@ Miguel - He's a big talent, both irl and in the game. Currently, he is something like 73 / 74 SP and ACC. Possibly a future top sprinter.
I was thinking of possibly writing up a short summary from the major cobbled classics and the Ardennes, as there were some really crazy races. Any interest in that?
I'd like to see it, but it doesn't have to be too long for me
Anyway, like sutty said, it's entirely up to you. If you feel like doing it, do it! But I certainly wouldn't mind if you just concentrated on tthe Pomme races
For once, the Kemmelberg and the other few cobbled sections turned out to be the decisive point of the race. Juan Antonio Flecha managed to break away with Tom Boonen, only to find himself beaten to the line in the two-way sprint. Several smaller groups behind the duo, with a disappointing Fabian Cancellara way down in 8th place. Not his best day for sure.
Quite possibly the craziest race of the year! The favourites underestimated the members of the early breakaway, and allowed them too much room. Therefore Maxime Vantomme pulls off a huge slam, winning the Ronde ahead of Dennis Van Winden and Klaas Lodewyck.
You just don't mess with Spartacus however. After two rather disappointing races, he finally returned - leaving everyone behind to finish alone on the velodrome. Boonen narrowly misses out again, but still grabs a ton of points from these three races. Hushovd back on stage again as well.
1
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
5h57'00
2
Tom Boonen
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
+ 28
3
Thor Hushovd
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
4
Bernhard Eisel
Sky Procycling
s.t.
5
Matthew Hayman
Sky Procycling
s.t.
6
Marcus Burghardt
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Mathieu Ladagnous
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
8
Jacopo Guarnieri
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'24
9
Taylor Phinney
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
10
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
Amstel Gold Race
Moving onto the Ardennes - with continued surprising results! Cancellara almost doubled up, but just came short to Simon Gerrans in what could've been his first Ardennes Classic. Real life winner Enrico Gasparotto, Maxim Iglinski and the amazing Moreno Moser rounded up an unexpected Top 5.
You're probably wondering where the favourites are. Well, I'm asking myself the same question! While Philippe Gilbert appeared to have the worst day of his career - finishing all the way down in 124th (!), the likes of Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde didn't even show up!
1
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
6h04'30
2
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
3
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana Pro Team
+ 16
4
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
+ 40
5
Moreno Moser
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
6
Rinaldo Nocentini
AG2R - La Mondiale
+ 1'15
7
Tom Jelte Slagter
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Matti Breschel
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 1'28
9
Alexander Kolobnev
Katusha Team
s.t.
10
Roman Kreuziger
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
La Flèche Wallonne
After spending last year's classics season working for his incredibly strong team mate, Philippe Gilbert, Jelle Vanendert proved his talent here. Dominant win, dropping a still-going-strong Gerrans, Damiano Cunego and Samuel Sánchez by almost half a minute.
Again several surprises in the top of the results sheet. Well, once again most of the expected favourites couldn't be bothered to participate, and Gilbert had another nightmare race - crossing the line as 35th.
1
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto-Belisol Team
4h41'24
2
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
+ 26
3
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
4
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
5
Thomas Voeckler
Team Europcar
+ 46
6
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
7
Michael Albasini
Orica - GreenEDGE
+ 1'00
8
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Lotto-Belisol Team
s.t.
9
Francesco Reda
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
10
Gianni Meersman
Lotto-Belisol Team
+ 1'11
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
To finish off a fabulous week for GreenEDGE, Michael Albasini shocks by soloing home to win LBL in a fashionable way. With Gerrans in second!!!
Voeckler completes the podium, whilst Gilbert tripled up in complete falls. 39th place and disaster for the BMC team. No doubt that this year will come down in the history books as one of the strangest classics seasons ever!
@ roturn - I immediately thought of you when I saw the Ronde result! And yeah, Gerrans was pretty awesome.
@ Ian Butler - Indeed, I like Vanendert as well.
I'm going to experiment a bit with the reporting style. I'm not really satisfied with the current layout, and it also takes too much time I think. We'll see how it turns out.
2.2: Tour de Bretagne: 24/04 - 30/04
This week-long stage race takes place in the north-western parts of France, in a cycling-fanatic area. The riders will face four quite easy stages and three more difficult ones. The key points are probably the very hard uphill finish to Mur-de-Bretagne and the cobbled climb up into Dinan. Potentially a very fun race.
The team's sponsors would like one of our riders to step up on the overall podium at the end of the race. Although we will give everything possible to accomplish the goal, I seriously doubt we'll be able to. Possibly if there aren't any major gaps on the harder stages. Otherwise we're cooked.
As you can see, the good form has been carried along from the recent few races. Siskevicius is ready to compete with the other sprinters that will line up, and then try to survive the harder stages to perhaps snatch a decent overall result as well. I'm well aware that it will be a difficult task, but still.
