Team Youtube Twitter Quarterly Season Update
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Hello and welcome to the quarterly season update from me Bob Haskins, TYT's Director Sportif, first off, i'd like to say a huge congratulations to the team for our fantastic start to the season, we currently head the victories rankings internationally, and are top in the CT rankings as we head to the Giro next month!
The first quarter of the season contains many fantastic races, and i will present to you the winners of the UWT events so far this year. for Youtube-Twitter the victories list is vast, i will present the list of CT and NC races in which we have competed, and the eventual winners below. and then afterwards, a summary of the UWT events so far this season.
Current Best Placings in UWT, CT and Team, and Indivudual.
UWT Rider-
1st-Roman Kreuziger 395points
TYT-10th- Peter Pal 114points
UWT EVENTS Events we entered are in ITALICS along with our best position and the rider who achieved this placing.
Santos Tour Down Under-Sylvain Chavanel
Paris-Nice- Fabian Cancellara Alexander Lens 7th
Tirreno-Adriatico- Alexandr Kolobnev Milan San-Remo-Fabian Cancellara Eric Chen 6th
Volta Cycliste Catalunya- Patrik Sinkewitz Gent-Wevelgem-Fillipo Pozzato Jey-Cy Cavendickx 3rd
Next Month brings just 2 races,
But what a race one of those will prove to be-
The Giro D'Italia is the first of our big sponsor goals, with them hopeful fo us receiving a top 10 placing overall in the GC, Jakab Zoltan and Gary Sutton will be hoping for much better however, and it will be interesting to see how our riders get on in the quest for the Maglia Rosa.
The second race, is a second minor British classic, the Dumfries Bike Fest Grand Prix, we hope to ride strongly in the race, but it remains a secondary target in the month of May!
That's all from me for now, I will see you all on the start line in 10days time, when the team set off in our debut GT, hoping to show ourselves off, in order to gain a pro tour licence for next season.
-Bob Haskins-
Edited by baggieboys32 on 29-01-2012 21:47
It's Here! the first Grand tour in which we will enter as a team, ever! The Italian grand tour, first ridden in May 1909, the race has developed a lot over the past century, gaining 13more stages as the years have progressed, to the now 3 week tour, including mountains, sprints, and a whole lot of action throughout, in the quest for the Maglia Rosa.
Team Youtube-Twitter will not be focusing on the flat race days, aiming instead to control the mountains, with Sutton and Zoltan, and maybe go stage hunting in the hills, with puncheur, Timo Bern.
Pre-race, the favourites have been tipped as Bradley Wiggins, Damian Cunego, Jakab Zoltan and Robert Kiserlovski, all of whom will be seen regularly towards the front in the coming 3 weeks.
The opening stage of this years Giro, is a 23km TTT, an opportunity to instantly break up the pelotons time, whilst giving a thrill to the fans watching from the sidelines, as the riders race round the city trying to claim valuable seconds over the opposition.
For Team Youtube Twitter, today would be an interesting test, on the one hand, we do have some strong TT'ers who will be able to help us stay near the top, but at the same time, the competition will be fierce, and more fast paced, than our CT team will be used to to start with.
The race time of around 29'37 of Team Sky, was looking extremely good early on, they were 3rd to set off, and after 6teams had ridden, they were still top, no teams able to get within reach of there time, except Radioshack, who eventually finished 6" behind them.
Spoiler
The 13th team to set off, was Movistar, who had been ranked as outsiders before the stage began, they started quickly, setting a high pace early on, the broke the top time through the first checkpoint, but seemed to have given too much too early, and the team broke up, and filtered out of contention in the critical last few kilometers, eventually finishing 24" behind Skys time.
Spoiler
Leopard Trek were a surprise today, everyone had expected a strong performance from the side, so when the team came in stone dead last, a full minute and a half behind Sky, there GC rider Jakob Fuglsang, will be highly dissapointed, leaving himself a large margin to close later on in the tour.
Spoiler
Leopard Trek, were followed out of the Blocks by a high paced HTC-Highroad team, the HTC riders were 3" behind the lead as they passed checkpoint 1, but the favourites for todays stage, accelerated in the second half of the course, as Van Garderen, and then Lars Bak pressed at the front, and when they crossed the finish line, they had a lead of 31" over the the Team Sky Procycling time.
Spoiler
The second last side to set off, were the Youtube-Twitter riders, no one knew quite what to expect from the high strength CT team, and when they reached the 1st checkpoint, they were just 12" behind Movistars time. They set a high pace, but only 5riders were taking turns up front, and the slower TTers steadily started to fall behind, they crossed the line in 5th place, just 5" behind Sky, meaning that HTC's eventual lead was a full 31seconds!
Spoiler
At the end of the day, it was Bert Grabsch of HTC-Highroad, who donned teh first maglia rosa, after crossing the line first for his side, the question now, will be how long can the HTC riders protect the pink jersey, without a strong climbing squad, but for now at least, some strong coverage for their side.
