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Il Bimbo d'bronzo | Giro d'Italia 2015
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| Wild Dog |
Posted on 29-07-2014 22:37
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Domestique
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Arcier is getting nice results already  Quite an all-rounder he is.
You are doing great with the reports and the layout is perfect.
EDIT: BTW, you should update post #2 and #3 
Edited by Wild Dog on 29-07-2014 22:38
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 29-07-2014 22:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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Nicholas can be proud with his all round performance at the Vuelta |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 15:13
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Bot Agent
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| dark_x2012 |
Posted on 30-07-2014 10:16
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 857
Joined: 13-05-2013
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Top 10 
Top 5 for Arredondo
And sky losing: priceless |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 12:51
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 322
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@Wild Dog
Glad you're enjoying it! And yes I'll update the first page before the next season starts. Thanks for reminding me. 
@sutty68
He definitely can!
@dark_x2012
Sky losing actually seems to have netted Nicholas €100,000.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 12:53
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Neo-Pro
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Spoiler Will be switching back to the old layout next time... probably.
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| dark_x2012 |
Posted on 30-07-2014 13:53
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Breakaway Specialist
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Good job by the team |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 14:31
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Neo-Pro
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@dark_x2012
I'll probably simulate the TTT next time, it's impossible to lose it.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 14:32
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Neo-Pro
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After a long session of speeches by local politicians, media figures and retird athletes. A loud applause came from the crowd as I walked onto the podium to pick up the trophy of Maltese Sportman of the Year. Breaking sharpshooter William Chetcuti his decade long iron hold on the trophy. Reason enough for the local media to raise my status to extremely high levels. “Cupido, future Tour de France winner.” Was one of the phrases which was being thrown around a lot. Cupido an unoriginal nickname given to me by a lokal journalist as a play on my surname back when I was a teenager. A nickname I hated, but now was seriously gaining in popularity with the general crowd.
As we proceeded with the obligatory VIP dinner, mama had a hard time hiding her pride. An embarrassing display of her chatting up to her favorite novela stars for most of the evening as result.
Towards the end of the dinner Josu Cortés who had come flown over for todays event introduced me to a well spoken Asian man, who was wearing a fancy Armani suit. Josu right away introduced him as chief marketing for a major Taiwanese smart-phone company. Apparently they were interested in launching a promotional campaign in Malta and considered me the perfect face for their product. A brief chat later we had set up an appointment to visit their local outlet in the coming week to discuss a contractual agreement.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 30-07-2014 18:15
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Maltese Sportman of the Year, very nice indeed
And Sagan the World Champion  |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 20:27
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Neo-Pro
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@sutty68
An impressive feat in Malta, country known for its many top athletes.
Expecting Sagan to proof that the rainbow curse is just a big joke. 
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 20:28
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Neo-Pro
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The Point (named like that because its location on the peninsula Tigné Point) is Malta’s biggest retail mall. Its humongous size would remind any tourist of the huge malls in the United States. Just like there, here most visitors were the rich and beautiful. (And the not so beautiful, but still rich.)
Being from one of the more modest areas in town I only ever remember visiting the mall with Gregor, who was a big fan of spending big. Fitting that it was Greg who joined me today together with Josu as we made our way to my appointment with Guo Yuan chief marketing.
As we strolled by the various stores Greg, kept hassling Josu for training and nutritional advice. Being well off the Irishman who had just graduated from the University of Rome with a bachelor in business, was not enjoying life within his cubicle and wanted to spend his days cycling rather than typing. Josu who had an eye for talent knew Greg was a lost cause, so he didn’t pay much attention. Making Greg aim his arrows at me as he asked if I could bring him into contact with my sister seeing if she could help him. To please him I agreed. Pointing out to him that he wouldn’t be doing much cycling or typing if he tried to flirt with her.
Our meeting with mister Yuan. Or was it Guo? Was a surprisingly brief one. I was ready to settle for the 2 year €10,000/yr deal initially offered, but Greg put his studies to use and managed to pull out a €15,000/yr deal out of the fire. Atta boy!
