Today is my time to take the race as the stage suits me a lot, I raced the same stage in 2013, and I liked it then as the climb is hard, so it really causes people to suffer. My form at the moment is quite good I've managed to keep the form I finished the Vuelta with over the winter and I'm going well now. Today there were a lot of attacks at the start of the stage so we sent Andre to marshall them and he was able to get in the break, so we let them go as he was the best placed among them, but we knew we would bring them back in later on, so we weren't to worried to much about the gap they got as I was confident I could close up to them if need be on the final climb. Halfway up the climb I attacked across to the break, and Esteban came with me, as did Nieve, so we worked hard to build up a lead over the rest, and then at the top of the climb I attacked and managed to get away from them, as they sat up. Then Esteban was able to come home for second so that was a great result for us as we doubled up like the other day and yesterday in the time trial. Adam
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Simon is determined to win today, so he is our team leader, but to be honest I think a break will stay away today as this difficult stage suits riders who go early as the final climb isn't particularly hard, so any riders that get there with a gap can get the stage win. So we decided to put Adam and Andre in the break, but the other riders worked them over and attacked them on the final climb, so Brenes took the win, which I'm happy for him as he has been up there for most of the race, and my aim was just t limit any gaps, but I did ok and managed to come home in 3rd to seal the victory, which I'm very happy with as we have rode well this week, and now we have the reward for it. I don't know what is up with Simon this week, but he just isn't himself so we'll see how he does tomorrow as we have decided to ride for him and go from there. Adam
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Today I really wanted to have a go for the stage as so far this race hasn't gone very well for me, as I haven't been getting the results that I expect from myself although I have to remember that it is early in the season, and there is a long way to go before the Classics, which are my main targets for the year. The team agreed to work for me, so that made me feel better as it showed they have confidence in me even though I'm not on superb form. However when we got to the finish I tried to go for the sprint but I just didn't have the legs, and our lead out train could and should have been better really, but that's cycling really and we have to move on from the and grow as riders. I'm happy for Fabio as he has ridden hard all week and has always been there or there a bouts in the sprints. I mean today really wasn't our day, Esteban punctured and lost time and Andre was absolutely dead come the final, so we couldn't of done any better, but he won the overall, so we got what we came here for. Simon
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Adam Yates
Andre Greipel
Alberto Contador
Simon Yates
Adam Hansen
Peter Kennaugh
Kris Boeckmans
Jens Debusschere
The strongest Lotto team of the year lines up for the second WorldTour of the season, the team will be led by Adam Yates as he aims to take his second victory in two years. He will be backed up by Alberto Contador and his twin brother Simon Yates, as he aims to emulate Chris Froome with double victories in the race. The team leader in the sprints will be Andre Greipel and he will be backed by a strong lead out team, after his lead out train at the Tour of San Luis failed to deliver him properly to the line.
The Race.
The break went up the road pretty early today, but it contained three riders that weren't threats overall so we let them go and allowed the other teams to do the work on the front. However in the final sprint we mucked up the lead out and Andre started the sprint to far back, so I think next time we will have to go for a smaller lead out, to allow for Andre to be further up the bunch as he was to far back, and he got blocked in behind a group of riders who had been leading out, so he had no chance of getting the win as Hoffland was away and gone before he got free. Today we were riding our new Specialized team bikes, and to be honest it was the best bike I have ever rode, which I'm really happy with as it shows the lengths Lotto are going to to get the bikes just right for us, and that makes a huge difference as that can be the difference between winning the Tour and getting second, so it's good to get the groundwork in early. Adam
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We knew after last years race, that this stage was really prone to splitting on the final few climbs as they are very close to the finish, so could provide some damage and potentially danger, so I wanted to make sure that I was on the right side of any split, so we decided that Alberto and I would attack over the final climb (or the first climb if anybody else went for it) as if we were caught we wouldn't get dropped as it was a downhill finish, but if we didn't then we would gain time on all our rivals. Although Andre is the favourite for the stage, I would say it suits Simon a lot more, so we decided to work for him as he will be able to stay at the front of the bunch over the two climbs, where as Andre may drop back a bit, so Simon would be in a better place to go for it. When we hit the final climb, I saw the pace ease so I hit it as hard as I can, and I got a gap, so I just kept going then Ivan (Basso, Lotto DS and Friend) told me that Hoogerland was trying to come across but the bunch didn't really have any commitment so I knew that I could stay away. To gain a minute on all my rivals is a great bonus right now and I think it puts me in a good place for the mountains stage as it means I can just follow and then attack when I want to go. Then for Simon to lead home the bunch was great as it shows his form is improving and he can sprint against the best in the world. Adam
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The race was dominated by the Lotto team, who won all but two stages of the race. The overall was sealed after a strong ride by Adam Yates on the race's queen stage, which saw a strong ride from his team to set him up over the race's final climb, attacking 1 kilometre from the top of the race's final climb, and riding hard over the top to build up a huge lead over the second placed man, Lotto teammate, Esteban Chaves. Lotto DS, Ivan Basso told us, "Adam was by far the strongest rider at the race, I mean he rode away easily over the final climb, and he was able to easily defend the lead. I mean he was 2nd in a time trail that didn't really suit his strengths, but he's a fighter. I mean after his win at the Vuelta he's a different rider, he's super committed and to be honest I can see him winning the Tour this year, if he rides the way he did this week then he'll be hard to beat.