Spoiler
For Team Youtube Twitter, today was overall a fine result, HTC who hold the current lead, will be unlikely to hold on to the end of the race, meaning our leaders are strongly placed, with only 5" separating us, with Bradley Wiggins, the leader of Sky. meanwhile several other leaders have been left with a greater job to do, with much larger gaps to have to try and close.
You've got a very nice story going on Baggie, congratulations on that That's a great team you have for Giro, should be exciting and already great start especially in TTT. Good luck
The second stage of the Giro D'italia, is a 238km route, which is predominantly flat, with the short but sharp ascent of the Tabiano Castello just 15km from the finish, which may prove to be a hiccup for the pure sprinters, due to its position near the finale.
For Youtube-Twitter, today brought no real interest, our job was to sit in the peloton, and make sure not to lose time on the other GC contenders, Bern might follow should an attack be placed on the Tabiano, but otherwise, today was a day for the other teams.
The first normal stage of the Giro, was unsurprisingly, started at tremendous speed, with several large groups of riders, fighting to be a part of the 1st breakaway, a group of initially 6riders got away, including Aussie Jack Bobridge, and Davide Vigano of Leopard Trek.
Spoiler
Once this group had been able to open up a gap of just over a minute, 4 more riders also attacked, and joined the group up front, in the group, were Tossato of Saxobank, and the French rider Lounard, of AG2R.
Spoiler
At the first sprint checkpoint of the Giro, only two riders seemed interested in the points, with Jack Bobridge losing out on the line to Vigano, who sprinted from 6th place to take the first points of the day.
Spoiler
Todays breakaway was allowed to open a gap of 8minutes before any teams took up the chase, however with just over 100km left to race, it was initially current race leaders, HTC, and then shortly afterwards, the sprinters teams- Radioshack, and Omega-Pharma Lotto who came forwards, to work on reducing the gap.
Spoiler
Spoiler
One rider was unfortunate to lose company with his bike, fortunately missing the rest of the peloton, was the sprinter from team Sky, Chris Sutton hit the floor hard, following a sharp corner, and was unfortunate to have to bring his Giro to an early close, suffering from sufficient injury to take him out of the race.
For the rest of the peloton, the race continued as normal, and as the lead riders entered the first climb of the day, the peloton caught the first glimpses of the group they were chasing, we got this shot from a helmet camera mounted in Lars Baks helmet, where they are just visible in the top left.
Spoiler
Today had just 3KOM points up for grabs, and on the summit of the Tabbiano, Inglinsky would be able to grab just a moment of glory for Astana before the peloton caught him, by taking the lead on the summit, meaning he will start tomorrows stage in the Green KOM leaders jersey.
Spoiler
The sprinters teams had timed it perfectly, catching the leaders on the descent, stopping any puncheurs chance to escape. Bern therefore settled back down within the peloton, meaning that todays quiet stage for Youtube-Twitter would continue all the way to completion. One casualty on the climb, was the Vacansoleil sprinter Borut Bozic, who fell away at the end, taking himself out of contention for the final dash.
As the riders entered the final 4km, no key sprinter could be seen, they were around 20places back, and when the first riders kicked, it seemed that either Moris Scarponi of Lampre, of L.L.Sanchez of Eulskatel-Euskadi would be taking the victory.
Spoiler
Unfortunately for the duo, they appeared to have kicked too early, and when the sprinters did go, they came flying forwards, with Petacchi taking the stage win by around a bike length, in front of Greipel, who just pipped Scarponi to stop a Lampre 1-2 on the line.
Spoiler
Todays result is a success for Youtube-Twitter, no riders able to take time out of there opposition in the short final climb, meaning that we start tomorrows more interesting stage, exactly as we began today.
Sutton and Zoltan are getting fitter every day as we ehad to the mountains, and Bern is hungry for a stage win, at some point in the hills that the Giro brings early in the race.
Edited by baggieboys32 on 01-02-2012 08:23
Sorry for the lack of updates over the past 2 days, i've been in hospital with a broken arm, and as such, the story hasn't been top priority, on Friday i shall probably get 2 or possibly 3 done as i'm now back
The third stage of the Giro, starts with a long fairly flat climb up the Passo Del Brocco, before a hard and fast descent leading to 2 small short hills, and a sprint to the finish amongst whoever remains upon completion of the 173km course.
Even this early in the stage, the sprinters teams were interested in controlling the early break, and thanks to work from Omega-Pharma Lotto, and HTC Highroad, the three riders were unable to escape, and were brought back before the first sprint point, won by Christian Vandewalle.
Spoiler
Once the two sprints were completed, the sprinting teams appeared to relax slightly, and a second group received the opportunity to escape, this time it was a larger group, and once again we were represented, this time, in the shape of rider Miguel Rocha, a young portugese puncheur.