Perichon will probably take on the harder stages in a better way, but I'm doubting whether he'll be strong enough to be competitive in the GC. He could go for stage wins instead, if those chances are higher.
Paillot and Martinez will also have "freeish" roles. Whilst they will have the opportunity to a certain extent, they'll also help out if necessary. Vaubourzeix and Delaroziere aren't really in shape and will collect bottles.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke is obviously the name on everyone's lips when talking about overall favourites. The Briton has had a difficult season so far, but has started to look better in the past few weeks. By far the best climber in the race, so we expect Endura to set him up on the Mur.
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg should definitely not be discounted from the discussion either. His tally of nine victories this year speaks for itself - he's very good at many things. Gediminas Bagdonas and Jonathan Hivert are two others who have the capacity to win a race like this.
Indeed, Ian. The competition is pretty tough to be a .2 race though!
2.2: Tour de Bretagne: Stage 1, 2, 3
A breakaway of five; Romain Zingle, Jenning Huizenga, Sven Forberger, Bram de Kort and Mariusz Witecki, escape from the main field early in stage one. Zingle wins two of the three KoM sprints and finishes second on the third one, donning the first KoM jersey.
The group wont get any more reward than that for their efforts though. Even though the five cooperate all the way into the finale of the stage, they're unsuccessful. The catch is made inside of ten kilometres to go, turning this into the sprinters' show.
An attempt from us to place Siskevicius in a golden spot fails miserably, forcing him to make up lost ground from a position too far back. A respectable ninth place in the end after moving past a lot of people in the finale.
Moving onto stage two, it's down to a mass sprint finish again. Europcar are unable to organize their so far very successful leadout train, allowing Endura to take control towards the end of the stage. Luckily for us, Siskevicius finds the perfect position, just behind the British team's last man, Scott Thwaites.
Thwaites takes the lead with a kilometer and a half remaining, and manages to time it perfectly. Siskevicius almost comes back on him at the line, but comes short of victory (the first LPM rider in the screen is a lapped Vaubourzeix).
Up-and-coming Italian Eugenio Alafaci grabs the final podium spot, just nabbing it from Jasper Boivenhuis and Lithuania's road champion Gediminas Bagdonas.
It wasn't an all-good day for us, unfortunately. Due to lack of concentration from a certain manager, we didn't notice a major split in the middle of the main field late in the race. A big group including Perichon therefore loses 1'44, ruining all his chances in the GC. Stage wins it is, then!
1
Scott Thwaites
Endura Racing
3h52'28
2
Evaldas Siskevicius
La Pomme Marseille
s.t.
3
Eugenio Alafaci
Leopard - Trek Continental Team
s.t.
4
Jasper Bovenhuis
Rabobank Continental Team
s.t.
5
Gediminas Bagdonas
An Post - Sean Kelly
s.t.
Back to old-school well structured leadout trains at the end of stage three. After the success that followed choosing Thwaites' wheel yesterday, Siskevicius does it again. Unfortunately this forces him to the back of Bretagne-Schuller's train, in disadvantage compared to some other sprinters.
Europcar's train eventually seize control, blowing past both Bretagne and Auber. Meanwhile, Thwaites, and thus also Siskevicius, turns out to have chosen the wrong path. In the, to be a flat stage, narrow finale, they get boxed in behind, with no way to move forward!
In the victory fight, Chavanel finishes off an impeccable leadout job from Europcar by topping van Rensburg to the finish. Hivert rounds out the podium. Siskevicius manages to sneak past several riders in the last meters, but can't improve his position to any more than a 7th place.
A bit of bad luck with the positioning during these opening stages, but I can't complain. The bonus seconds from stage two will be very important for the rest of the race. Chavanel currently leads the GC, whilst Siskevicius is in sixth place, tied with fifth-placed van Rensburg. Could've been much worse.
The original plan for this stage was to place a rider in the early breakaway, and then have Perichon attack midway through the stage and reach the group. Then he'd have a domestique to work for him, extending the group's advantage to enough for him to drop the other escapees and win the stage!
But it was obviously bound to fail, thanks to PCM's logic...
Part one of the plan succeeded at least. Along with the likes of Meron Russom, Tom Dernies and Pieter Ghyllebert, Delaroziere finds himself in the day's primary breakaway.
It seems like the plan is going to work out perfectly - until Perichon makes his move. Five minutes down is clearly not enough to be considered a non-GC threat, as the AI chases him down in just a matter of seconds. Only to then let go of the gas and continue relaxing. Cya logic...
This forces us to reschedule the tactics. And when Julien Fouchard puts in a little dig on the first climb of the Mur, Perichon tags along. The two immediately build up a lead of a surprising 1'30 over the chasing main field.
