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Dominik Nerz: The Third Year
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 29-01-2013 13:30
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Well, not all roses and sunshine, but Dom did excellent in keeping his head cool. He didn't panic and it earned him the Young Rider Jersey.
Totally love the first picture, by the way, with the mountains in the background and all. |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 29-01-2013 13:44
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Congrats with the young rider jersey.
Good luck in the Tour de Romandie.
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 30-01-2013 11:18
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Thanks for the nice comments, guys. Life goes on, Romandie is just around the corner, but first, a small piece from was has happened apart from Dominik's racing:
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 30-01-2013 11:19
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 April 22
Gilbert spoils Sagan's historic triple
He was so close. So, so close! Despite a fantastic week in the Ardennes, Peter Sagan's first feeling after crossing the finish line in Liège was disappointment. „If you have such a unique chance, you want to take it“, stated the young Slovakian after his second place at the last spring monument. Having won both the Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne, he couldn't follow the decisive attack of Philippe Gilbert today and has to settle for second.
Gilbert ends a previously disappoint week on a high note after an exciting race. Under heavy winds, the peloton rode at an excessively high pace, causing numerous splits. Gilbert himself was affected and at one point had already lost 4 minutes to the main group around Sagan, but he was able to come back, making his triumph even more impressive.
Gilbert celebrates in the distance, the world champion comes in second.
Valverde – Three times three equals frustration?
If you add up the results of the Ardennes classics, the second best rider is the Spanish Champion Alejandro Valverde. Three times on the podium, three times beaten by Sagan and one other rider. „With a little bit of distance, I'll probably be happy about my performance, I rode steady on a high level. But right now, I'm rather frustrated because I have missed out on the very big result so closely every time.“
His compatriot Joaquim Rodriguez will be even more disappointed with his riding. Started as a big favorite for at least one or two podium places, he finished sixth, thirteenth and fourth. Definetely a big let-down for the Russian Team Katusha.
Valverde has already won Liege-Bastogne-Liege twice. But not today.
| 1 | Philippe Gilbert | Lotto - Belisol | 25h49'38 | | 2 |  Peter Sagan | UniCredit | + 27 | | 3 |  Alejandro Valverde | Vodafone - Santander | s.t. | | 4 | Joaquim Rodriguez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 5 |  Fränk Schleck | Leopard - Trek | s.t. | | 6 |  Giovanni Visconti | Movistar Team | + 39 | | 7 | Maxime Monfort | Leopard – Trek | + 46 | | 8 |  Jérôme Pineau | Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Luis León Sánchez | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 10 | Juan José Cobo | Katusha Team | s.t. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-01-2013 12:51
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Sagan missing a big opportunity  |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 30-01-2013 13:03
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You can't win everything always, maybe next year 
But nevertheless 2/3 is still an amazing result
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 30-01-2013 13:13
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So close for Sagan in Liege, but still a Brilliant result for him |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 31-01-2013 12:52
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The Tour de Romandie is a traditional six days stage race held since 1947 in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Along with the Tour de Suisse, it's the biggest race of the country. Due to its date at the end of April and the route with mountain stages and time trials, the Tour de Romandie is typically the most important preperation race for the Giro d'Italia. Record winner is Irish Stephen Roche, who won three times in the 1980s, last year saw Fabio Duarte taking the win.
The Tour de Romandie is the perfect preperation race with all kinds of stages:
It starts out with a very short prologue, no big gaps are to be expected but the specialists will battle it out for a stage win and the first leader's jersey.
The race continues on hilly terrain but it's doubtable whether the stage will be hard enough to cause notable gaps between the favorites. However, everyone will have to be very attentive.
Stage three continues with hills, but it should be less demanding than the day before. A sprint from a larger group is the least to expect.
The 23 km time trial on stage four might be decisive. Who's winning here will manage himself into a great position for the two stages to come.