Tour Down Under
The first World Tour race of the year was an unpredictable affair with 5 different leaders of the overall. The first stage was taken out by sprinter Marcel Kittel, he then fought off a strong Rick Zabel on the second stage to keep the leaders jersey. Stage 3 was won by Jurgen van den Broeck after a solo break, after he attacked with 4 kilometre to go. The 4th Stage was won by Moreno Hoffland, the Belkin man took the sprint from the group of 19 riders that gapped the rest of the field crossing over the final 3rd category climb. The next stage was an aggressive race finishing a top of Old Willunga Hill, which saw a breakaway victory for Richie Porte, as he and Movistar's Jeffrey Romero broke away over the race's final ascent leading the race home 23 seconds ahead of Van Den Broeck, meaning that Porte took the GC lead 1 second ahead of Romero. The final stage was also an aggressive day's racing with Movistar trying to isolate Porte, as the hilly stage caused Sky to use their men early, meaning Porte was isolated in the final 20 kilometres, then on the final climb Romero was able to easily ride away from Porte as the Tasmanian struggled after riding hard on the front for the last 15 kilometres. Romero duly took the GC title and the stage ahead of Lotto's Van Den Broeck who came home 3 seconds to secure 2nd on GC just over 12 seconds back, with Porte losing 23 seconds to Van Den Broeck, meaning he took third 13 seconds behind Van Den Broeck.
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After yesterday the spirits were high, so we wanted to make sure that we kept the momentum going and took another stage win, however Andre isn't on top form, as we saw in the first stage. Although he didn't have a great lead out, so we can work on that and maybe he can get a stage win. We managed to get Adam in the break, so we didn't have to ride on the front of the bunch, which meant we had a lot of guys left in the finale. Although we didn't use most of them as we wanted to have a small lead out so that Andre was closer to the front, then when we launched the sprint it was Simon who was in the best position, and he was able to take the stage, which I'm happy for him as he has worked hard to get his form back as he was gutted with his ride in Argentina. However I'm gutted for Andre as he uncured with 3 kilometres to go, and he finished with a flat tyre, and if he hadn't he may have won the stage. Although tomorrow is my focus and I need to forget about today and focus on the final climb, as I have ridden this race for the past three years, and every time I've been there or there a bouts, but I have never won this stage outright, so that is my aim for tomorrow. Adam
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We knew after last years race, that this stage was really prone to splitting on the final few climbs as they are very close to the finish, so could provide some damage and potentially danger, so I wanted to make sure that I was on the right side of any split, so we decided that Alberto and I would attack over the final climb (or the first climb if anybody else went for it) as if we were caught we wouldn't get dropped as it was a downhill finish, but if we didn't then we would gain time on all our rivals. Although Andre is the favourite for the stage, I would say it suits Simon a lot more, so we decided to work for him as he will be able to stay at the front of the bunch over the two climbs, where as Andre may drop back a bit, so Simon would be in a better place to go for it. When we hit the final climb, I saw the pace ease so I hit it as hard as I can, and I got a gap, so I just kept going then Ivan (Basso, Lotto DS and Friend) told me that Hoogerland was trying to come across but the bunch didn't really have any commitment so I knew that I could stay away. To gain a minute on all my rivals is a great bonus right now and I think it puts me in a good place for the mountains stage as it means I can just follow and then attack when I want to go. Then for Simon to lead home the bunch was great as it shows his form is improving and he can sprint against the best in the world. Adam
Today is the big day, this is when we find out how my form is, although o be fair I am pretty confident as I have good legs so far this week, but I think today will be the day that I found out how good my form is, as the final climb is a hard climb, but I think we can control it and make sure that we get the GC. I think my biggest rival will be Alberto, although he is my teammate, so hopefully we will work together to beat the others, as I am the leader, I mean he is going to be the leader at other races, so it's all fair. There were a few attacks coming into the bottom of the climb, but we were able to monitor them and Pete was our guy to follow any early attacks, so he did his job well today, I mean hopefully he can progress and maybe win a Grand Tour in the next few years. On the final climb we had Pete set a fast tempo, so that anybody who tried to attack tired themselves out, and then me and Alberto went for it, and Hugo Houle came with us, so Alberto rode hard on the front, and then in the let at's a great result for the team. Adam
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@MARSUPILAMI: It isn't easy trust me, look at the riders who have been at the races, I haven't raced against Froome, Cavendish, Kittel, Kwiatkowski etc etc.