Over the top of the Mur the second time, hell breaks loose for real in the peloton. Attacks everywhere! A small group of riders catches up with Perichon and Fouchard just as the final ascent is about to start, with a group of around twenty, including Siskevicius, following a little ways back.
Pre-race favourite Jonathan Tiernan-Locke doesn't intend to let the second group make it back however, and jumps up on the pedals at the foot of the Mur. Perichon simply can't accelerate any further after two hectic laps.
Leading the pursuit in the chasing group - Siskevicius! Together with Lithuanian compatriot Bagdonas, he digs deep to find the legs to jump across to the riders ahead.
Janse van Rensburg pushes Tiernan-Locke all the way to the line, but the Briton finds enough strength in his legs to hold on for the victory. Winner of the opening stage, Fonseca, also gains a few seconds on a smaller group including Perichon, who still finishes ahead of the big group.
A real shame that he lost time in that split earlier in the race, as he is clearly one of the strongest riders in the race. Oh, well.
Bagdonas pips Siskevicius in the sprint for 7th place, finishing at the head of the main group, 1'02 down. Unfortunately the organizers didn't register the small gaps behind them, making the time gain zero. Really frustrating.
1
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
3h55'12
2
Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg
MTN - Qhubeka
+ 11
3
Armindo Fonseca
Bretagne - Schuller
+ 27
4
Pierre-Luc Perichon
La Pomme Marseille
+ 36
5
Romain Hardy
Bretagne - Schuller
s.t.
Not much to do about the time gaps. Therefore we move on to the next stage. To make up for the missing gains yesterday, I decided ahead of the stage to turn up the difficulty for the other teams by riding this as hard as possible.
On the steep, cobbled final climb of the day, Perichon cranks up the pace a notch, delivering severe pain to most riders in the field. This results in a major split towards the front of the group, leaving only 35 riders chasing a big 16-man breakaway up ahead.
A second group makes contact a little while later, increasing the peloton's size to around 70 riders. For some reason, none of those riders seem interested in catching the breakaway however.
It doesn't take long for us to realize that we're not going to bring the group back if the other teams wont help out. Therefore we take a gamble. Siskevicius attacks on a little kickup, 20 kilometres out.
As you understand, this is obviously the AI's trigger. A fully organized chase is built up in a matter of seconds. Siskevicius fights back for a long time, but gets caught just two kilometres away from the finish.
A group of very tired sprinters then take on each other in the final kilometer. Fonseca leads out, and seems to be hanging on when Van Rensburg shoots out from behind to nab the stage win in a very close finish. The South African also overtakes the GC lead, thanks to boni seconds.
1
Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg
MTN - Qhubeka
4h00'59
2
Armindo Fonseca
Bretagne - Schuller
s.t.
3
Steven Tronet
Auber 93 - BigMat
s.t.
4
Romain Hardy
Bretagne - Schuller
s.t.
5
Giorgio Brambilla
Leopard - Trek Continental Team
s.t.
Siskevicius faded badly in the finale and finished in the middle of the group. So frustrating to lose out just because of lousy AI tactics. At least he stays near the top of the GC. 8th at the moment, 1'23 down.
Six riders form the early breakaway, after a very fast opening to the stage. Paillot makes sure to represent us, joined by the likes of Romain Zingle, Michael Hümbert, Jesus Ezquerra, Jeroen Boelen and Maxime Mederel.
Together they manage to work out an advantage of close to eight minutes at a point during the day. The time starts to tick in the other direction as soon as they reach the second half of the stage however, with MTN-Qhubeka chasing back in the bunch. Understanable, with a finish tailor-made for Van Rensburg.
The escape group fights back incredibly well tho, and the South African squad struggles to cut down their advantage. It's still around three minutes with less than 15 kilometres remaining, surely leaving the victory for one of the breakaway members.
Romain Hardy still seems to think that he can make it back, and attacks on the final circuit's little climb - inside of ten kilometres left. Perichon sees this as a golden opportunity and tries to jump across to his compatriot.
It's still far too late. In the uphill sprint to the line, it's relatively unknown Hümbert who takes it. Probably thanks to choosing the right line for his sprint, managing to find clear space on the side of a big group of lapped riders. I've darkened all those in the picture, to clear up the situation a little.
Paillot couldn't keep up with his companions for some very strange reason, and dropped off with a lap to go. He still just about holds off a storming Hardy for a "meh-ish" sixth place, with Perichon sprinting to eigth, behind the lapped group.
Van Rensburg meanwhile strengthens his race lead even more, by accelerating clear on the uphill to finish 13 seconds ahead of the rest. Siskevicius inside that group, not losing any more time at least.
After annoying AI issues when trying earlier, Perichon succeeds today and makes it into an escape group. A rather notable group as well, including no less than twelve riders. Names such as Remy di Gregorio and Denis Flahaut among them.