Stage 5 provides the only sort-of mountain top finish, but the real difficulty should be found on the two steeper climbs before. The final kilometers then shouldn't make that much of a difference.
Finally, stage six, with three large climb, but all of them far from the finish. The strong climbers should stay together, or at least get back together on the descent towards Sion.
Overall
A lot of top notch stage racers have assembled in Switzerland. It will be especially interesting to see whether the pure climbers will be able to gain enough time in the mountains to equalize the almost 30 time trialing kilometers. If not, riders like Richie Porte or Andreas Klöden might have an outside shot as well.
 Bradley Wiggins | Sky ProCycling | | Michele Scarponi | Lampre - ISD | | Andy Schleck | Leopard - Trek |  Janez Brajkovic | UniCredit | | Igor Antón | Vodafone – Santander |  José Rujano | Ferrari Cycling Team | | Jurgen Van den Broeck | Lotto - Belisol |  Andreas Klöden | Team T-Mobile |  Rein Taaramäe | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne |  Richie Porte | Orica - GreenEdge |
The sprint competition isn't too strong here, probably due to the fact that there's only one, maybe two sprint finishes here. It's obvious that the punchy sprinters will have the best cards. Finetto and the German duo are probably the top favorites for stages two and three.
| Mauro Finetto | UniCredit | | Gerald Ciolek | Vodafone - Santander | | John Degenkolb | Team T-Mobile | | Oscar Gatto | Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli | | Ben Swift | Vodafone - Santander |
We come to Switzerland with our team for the Giro d'Italia - except for Tiziano Dall'Antonia, who's still fighting to be fit in time. With Janez, Damiano and me, we have a strong squad for the mountain stages. His time trialing abilities make Janez the overall leader, we expect at least a Top 10 finish, usually more, but he's still building up his shape. We'll see. Also, we'll be trying to get a good result with Mauro in the sprints.
I have a free role here, since Damiano will be Janez's main domestique. I'm aiming for the white jersey at least, and see what I can do regarding the GC. That said, if Janez actually has the chance of a good result, I'm ready to sacrifice my own ambitions to help him when it's crunch time.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 31-01-2013 13:35
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Curious to see what Dom has in stock for us here. Maybe a stage win? |
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Posted on 24-11-2024 00:20
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 31-01-2013 15:28
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Hope the team can take Switzerland by storm |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 31-01-2013 20:48
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Good team, I hope Dominik can shine in this race
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 01-02-2013 17:10
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@ Ian: A stage win would be amazing But hard to achieve, maybe on a break, we'll see...
@ sutty: I really hope so, too Been a while since his last success...
@ PCM rulezz: Yeah the team is good but Brajkovic starts with a shape of 82, Dominik with 86, so not the very best conditions. We'll see what they can do, here's the first stage! |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 01-02-2013 17:10
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.
 Tour de Romandie - Stage 1
The 4 kms of this prologue aren't completely flat but the small ascents and descents aren't very challenging so that the specialists should battle this out.
My shape is decent but my skills on this kind of stage are limited. I'll give my best and we'll see how far it goes.
As one of the first riders, David Zabriskie (Garmin) sets out into the rain. He sets the first time to beat:
5'08
French Champion Damien Monier (Cofidis) comes in five seconds short on a provisional second spot.
5'13
Dominik is the first UniCredit rider to start today. He looks ready!
Michael Rogers (Sky) disappoints, he can't touch Zabriskie.
5'14
Into the finish, Dominik Nerz has a great time. Provisional sixth, 10 seconds behind.
5'18
Simon Spilak (Lampre) surprises with a strong ride, provisional second.
5'10
And we have a new best time! Argos rider Jos Van Emden shoots through the parcours one second faster than the American.
5'07
Tony Martin is the top favorite for today and he rides a new best time. But not too impressive, only about five seconds faster.
5'01
His team mate Kim Kirchen comes in fourth, seven seconds behind.
5'08
Polish time trialing specialist Maciej Bodnar is the new best UniCredit rider on 19, 13 seconds behind. Dominik is in 30th position at the moment but he'll fall back further.
