can win it, he went on a atack. Karsten Kroon was the only guy who was able to follow him. When the sprint started, Valverde could actually see Wegelius. He sprinted like a mad man and powered past him.
Valverde wins the classic ! I'm happy because I know that with my help, he won it !!!! I'll be something to cheer about (with champagne )
My first race as a leader... Hope I'll do at least a podium finnish. Looking at the team squads here, I saw that the following were the guys wich I had to be wary of : Frank Schleck, Damiano Cunego, Rinaldo nocentini & Giovanni Visconti.
Right from the start I had Rodriguez Oliver protecting me.
A numerous riders brokeaway from the peloton. Hoewer, only 4 of them survived. Those were : Ortega, Salerno, Caltado and Baliani. The first two that I said were in the front.
Suddenly, the group was containing up to 11 riders.
With 94 km to go, I had a talk with my team manager. We talked about if we should help or not the guys from Saxo Bank with the relay. I think we talked 1-2 km and then decided. We won't do nothing, we'll let them carry on the hard part then atack (or counter atack). at the front, Gentili broke away from his group and now holds a lead at almost 30 sec.
With almost 50 km to go, Gentili from Ceramica Flaminia was still in front with 50 sec ahead of his chasers. What I forgot to show you in those screens is that Nocentini atacked, me & Joaquin followed be we were swalon by the pack immediatly.
Sadly for this guy he was caught by his chasers... But with 19 km to go, we had other rider who was trying to go for a solo victory : Morton from Drapac Porsche tried his luck, but the peloton was right into his back.
After the guy was caught, it was showtime. Cunego, Schleck, Nocentini and all the other big guys atacked. Because I saved my energy, I was able to atack on the downhil. What do you think ? Did I won or did my efforts come down to a top 10 finnish only ?
Well..... YES, I WON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great feeling ! My second win as a pro! Thanks Joaquin for all your help !!!!
Full results :
(the game crashed when I tried to export the results)
Comments after the race :
Rigoberto Uran : "It was an unbeliveble race. I felt redy to race. As soon as the race started, Joaquim came and protected me. I want to thank him and I promise I'll return the favour. The whole team did a fantastic job and I'm proud of what I achived today, although I have to admit it was a narrow win. Cunego came from behind like a rocket"
Caisse manager : "I want to congratulate both Rigoberto and Joaquim. They've done a brilliant job. I'm sure that Rigoberto will become a great rider in the next few years.
Edited by unnamed on 26-08-2009 20:26
Great win, but I think somebody on the forum will consider your attack on the downhill section a bit of cheating. just so you know but good luck with the story
United Forever wrote:
Great win, but I think somebody on the forum will consider your attack on the downhill section a bit of cheating. just so you know
United Forever wrote:
Great win, but I think somebody on the forum will consider your attack on the downhill section a bit of cheating. just so you know
hehe, you´re definitely right
I had to atack, no matter what. I know that for some reason, the AI don't follow you on the downhill (or at least not all, Cunego counterd me in this race). But my atack was in the last downhil section. Anyway, if it were a mass sprint finnish, I think I wouldn't have won. That's why I atacked. But I don't think I'll do this again for a long time.
Anyway, I'm hoping to post some results today of the Tirreno - Adriatico race, where I'm again team capitan (all the other good guys where sent to our first race goal of the season, Paris-Nice).
beagle wrote:
normal difficulty + last downhill attack = deadly combination, you can´t almost be beaten
gl in TA
begale, cany you tell me about hard and extreme difficulty when atacking on a downhill ? Also, thanks, I'll need quite some luck to beat the top runner guys. Not impossible on normal difficulty, but still quite though if your pretty much a novice like me.
Edited by unnamed on 27-08-2009 09:47
Quite flat stage, nothing should happen, maybe only worry is last climb wich could skahe of the peloton some sprinters.. Since all of our good climbers are in Paris - Nice (wich is our first goal of the year), I'll be team capitan.
When the break was caught at the last climb, I knew I had to atack. I wanted to be the first KoM in this year's tour, but strangely, no one went after me. Maybe they were thinking that I had no chance of winning this stage. After I took the points, everybody started to atack.
With 5km to go I was caught. Not to dissapointed since I'll wear tomorrow the Kom jersey.
All the sprinters started to go for victory. There was a big fight between Pozzato and Boonen. But who won ?
Well, in the end it was Boonen ahead of Pozzato. Nice podium finnish by Rojas, judging that he ain't on of the big sprinters of the world.
Full results : (s*** crashed when I tried to export them)
Another flat stage, another chance for the sprinters and possibly another podium finnish. The 1st stage brought us two distinctive jerseys : the KoM (wich I'll be wearing), and the Young jersey (thanks to Rojas, who finished 3rd in the last stage) My tactic : Atack with less than 20km km to go for the KoM points.
In this stage, I talked a lot with Rojas, speaking of his podium finnish, what he could do today, what I could do tomorrow, about other sports : football, tennis, etc. It was more like a walk in the park for us, both of us were really relaxed.
At the first climb, the break was caught. As for me, I knew that I had to atack. So I did, won the KoM intermediate, being followed by Chavanel and Contador. It seems that I could really become the KoM of this years race
After me and Alberto were caught, it was a group of 4 guys who got away from the peloton. Zubeldia & Gilbert were the biggest names. Unfortunately, only the last was left in the break.
Pour Gilbert was caught on the last climb, and then I started to atack. A Garmin rider went on to follow me. Still, I managed to win the KoM. intermediate and keep the jersey on my shoulders. It turned out that Maaskant was that rider, with Alberto coming in 3rd position. I now lead the KoM rankings with 15 points, 12 more than Sylvian Chavanel and Barredo.
Fall ! 3 riders (among them Rojas), have fallen.How unlucky !!!
In the pack, Pozzato won the sprint and I came in 8th place. Also, with this victory, Pozzato Will be going top of the GC. as for Rojas... he is well on the outside, but in the inside I think his will kill somebody.
)
I'll be something to cheer about (with champagne 
)
. The Valverde domination has already started...
