Ollfardh wrote:
Maybe Voeckler was protecting Veenhof's GC? No idea though.
I think so... Man, that sucks
Thats not true i'm afraid. Veenhof was dropped on the first lap round Stirling. Voeckler was in the front 10 riders starting the final climb...
Its also a perfect example of why you don't go with expectations, cause then you can't be disappointed
Ollfardh wrote:
Maybe Voeckler was protecting Veenhof's GC? No idea though.
I think so... Man, that sucks
Thats not true i'm afraid. Veenhof was dropped on the first lap round Stirling. Voeckler was in the front 10 riders starting the final climb...
Its also a perfect example of why you don't go with expectations, cause then you can't be disappointed
Hmm. I blame the PCM Logic of course
You're right about the expectations, but I could at least expect a Top 50(!) and the team didn't even achieve that
Right, should maybe lower my expectations, but with Voeckler and Veenhof in Australia, I can have a few expectations I think...
This stage was another flat stage. We hoped to get a good result here, so we could maybe forget the previous stage a bit. And it worked. The break got reeled in in-time, and our lead-out was impressive again. Veenhof again was faster than Goss, even with a little bit bigger margin. Greipel, the SGL beast, was faster once again though. Still, a second place is great for Johan. We're happy that he doesn't disappoint, unlike Voeckler, who does. We're very thankful that Johan is able to save our TDU by finishing good on the flatter stages. We shouldn't forget to mention the great leadout that Boeckmans gives though.
Stage 4
Another shorter stage, just 130km. Veenhof likes the shorter stages, so that's great. It will be another bunch sprint, although there's a tough hill not that far from the finish. It's hard to predict what this hill will do though. It might make Greipel drop/disposition, but who says that Veenhof survives? But maybe it does nothing, and it will just be another Gorilla win. Anyway, I think Veenhof can do a good job again.
Expectation: Top 3, if Veenhof doesn't get dropped
Don't worry Johan. You're not under pressure. We're just happy that you saved our TDU, and I'm sure you can survive the tough hill better than most of the other sprinters can, since you're good with hills. That's why a Top 3 would be realistic to us, but we will see how it turns out. Just try your best, and we do anything what's possible to help you.
Here we are, with another edition of the ING Cycling Magazine.
The racing finally begun, with the Santos Tour Down Under. We’re doing okay, although not as good as we expected. However, Johan Veenhof did great. A new magazine element starts today, the weekly awards. The rest is just like normal, although we do a ‘weekly review’, and we will be doing that every week from now on. We will reveal some WT startlists too today. And at last, an interview is awaiting for you again, of course Part 1: Latest News
Part 2: Weekly review
Part 3: Weekly awards
Part 4: Startlists
Part 5: Interview with…
Latest News
Strange magazine times
We can say that we’ll reveal the next editions of the magazine at strange moments. The next edition will be revealed on Thursday/Friday, while the edition after that will probably be revealed on Monday, 1.5 weeks later. The reason about this is that the editor-in-chief will be on a holiday from Friday night – Sunday a week later. Hope that it isn’t a problem for you.
Another time ranked us high
The manager of Tap – Michelin, Bikex, made a prediction of the WT ranking from this season. We were ranked pretty high, 4th. We highly appreciate it, and we can get along fine. We think that they are one of the favourites to promote. We wish them good luck.
Weekly Review
We will always do a Weekly Review from now on(if there has been raced). We will put on a small summary of all the races we raced in that week, and give a mark on Flat and GC, and combine it with a ‘Total’ mark for this week. So a weekly review is just a small summary of the week
This week, it’s a bit small, since we’ve only raced 3 stages.
Tour Down Under Stage 1
It became a sprint. We had a strong leadout, and Veenhof got 2nd. Stage 2
The hilly stage. It was horrible. We should have attacked at some point, but we ended up outside the Top 50(!). We can also say bye bye to the GC win. Stage 3
The second flat stage. We were beasts again, but Greipel was just better. Another 2nd place for Veenhof.