5'14
By and by, the favorites start to come in. First one is Rein Taaramäe, who doesn't do much and lands one place behind Dominik.
5'18
Andreas Klöden does better: He's almost as fast as his team mate and is second so far, four seconds behind.
5'05
Richie Porte (Orica) is a major disappointment today. He seems to be completely out of shape and rides a whole 20 seconds slower than Martin today.
5'21
Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto) rides decently and finishes next to Dominik Nerz and Rein Taaramäe.
5'18
Levi Leipheimer (BMC) can't convince today, 14 seconds behind.
5'15
The only one that may have spoiled the T-Mobile double victory is Bradley Wiggins but he doesn't live up to the expectations. Provisional nineth.
5'10
Jose Rujano (Ferrari) limits his losses decently. Good performance by the Venezolan.
5'17
Time for the Slovenian champion now. But Janez Brajkovic is evidently still not in shape. Provisional 38th, he loses 16 seconds.
5'17
Igor Antón (Vodafone) didn't expect much from today and he doesn't get much out of it. But his time is fine.
5'21
Lampre's leader and one of the top favorites, Michele Scarponi, rides very well today. He seems to be in good shape already.
5'13
Finally, as the last rider, Andy Schleck crosses the finish line. Once again, it becomes obvious that prologues aren't his strong points. But we've seen worse.
5'25
| 1 | Tony Martin | Team T-Mobile | 5'01 | | 2 | Andreas Klöden | Team T-Mobile | + 4 | | 3 |  Jos Van Emden | Argos – Shimano | + 6 | | 4 |  David Zabriskie | Team Garmin – Barracuda | + 7 | | 5 | Kim Kirchen | Team T-Mobile | + 8 | | 6 | Simon Spilak | Lampre – ISD | + 10 | | 7 |  Thomas Löfkvist | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 8 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 9 |  Ignatas Konovalovas | Movistar Team | + 11 | | 10 | Adriano Malori | Lampre – ISD | s.t. | | ... | | 46 | Janez Brajkovic | UniCredit | + 17 | | 47 | Dominik Nerz | UniCredit | + 18 |
I think I did a decent ride today. Losing 17 seconds to Tony Martin in my shape is fine and I'm on a level with many top climbers like Van den Broeck, so I'm satisfied with today.
In contrary to Janez, obviously. He's getting really frustrated because theoretically, he should be further in his shape building. I don't know what was wrong today, but usually, he's a lot faster than me on those courses, not just one second. We'll find out how he really is during the next stages, I guess.
Edited by cunego59 on 01-02-2013 17:11
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 01-02-2013 17:18
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Only a handful of seconds lost from Dominik, it could have been worse |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 01-02-2013 17:19
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Well Dom certainly seemed to have a great time at first, but slipped a little.
Still the actual margin in seconds isn't too big, so he could still be able to get a good GC place while helping Jani Brajkovic.
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 01-02-2013 17:21
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Dominik will take some time back in the mountains
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 01-02-2013 17:22
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Dom starting off great, Brajkovic will get better soon! |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 02-02-2013 12:04
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@ sutty: Yeah, I think he did decently well
@ valv: Well, when he finished, only about 20 riders had finished before him, so his provisional sixth was relative There were lots of strong time trialists around, so I think his rank is ok.
@ PCM rulezz: He surely will 47th can't be his ambition anymore.
@ Ian: I really hope so. His form isn't too bad but it seems to become a constant issue that I can't do too well with him ... We'll see.
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| andy222c |
Posted on 02-02-2013 12:10
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Great start by Dominik! The gaps aren't too big, and with his climbing skills, he should be able to hope for a good GC finish. Good luck
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| Omt78 |
Posted on 02-02-2013 14:59
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Fantastic story!!!!!
Do you create things like jersey and bike designs yourself??? (T-Mobile-Ferrari...) |
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