None of the big riders have been at any of these races or you'd see it isn't easy. Next time I will make sure that Froome races by making a start list or something.
But seriously if you look at the riders at these races, they aren't exactly big hitters, I mean Hugo Houle was the best of the rest on the mountain stage of Oman, and he had a mountains stat of 76.
And in the first stage Hoffland won and he has a sprint stat of 78, the riders the computer has chosen for these races aren't the best in the world, that's why it looks like Lotto is dominating because I am choosing my best riders for these races.
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Today is going to be another difficult stage as there is a lot of climbing in the finale, so we will have to be careful and make sure that we watch which riders are where, as this stage can get quite mixed up as the break is normally pretty big as its full of guys who didn't get anything out of yesterday and want to do something, so we'll have to keep our eyes open. Simon is the leader as always on these types of stages, although my main aim is to keep the top 10 on GC in my sights as those are the guys that are still in with a chance of a GC win. Today we managed to put Andre and Adam in the break, so we had them if we caught the break after the first ascent of the climb, as we knew that they would be dropped by the peloton if they didn't attack early, so Adam was sent to keep the pace high on the break as Andre may be able to get the stage if he can keep it together over the climbs, as he was by far the best sprinter in the break. On the first time up the climb, we sent Alberto and Pete to the front to split the bunch up a bit, and they did that except they went harder than we realised and 6 of us got away, they being me, Simon, Alberto, Pete, Degenkolb and Rubiano, so we decided to just keep a comfortable pace and then see what happens. Then we realised they weren't going to catch us, so we made sure to stay together and ride to the finish, then Ivan told us Andre was starting to suffer and that Ligthart had attacked, and was going to take the win, so we tried to up the pace to catch him but it was to late. Adam
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Today we just wanted to make sure we had a guy in the break, as we knew today was likely that a break would stay away as the final circuit has a decent climb in it, and I remember last year we split the race on it, so yeah there are some good memories. To win the race overall is a dream for me, I have raced this every year since I turned pro, and I think that to win it shows my progression as a rider to a genuine GC contender. My next race is the Vuelta a Andalucia, which I look forward to as it is my first race of the season, where Froome, Kwiatkowski and Gilbert will be there so the racing will be very competitive and hopefully I can shows the form I have. The finale was very hard as expected and the group split up, so there wasn't the number of riders to chase down the break, so they stayed away, JUST! Me and Simon were the only one from our team who made the split, so I lead Simon out and he was able to come home 4th. Adam
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Simon Yates
Ian Stannard
Andre Greipel
Michael Schar
Marcel Sieberg
Adam Hansen
Kris Boeckmans
Jens Debusschere
Simon Yates leads the Lotto boys as they enter the first cobbled classic of the season. Yates will be backed up by a super strong team, and with Ian Stannard as his right hand man, it seems that Yates has all the foundations for class in his first ever cobbled classic.
The Race
I'm quite nervous going into today as this is my first cobbled classic, which means a lot to me as I enjoy racing on the cobbles, as last year I won stages on cobbles in the Tour and the Giro, so hopefully that puts me in a good place for today. The plan is to get a guy in the break, so that we have someone there later on in the race, and then to make the race as hard as possible over the cobbles. As the race began we all moved to the front of the bunch to monitor any attacks, and we managed to get Marcel and Furious D (Debusschere) in the break, so that was a good move for us, so we sat back and waited. Then the break was brought back so Andre attacked and got away, so e able to split, then hen we hit the first cobbled sector we went to the front and tried to split the group. In hindsight we should of waited and let the other teams move first, but everyone makes mistakes. Then when Cancellara went I had no response, so I just tried to ride home in a decent position, and I managed to get 8th, which I'm quite happy with for my first cobbled classic. Simon
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The Lotto team that will one up for the second cobbled classic, is exactly the same as the one that lined up for the first classic. Simon Yates will again be our leader, however with a flat final Andre Greipel will be his second hand man just in case that the race comes down to a bunch sprint.
The Race.
The race today was key for us as our sponsors are from this region, so we needed to make sure we put on a good showing for them. To make sure of that we put Adam and Bocky (Boeckmans) in the break, so that meant we didn't have to do any work, so we could just take it steady for the first few kilometres, today we decided that we would wait for the others to make their moves before we did as yesterday I went to hard to early and faded before the end. Today we did wait for someone else to go, but nobody went, so the break stayed away and Nizzolo who had been in the break all day was able to easily win the sprint, but I'm really annoyed as the other favourites messed up today because of they fear of committing to early. Simon
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