Flat races rating: 9/10 We were great in the flat races, not just Veenhof. Our sprint train was leading the pack at multiple occasions, and Boeckmans was a great leadout. GC rating: 2,5/10 What to say? It’s just horrible.
Weekly rating: 7,5/10 No, it’s not simply (Flat+GC)/2. The GC was bad, but Veenhof got some great points for the ranking, and of course shined in stage 1 and stage 3. Edging out Goss isn’t easy, you know. Just Greipel. He seems unbeatable, but maybe we can do something in stage 4 or 6. We can forget the GC now. Not just Veenhof will try to grab a stage win, Voeckler will also try it. Is a stage win possible?
Weekly Awards
I will explain what this is. We will hand out Weekly Awards, well, weekly. It’s more complicated than you think though. Of course, we will select a ‘Rider of the Week’ every week. He will get awarded 2 points. We will also hand out the ‘Surprise of the Week’ prize every week, he will get 1 ‘ranking point’. At last, we will also hand out the ‘Disappointment of the Week’ award. It will give you Minus 1 point. It isn’t a motivating prize if you win it, but everyone will try to avoid to get it, so it might help. The good thing about this ranking system is that one of the minor riders can win it. They can be surprise of the week more easily, since we expect less of them. Plus, they won’t win the disappointment ‘award’ easily, since they don’t disappoint normally. We hope this works, and we’re curious to see which rider will be on top in the end.
Rider of the week
Well, we could list the nominees here, but why would we? It’s clear who won it.
The winner is…
Spoiler
Johan Veenhof
. He was amazing this week. With two second places, and finishing in front of Goss(third best sprinter of the world) twice, he has done a terrific job.
He has proved himself, and can now be considered Top 5 best sprinter of the world.
Surprise of the week
There isn’t much to say, since there were only two flat stages and a hilly stage where nobody did okay. So it has to be somebody out of the sprint train.
Nominees: Koen de Kort, Maarten Wynants and Kris Boeckmans
Hard decision to make. Boeckmans was an impressive leadout, but didn’t get a Top 10 himself, and that means that he didn’t surprise enough.
The winner is…
Spoiler
Koen de Kort
. He was a better guy in the sprint train than expected. He was the third men, and without a superior sprinting ability, he kept ING at the front until it was time for Boeckmans. Also notable is that he managed to finish before Kris at Stage 3.
Disappointment of the week
Just like the Rider of the week award, no need to list nominees.
The winner is…
Spoiler
Thomas Voeckler
A major disappointment. He was one of the GC favourites, but is now out of the GC. Stage 2 was awful. If he would win at Willunga Hill it would really be amazing, and we would forgive his GC troubles then. But that’s just if.
Standings
Rider
Nationality
Points this week/total points
Johan Veenhof
2/2
Koen de Kort
1/1
26 riders
/
0/0
Thomas Voeckler
-1/-1
Startlists
We decided to reveal the startlists of the early-March stage-races.
Yes indeed, Paris – Nice and Tirreno – Adriatico.
Paris – Nice
‘’The route is fairly hilly, so there should be plenty of action’’
Recognize that sentence? Well, it applies for most of this stage-race. A lot of hilly stages, and I think there indeed will be plenty of action. A small prologue is the start of the stage-race. 3 flat races follow, but there’s no pancake-flat one. 2 of them are uphill. After that, there are 4 hilly races, who will most likely decide the GC.
This year’s Tirreno starts with a 20km hilly TT. Two hilly stages follow them up, and after that, the first sprinter stage occurs. Stage 5 is a big mountain stage. A long hilly stage is Stage 6, and the last stage is flat. The 20km TT will hurt our team, but the fact that it’s hilly is positive.
Team Leader Mathijs Ruiter
Free Roles Thomas Voeckler Nairo Quintana
Team-Mates Dirk Bellemakers Koen de Kort Johnny Hoogerland Marc Goos Serge Pauwels
An incredibly strong climbers team will be in Italy. As you can see, no sprinters. We don’t think it’s worth to take sprinters with us when there are just 2 flat stages. Ruiter will be our leader, but Voeckler has the hilly stages as his goal, and Quintana will go for the young jersey. Hoogerland, Pauwels & Goos are good climbing domestiques, while De Kort will only be that in the hills. Bellemakers will try to get in the breakaway.