Already at 25 kilometers or so left, it becomes clear that the group is going to stay away. Perichon plays it cool all the way to the last cobbled climb into Dinan, five kilometres from the line. With a sharp attack he drops all of his companions but one - Tom Dernies.
The two arrive at the kilometer mark ahead of their companions, ready to battle it out for the stage win.
The main field arrives a little over six minutes later. Van Rensburg expectedly wins the sprint, topping Siskevicius, and thus also wraps up the overall victory.
But more importantly to us, Perichon gains enough to move up to sixth overall, making it two La Pomme riders in the Top 10!
We still missed our sponsor goal though, an overall podium. Fortunately, I got a call from one of the company's managers this morning, informing me that they're still satisfied thanks to the stage win and the double overall Top 10. A really successful race, after all!
Alejandro Valverde was unstoppable in Pais Vasco, adding another four victories to his account. His former team mates Daniel Moreno and Luis León Sánchez joined him on the final podium, making it a Spanish 1-2-3.
Can anyone stop this man?
The second and only other stage race, Romandie, ended up in a way I think you recognize from real life. Jelle Vanendert seemed to have wrapped up the overall victory after three stage wins and a huge lead in the GC, but he lost over two minutes and the title to Bradley Wiggins in the final TT.
At the top in Romandie again.
Joining Wiggins and Vanendert on the podium - Chris Froome. It's uncanny how similar to real life this season could turn out if the two Brits continue this way!
WorldTour rankings:
1
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto-Belisol Team
459
2
Tom Boonen
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
404
3
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
382
4
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
294
5
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
270
6
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
269
7
Luis León Sánchez
Rabobank Cycling Team
252
8
Michael Albasini
Orica - GreenEDGE
200
9
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana Pro Team
132
10
Giovanni Visconti
Movistar Team
129
Vanendert moves into the lead after his victory and Fleche plus great performances in Pais Vasco and Romandie. Boonen and Cancellara are still on the podium, but the puncheurs are not far behind now. Next month we'll probably have a few stage racers on the list as well, counting in the Giro.
1
Orica - GreenEDGE
675
2
Lotto-Belisol Team
626
3
Radioshack - Nissan
591
4
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
528
5
Rabobank Cycling Team
508
Victory in two out of three Ardennes Classics, plus two second places from Gerrans has catapulted GreenEDGE to the top. Lotto, Radioshack and OPQS have also profited from their good classics campaigns to make the Top 5 along with Rabobank, who are still hanging on from success earlier in the year.
Veelers scored a massive amount of points in all the flat classics he won during the recent few weeks. Now he leads the even more victorious Van Rensburg by over a hundred points. Siskevicius strong period has also payed off as you can see. Overall, the sprinters are dominant so far.
1
Team Argos - Shimano
891
2
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
878
3
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
667
4
MTN - Qhubeka
665
5
Team Europcar
655
Argos and Team Type 1 have seized a clear grip of the top two spots - both mainly thanks to a strong core of sprinters. We're also in a very solid position, just missing the Top 5 down in 6th place. 619 points so far.
CQ rankings:
1
Tom Boonen
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
1713
2
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto-Belisol Team
1631
3
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
1369
4
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
1355
5
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
1096
6
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
1008
7
Luis León Sánchez
Rabobank Cycling Team
955
8
Michael Albasini
Orica - GreenEDGE
861
9
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
815
10
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Procycling
753
Boonen has held on to his lead here at least, although the next riders have moved a lot closer to him. Together with Vanendert he still has a bit of a gap down to Valverde, who is looking like a potential winner of this ranking if he rides well in the big tours as well.
1
Orica - GreenEDGE
3864
2
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
3719
3
Lotto-Belisol Team
3599
4
Radioshack - Nissan
3252
5
Sky Procycling
3067
Strength in depth has been GreenEDGE's key so far, and thanks to a great month from Goss, Albasini and Gerrans, they're now in the lead. We're currently in 25th spot, which is 7th among the CT teams. If the season continues in this manner, we could actually promote to PCT!
Valverde has passed Boonen after snatching no less than four wins during Pais Vasco. Van Rensburg has also added two more to his total, as you may recall from the recently finished Tour de Bretagne. Our best guy is Perichon, who has been able to nab two wins so far.
1
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
22
2
Orica - GreenEDGE
21
3
Movistar Team
20
4
MTN - Qhubeka
18
5
Radioshack - Nissan
17
Just like in real life, OPQS are the most successful team. However, with the classics season over, they'll probably fade a little, perhaps getting passed by more sprinter-focused teams like GreenEDGE. Our count is currently at 4.
2.2: Tour de Bretagne: 24/04 - 30/04