To celebrate we had a heavy lunch at one of the fancy restaurants in the mall. Our main form of entertainment being Gregor striking out with the various stunning ladies walking by.
Spoiler This is the end of 2014!
Edited by Re Leone on 30-07-2014 20:30
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| Selwink |
Posted on 30-07-2014 21:24
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Grand Tour Champion
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15000 per year. That's just above Dutch minimum wage 
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 30-07-2014 23:13
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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Re Leone wrote :
@sutty68
An impressive feat in Malta, country known for its many top athletes.
I've only ever heard of Tony Drago the snooker player |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 23:23
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Neo-Pro
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@Selwink
Main difference being that Nicholas earns it by showing up 5 days in an entire year.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 30-07-2014 23:33
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Neo-Pro
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Spoiler Just a brief overview of all the World Tour teams. Screens where taken in December 2014. I tweaked a lot of the stats since then due to the Tour. ie; Pinot and Bardet are a bit better. Wiggins is a better cobbles rider.
In regards to Nicholas I dropped his STA & RES by 1 point and REC by 2 points.
Riders like Zabel and Kelderman had their potential improved as well seeing how a lot of young talents like them didn't seem to have a lot of growing room left.
Ag2r - La Mondiale
“We will be aiming for stage wins in the Tour de France with Arnaud Demare and a top 10 finish with Romain Bardet.”
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
“Andy Schleck has proven last year that he can win the Tour de France, which is what we will be going for.”
Astana Pro Team
“Fabio Aru winning the Giro. Vincenzo Nibali winning the Tour. Simple.”
BMC Racing Team
“We expect Gilbert to continue his dominance in the monuments. And with Mathias Frank we have found someone who can take some of the pressure off Tejay van Garderen.”
Bardiani - CSF
“Why are we here again?”
Cannondale Pro Cycling
“Carlos Alberto Betancur. Expect that name next to the #1 on a lot of finish listings.”
Celesio Pro Cycling
“Sep Vanmarcke and Lars Boom have shown they are an impressive combination to have on the cobbles and I don’t expect anything different this year. Fatigue was the biggest enemy of Bauke Mollema last year, but he has shown in the Vuelta that he is a podium candidate in a Grand Tour and we expect him to achieve exactly that in the Tour this year.”
Garmin - Sharp
“With John Degenkolb, Daniel Martin, Tom Jelte Slagter and Andrew Talansky our team will be competing for the prizes from March all the way till July.”
Giant - Shimano
“Marcel Kittel. Marcel Kittel. Marcel Kittel. Marcel Kittel. Marcel Kittel. Warren Barguil?”
Katusha Team
“With Alexander Kristoff we have the most complete sprinter in the peloton. And expect the Spanish trivectra of Joaquin Rodriguez, Daniel Moreno and Benat Intxausti to shine in the Grand Tours.”
Lotto - Belisol
“With the signing of Janez Brajkovic, Jurgen van den Broeck will finally not be on his own in the mountains. We aim for a top 5 finish in Paris this Tour de France.
Movistar
“It’s only a matter of time until Nairo Quintana wins his first Grand Tour. And that time will be this summer in France.”
Lampre - Merida
“We expect a lot from Aziz Kastell this year. Top 5 in a Grand Tour? Very much possible. He is already out climbing Rui Costa, that’s for sure. Now if only he could improve on his time trial as well.”
Omega Pharma - Quickstep
“Winning the Giro with Rigoberto Uran last year has made us hungry for more. Cavendish will still be our main priority in the Tour, but Rigoberto will be our absolute leader in the Vuelta. Naturally in the spring we will have a strong team with Kwiatkowski, Boonen, Terpstra and Stybar.”
Sky Procycling
“Losing the Vuelta last year was disappointing, but if anything Chris Froome has shown he can win two Grand Tours in one year. We will be aiming for the same this year. With the Tour de France containing 2 ITTs and 1 TTT he already is close to having one in the pocket. If Richie Porte manages to win the Giro we might just win all 3 GTs.”