We are going for the GC, and I’m not surprised if Voeckler and Quintana can do good there too. If Ruiter suffers too much from the TT, he will focus on the stage win at mountainous stage 5.
Interview with …
Today, we had an interview with Constantino Zaballa. It’s one of our oldies, but we think that he can still add something to our team. Thijs Zonneveld: Hi Constantino. I wonder, what is your specialisation, since it isn’t really clear.
Constantino Zaballa: Well, I can do multiple things, but I think I’m a puncher, with an obsession with attacking on the hills. TZ: Don’t you think that your age is a problem?
CZ: Well, my career is close to its end I think. I’m still useful though. I think the serious problems start in about 2 years. TZ: Do you think that ING is going to renew your contract?
CZ: Well, my contract is just for 1 year. I don’t think I will be way worse after 1 year. I won’t ask too much wage for the next contract I think. And otherwise I will probably go to a continental team. TZ: What kind of races are you going to do this season?
A bit mixed. I start with Omloop, and will do some of the cobbled classics. After that, I’ll do a lot of stage-races. The biggest one is the Vuelta a Espana. TZ: Have you got some opportunities to lead this season?
CZ: Not really. I think I’m too old to have a lot of leading opportunities. I maybe lead at Limousin, but further not. TZ: Any particular goals this season?
CZ: Nope. Just being a good domestique. TZ: Okay, good luck with that, Bye!
CZ: Bye.
Next up in ING Cycling Magazine:
- The latest news
- Weekly Review
- Weekly Awards
- Interview
- And much more.
(remember, it will be next Thursday/Friday, not next weekend)
Rider of the week
Well, we could list the nominees here, but why would we? It’s clear who won it.
The winner is…
Spoiler
Johan Veenhof
. He was amazing this week. With two second places, and finishing in front of Goss(third best sprinter of the world) twice, he has done a terrific job.
He has proved himself, and can now be considered Top 5 best sprinter of the world.
Stage 4 was a hectic stage for a flat stage. As we predicted, the hill a while before the finish caused the peloton to split. Unexpected was that Greipel could hold on, while Goss couldn't. Anyway, at the end, We were the only team left with a proper sprint train. Suprisingly, Rojas was very strong today.
Rojas won, Greipel got second and Veenhof managed to secure another podium spot.
He's doing really, really well. Don't forget to mention that Voeckler got 7th too! That might be promising for tomorrow.
Stage 5
Tomorrow is the (so-called) Queen's stage of Tour Down Under.
It's up Willunga Hill. Theoretically, Voeckler would be a main favourite. But he disappointed at stage 2. The profile before Willunga isn't that hilly, but there is a big hill before Willunga Hill. I expect many attacks on that hill. Voeckler might be part of it. A spectacular stage awaits, that's for sure... Our expectation: Top 5. Maybe a massive regain of GC positions for Thomas Voeckler? That might be too hopeful maybe. Edited by Jesleyh on 12-02-2013 09:38
We won't update the CT races stage to stage, but we feel that this has to be mentioned.
Stage 1 has just been ridden, and it turned out to be a huge surprise. As you know, we've sent a weak team.
We got 2 guys in the break. Both De Kort and Lindeman were in it. Lindeman took a lot of KoM points, and will wear the KoM jersey tomorrow!
But that's not all. The breakaway surprisingly made it to the finish! Since we've took 2 guys in the break, we're leading the team classification! And Lindeman(3th) and De Kort(10th) even secured some good positions on the stage itself!
Here's a photo of the sprint.
We hope that we can hold on to especially the team classification. Next stage is flat with a few hills, while stage 3 is hilly. After that, we've got a pure sprinters stage. The last stage will be a TT. Rasmussen will shine there, mark my words
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
, Maarten Wynants
and Kris Boeckmans
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update