Spoiler
The group were able to get a lead of 6'23" and on the summit of the Passo Del Brocco, it was Miguel Rocha who took the KOM competition points, and the group held a shrunken lead of 3'12"
Spoiler
On the descent, the breakaway was caught, and that meant an end to the day for Youtube-Twitter, who relaxed into the back of the peloton, allowing the sprinters to compete for the finish. In the end, it was Petacchi who showed the quickest burst of speed in the final 250m meaning that he furthers his lead in the points competition, taking full advantage of the few flat days available in the Giro D'Italia.
Spoiler
Our riders to continue to stay on a level playing field with the competition, losing no time on the flat stages, meaning that the later weeks will likely bring serious competition. In the KOM competition, Miguel Rocha joins Iglinsky 1st in the KOM competition.
Giro D'Italia Stage 4
Todays stage of one of the easiest and shortest of the tour, early on, the riders face a difficult ascent on the passo del brocco, but this is unlikely to disrupt the GC too much, as there is a long flat ride following the climb, in which most groups will come back together.
Once again, today is about protecting our riders, rather than aiming for victory, and we will leave work to the teams with sprinters, saving ourselves for key stages later in the tour.
In the morning a 9 man breakaway was allowed free and were able to get away without any further riders attacking to join the group, Valentin Iglinsky of Astana, the current KOM leader was able to get into the break, aiming for the points available on the passo del brocco. Miguel Rocha joined the break initially, but was forced to drop back, on the slopes of del brocco, falling behind the better climbers he was riding alongside.
Spoiler
At the summit of the climb, Iglinsky attacked to try and take more points, but came from too far back in the group, missing out on the points riding in 4th, Team Sky's rider, Kjell Carlstromm took the 3 points, to join Rocha, and Iglinsky at the top in the rankings.
Spoiler
With just 15km left to ride, the chasing Lampre, OPL, and HTC riders, caught the remains of the breakaway, teeing themselves up for a sprint finish, the riders came forward through the pack, but a small mistake by an AG2R rider, caused a massive crash with just 2.8km to go that Zoltan was incredibly lucky to avoid!
Spoiler
32 men hit the ground in the crash, including several candidates for the General Classification! Bradley Wiggins, Sven Szymd and Nicolas Roche all hit the ground in the crash, along with sprinter Petacchi and Simon Spilak. the riders will not lose any time, as they were within the 3km boundary, but it will be interesting to see if the crash affects them during tomorrows hillier stage.
Spoiler
With the confusion that the crashed caused, no sprinters came to the front, and when the riders kicked, it was Igor Anton and Michele Scarponi who pulled away from the group.
Spoiler
Scarponi tried, but not even he could get past the Euskaltel rider, who is in fantastic form, a serious contender for later in the tour! he held his own at the front of the peloton, and Fuji takes his first stage of the Giro, before we arrive in the mountains where he is more specialised.
The fifth stage of the Giro D'Italia, is a 200km route, containing several difficult hills in the passage between Piombino and Orvieto, there are 3 KOM checkpoints on route, 5/3/1 on the Saragiolo, and then 3/2/1 on Croce de Fighine, and Valico de Monte Nibio. the profile is such that a puncheur is likely to claim the stage win, and several riders will start to lose time during the course of the stage.
The breakaway did not leave the peloton until 20km into the race, which was initially controlled by Lampre-ISD and the new pink jersey team, Euskaltel Euskadi, when the breakaway did arrive, a group of 5riders broke free, and when it became clear that they would not be quickly reeled in, 4 more riders, all of them decent puncheurs followed joining them 10km later.
By the second summit, things were starting to look more convincing for the breakaway, with a lead of 9minutes, a gap being held steady by the teamwork within the break, and as a result both the 2nd and 3rd checkpoints were uncontested affairs, with Mazzanti leading the riders over the first, and Bertolini the second, in both cases, uncontested.
Spoiler
The peloton was able to regain some time over the gravel sections of the race, but it was clear with 30km to go, that the break was likely to win overall, and as the sprint finish started to slip from view, the attacks started within the peloton.
With 25km to race 4 key riders- Anton, Sutton, Zoltan and Cunego attacked trying to escape, but despite the strength of the foursome, HTC and Omega-Pharma Lotto refused to allow them free and the peloton had recollected them with 20km to go.
Spoiler
The main favourites for the overall positions had expended themselves in the attack and one rider saw an opportunity to take some time out of other riders, and allow his leaders to relax for the rest of the day. His name was Timo Bern and his attack took him away from the main group with 12km left to ride.
Spoiler
Bern was unable to close to the Breakaway group, but was able to get ahead of most of the other favourites, meaning that he would come in 10th place, with a time gap to those further behind him, of 34" The breakaway launched there sprint together, and the Farnese-Veni rider, Mazzati was able to outsprint his companions and take the stage win, the second of his career, since his Stage 4 victory in the 2005 Giro D'Italia.
I'm sorry guys, but i just haven't had time today to play a stage, and may not before the end of the week, so like i did a while ago, im taking a week off, may not go on for that long, but i'm getting too busy with coursework deadlines etc currently, and Youtube-Twitter are forced to take a back seat until everyything is done, may get some up before then, but it will be patchy for a little while.