Team Europcar
“With Pierre Rolland and Thomas Voeckler we have France their two biggest riders. And I won’t be surprise to see the both of them to receive the flowers at the Tour de France.”
Team Tinkoff - Saxo
“With world champion Peter Sagan we have signed the greatest rider of a generation. And probably an additional 20 wins this season, if not more. Roman Kreuziger has beaten Contador in various climbing training camps this year, but El Pistolero is still our leader for the Tour de France.”
Tissot Pro Cycling Team
“Finishing second last year in the World Tour Team Classification tells us we have a great team already. We lost Andy Schleck, but gained Jakob Fuglsang. We will be aiming for a Vuelta win with Fuglsang. In turn Zoidl will be rewarded for his excellent Giro by leading at the Tour de France. With the many time trial kilometers in the Tour, we expect him to do really well.”
FDJ and Orica got relegated. The Australians still have a strong team though.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 30-07-2014 23:42
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Tour de France Champion
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Rohan Dennis to Sky, like the sound of that |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 31-07-2014 12:51
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Neo-Pro
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sutty68 wrote:
Rohan Dennis to Sky, like the sound of that
Future TDF winner?
And Sky might be signing a few more Australians in the near future.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 31-07-2014 12:55
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Neo-Pro
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The first pieces of luggage started to drop out off the baggage carousel, to my disappointment my suitcase wasn’t one of the lucky ones. The urge to sit down getting bigger by the passing second, as a cyclist one just hates to stand and walk. A stupid smile forming on my face as I told Thomas (the passenger to whom I sat next in the plane and had made a temporary friendship with) about the idea I once had of selling Segways in the peloton a great energy saving device, I figured.
“Oi, aren’t you Nicholas Arcier?”
The sudden voice startled me a bit. As I turned around three guys were standing behind me, a rather comedic trio as they seemed to be perfectly measured from tallest to shortest. I faintly remembered having seen the shortest one before somewhere.
After confirming to my identity. The situation cleared itself up quite quickly, it seemed I had bumped into Blair Fisher, Graham Andrade and Bayung Grimshaw, the three new Australians who would be riding for Tissot starting this year. (Those names are listed from tallest to shortest. Fisher a beast of a man at just over 190cm and a good 85kg. Contrasting the around 170cm short Grimshaw)
It was Bayung Grimshaw who rung a bell though, the 19 year old was the silver medalist in Ponferrada this year in the U23 category. (After getting a flat in the last lap and mounting an impressive comeback which just felt short of first) Quite some hype build around him, hype which got even bigger when our team signed him. A lot of parallels with my own signing as Sky seemed to be the long term favorite to get his signature. The three came as a package though, because like most Australian cyclists they all had a history on the track, where they hauled in the various medals as well.
As tends to be normal in social situations it was the short Grimshaw who was verbally superior to his taller friends. The short Aussie spilling a wave of words on how he was looking forward to ride with me.
Words which should have flattered, but the smug look in his eyes and over friendliness of his voice, made the words sound empty and hollow.
Luckily Thomas was kind enough to break through the conversation as he handed me my suitcase. Wishing me a luck at my training camp while taking his leave.
Joined by the Australian trio by my side we made our way out of the arrival gate. Briefly held up by a swarm of paparazzi who were running behind a short brunette who I remember seeing on MTV or one of those other entertainment channels.
After an explicit comment from Grimshaw at which I rolled my eyes we made our way out Los Angeles International Airport. Ready to head to Santa Barbara where the entire Tissot team would gather for our 10 day pre-season training camp.
Edited by Re Leone on 31-07-2014 20:24
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 31-07-2014 13:07
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Tour de France Champion
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Nice that you have already met your future team mates |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 01-08-2014 15:59
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Neo-Pro
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@sutty68
And a friendly bunch they are!
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