Thanks very much Dev4ever! It looks like what I did wrong was copying the whole url instead of just the end of it. Thanks again. Sutty sprint looks easy, as luckily for me, there was no top sprinters on that tour. I'm pretty sure that next wins (if I get any) won't be that easy.
Did few races in order to get my team ready for Milan-San Remo on which - to my surprise - I was accepted. Quite important as that was one of my new sponsor's main goals - top 10 in particular. Ronde van Drenthe (1.1) didn't go well for my team. My train stuck in peloton, then Demare had some problems following Krivenco and as a result I didn't even manage to catch the breakaway and win went for them. My best rider - Oleg Krivenco came 16th, while Demare was 20th.
Belgiam cobbles wasn't lucky for me eighter. Demare finished 31st, with Oleg Krivenco just behind his back.
However they did much better in Handzame Classic (1.1), grabbing 1st and 4th place.
Arnaud Demare winning Handzame Classic.
Then Milan San-Remo came in. Thanks to quite busy calendar and slightly changed fitness training all my riders were 97-99. Demare managed to keep the peloton pace on Poggio di Sanremo and was involved in the final sprint. He came 8th, which I gues is pretty good result among riders like Cavendish, Oss, Kittel and Sagan. But most importantly it made Mercedes-Benz quite happy, however their confidence is still far away from being great.
Cholet - Pays De Loire (1.1) gave my team win no. 11 and at the moment I'm 1st, 318 points ahead of BMC Racing Team.
There's 2 tours left for my team in March and they are: 6-day long Settimana Coppi e Bartali and 4 stages of KBC-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde.
In the meantime I launched sponsor search, looking for sponsors in Germany, USA and worldwide. I don't exclude renewing my contract with Mercedes-Benz, but wanna see what's in store for me.
Also, after some negotiations Juan Jacob Nunez signed his new deal. He was still under contract for another year, but I decided to offer him new one already, as he's very promising rider, so from next season he will be on 24k, instead of 8k. The deal is 3-year long.
Edited by wroblitz on 14-09-2012 17:49
Just finished Settimana Coppi e Bartal. I have to say it was pretty interesting, and very tactical tour. First, and only flat stage was won by great this season Arnaud Demare. On second stage there was massive 22-rider breakaway with Castroviejo in it. After passing the only hill and with 25 km to go I could chase it and probably go for another Demare's win, but decided it will be better for me to leave it and let Castroviejo be top 20 in general. He eventually came 3rd and breakaway got 8 min lead, which is very strange considering the stage was only 80 km long. Strange but good for me, as that stage basically left the battle for the yellow jersey to 22 riders, and one of them was great time-trialis and a not bad puncheur - Jonathan Castroviejo. He lead his team in next day's team time trial and get another 14 seconds, as that was Mercedes-Benz's - Polkowice advantage after winning it. On stage 4 Rozada was in breakaway fighting for a KoM jersey, but my main priority was to keep the yellow jersey, so I decided to chase it. Didn't catch the breakaway, but melted their lead to secure 1 min. Rozada came 2nd, and my yellow jersey was 6th, just behind Aliu.
Ahead of last (time trial) stage Castroviejo still held 10 seconds lead to 5 riders, from which Jose Herrada was the only threat. He came 2nd but Castroviejo was just 2 seconds behind him (Adriano Malori) won the stage) and he became first tour winner in my team's history.
Jonathan Castroviejo on his way for a historic win.
Despite that, and having best season so far, both of my sponsors are very unhappy. I can kind of understand Mercedes-Benz, but my second sponsor - Polkowice is extremely unhappy with this season's results, when in last 4 years I was doing much worst, and they were maximal happy. Might be another bug, as I don't get absolutely nothing in noteworthy results and registered riders on both of my sponsors.
Really enjoyed your story, up until the switch to a German team, but unfortunately PCM is not made for a successful Polish team without heavy DB-modding.
Anyway good luck and at least try to keep some Polish riders(and not burn them like in RL)!
It looks like my good luck continues. However nothing indicated that after first stage of KBC-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde. With 1 hilly stage, 2 flat ones and 1 ITT (in that order) it was my mistake to let Castroviejo drop from the peloton on first stage. He could gain some lead there or at least stay equal and then gain some lead on last stage securing 2nd yellow jersey for Mercedes-Benz - Polkowice. But after first stage he was 4 min 42 sec behind and I felt like my chances were burned. Then Demare despite being favourite didn't win the sprint, becoming only 6th. However he did much better on the next stage recording his 12th win of the season. On time trial my team did usually well (4 of my riders finished top 6), but what surprised me was the fact that Alex Rasmussen, who won it, was also ranked 1st in GC, getting my team second yellow jersey ever.
Time trial quartet - Barla, Castroviejo, Malori and Rasmussen.
If I was only better than 6th with Demare on stage 2 I would be 1st in all the rankings, as he lost only by 1 point. But still - pretty good tour I guess. At the moment I'm 459 points ahead.
Did another 2 races. Arnaud Demare won Rund um Koln (1.1), but things weren't even close to that on cobbles of De Brabanste Pijl (1.HC) where he came 46th, with Oleg Krivenco finishing 44th. It looks like I still don't have decent northern classic with my best cobblestone rider - Oleg Krivenco having just 71 on COB.
My next race on calendar was Spanish Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, a 3-stage long tour with a bit of everything: flat, hilly and mountain. First stage was won by Demare, as for some reason my main rival Marcel Kittel stayed at the back of the peloton.
On stage 2 (hilly) among riders like Alberto Contador none of my riders were favourite, so I decided to go for a mountain jersey with Castroviejo, but even that didn't go well, as he lost most of the mountain premiums, however mountain group managed to hold the lead untill the finish which Jonathan Castroviejo was lucky to win.
With 18 seconds lead ahead of the last (mountain) stage I did everything I could to keep him in peloton and control the pace. Alberto Contador won that stage but Castroviejo came just behind him winning 3rd yellow jersey this season for my team with 38 seconds lead.
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon 2.1
Overall: 1st Castroviejo
Points: 1st Castroviejo, 3rd Demare
Mountain: 6th Castroviejo
Young: 1st Aliu
Team: 1st
Also did much better in another a little bit cobblestone race - Tro-Bro Leon (1.1), where Oleg Krivenco snatched his first win (Demare came 3rd).
I also got my first sponsor offer already. It was from FedEx who's ready to pay 5,5 mln.
Edited by wroblitz on 14-09-2012 23:55
Amazing story! I do not like playing or reading stories with Pro Tour teams but your story about your way up is amazig! Cant wait for you wearing leaders jersey at Giro
emre99's stages Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014 -Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece! 1 like 1 girlfriend ''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
Just like last year, only few teams signed in for Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey. There was only 49 riders at the startline of the first stage, that was won by Arnaud Demare. In fact he won all the flat stages apart form 2, and increased his this year's record to 18.
On sole mountain stage Daniel Aliu did very well and came behind Robert Kiserlovski's back with 48 seconds loss. And just when I was quite happy with 2nd place he was successful with his attack on last hill of flat stage no. 3. He eventually came 4th, but 1 min 32 sec ahead of Kiserlovski, what gave him 1st place in GC, that he didn't slip to the very end, and thanks to that I did what I was so close to do on Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - get 1st place in all the classifications.
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon 2.1
Overall: 1st Aliu, 5th Castroviejo
Points: 1st Demare, 4th Krivenco
Mountain: 1st Malori
Young: 1st Aliu
Team: 1st
