knockout: Very strange strategy at the first attack in deed. I assume it was because your team didn't want to let RodrÃguez go...
The Rider: Bakelandts did a very good job for you!
I was doubting a lot whether I could give the award to my own rider, but in the end I decided that I wouldn't have hesitated if the same ride had been done by any other rider due to him starting the deciding break, attacking several times later on the route and still having the energy to beat on paper stronger guys in the final sprint. While I have to be careful not to give "my" riders unfair advantanges it shouldn't be a disadvantage for them either
If I had decided that Euskaltel-riders couldn't win the award it would have gone to Bakelandts though, littel comfort as it may be...
Shonak: Wanted to find a route that would not just be a parade ride for Purito. Next race will be held on the territory of one of the "new" countries. Which is yet to be decided.
South Tyrol was (in the first place anyway) sorted out do to it according to it's wiki-page being more about going from Italy to Austria than about independence as such?
We went to Tour de France with a team of opportunists led by Nieve, but with everyone allowed to chase stage glory on their own.
Usually I would recap each stage one by one, but for the race so far that would be really silly I have to admit...
Up until the TTT we only saw our riders once: When they made a tripple crash including the newly crowned French champion and resulting in Urtasun ababdoning on stage 3.
Then came the TTT, where they really proved that a gathering of the worst TT'ers on Euskaltel-Euskadi are less than impressive...
From there we went on to three stages of complete anonymity without even a breakaway attempt.
On the first mountain top finish we had a slight rise of spirit when Nieve rode his way to a stage top 10.
Since then no one has seen my boys anywhere up to stage 14.
So all-in-all the first 2 weeks of the Tour have been a complete disaster!
At least they should have lost enough time for them not to be shaced down hard by the favourites should they decide to start racing in the final week...
Riders not mentioned did not race this month. Full rankings can be found in post #2
Rider of the Month
With the miserable showing in the Tour we have to look to EHST to find a rider delivering something worth rewarding…
Ion Izagirre
Coming Up
Finally San Sebastian is just around the corner. The team will be led by Sánchez, Antón and Verboven.
Something Basque
This time we'll have a bit of music. Zea Mays is one ofthe most popular contemporary Baque rock bands with seven records made since they formed in 1997.
Another 2nd place for me, needless to say I'm getting tired of them. Though it wasn't for points, itmeant a lot a lot to me cause it was our sponsor's Basque classics series. I was allowed to join one for fun, and I got permission to bring a few Belgians with me. Van Avermeat and Vanmarcke wanted to race as well, so we had quite the team. But in the end, you can't beat Euskaltel. Ion got another win for his already impressive list this year.
A few days later, it was time for the real work. I didn't have the legs today, so I decided to Work for Igor, who was feeling great. Igor was always attacking, staying in the front, but eventually finished 11th. Very disapointing after such a great race from him.
It's bad news for the rankings as well, as our Tour de France wasn't good either. The team really needs points now, so I'm starting to feel the pressure.
To mark the upcoming referendum concerning Scottish independence we will have the next EHST edition in Scotland.
The route is used in the Pearl Izumi series and is only 50 km long.
Since it’s fairly flat it looks to be one for the sprinters with Flanders standing out as the big favourites team while Scotland have a good chance of making a strong home-race results thanks to Fenn.
Welcome to Scotland where we will have a short race to mark the Scottish referendum.
Knowing that they haven’t got much in terms of sprinters Euskaltel-Navarra sends Gorka Verdugo in the attack right from the start.
With only 50 km of racing the peloton doesn’t dare allowing much of a gap and with 40 km to go Verdugo has 45 seconds along with Cazaux (IPA), Buzkarra (EUK) and Fraile (CJR).
The peloton is being led by an alliance of Vlaanderen and Scotland.
With 30 km to go there is another wave of attacks featuring names like David López (SKY), JoaquÃm RodrÃguez (CAT) and Gorka Izagirre (EUE) and several other smaller names. The original break has a gap of around a minute.
Scotland looks to be in control though.
Halfway through the race it’s López alone in front 49 seconds to the peloton and 9 riders in between.
20 km to go and it’s Cazaux 12 seconds ahead of López and Verdugo, who has 16 seconds to Purito, Fraile and Bizkarra. Everyone is still within a minute.
It seems the relentless attacking from the peloton is complicating things for Scotland and Vlaanderen and with 25 km to the finish line they still have 43 seconds to the front trio of Verdugo, López and Cazaux.
But then right at the 10 km mark the peloton is reunited. A brave effort especially by Cazaux, with an incredible amount of attacks against much stronger riders.
Edgar keeps things tightly closed towards the final 5 km.
And then Ben Hermans puts in a solo attack.
Vanmacke is given the task of reeling him in but instead he drops the entire peloton off his wheel. All but Bakelandts that is.
Hermans couldn’t seem to care less as he crosses the line alone.
Bakelandts makes it a 1-2 for RadioShack.
Keukeleire wins the pelotons sprint ahead of home favourite Fenn with Sanz fisnishing as best Basque on 10th place.
The SagastÃn award goes to Cazaux for his relentless attempts to drop WT-riders and go solo in front even though he is currently unemployed.
I'm back in the country after a short trip to Scotland, where I got a 9th place. The Eneco Tour has started, and there is some pressure on me here. The team needs points, and these are the races they bought me for. I won't be riding for the GC, as the organisation put a time trial in the race. I really need to work on that, but for the moment, all I can get is stage results. The first stage had a few hills, so I still had the legs for a sprint towards the end.
A nice top 10 to start with, even though my most likeable stages are probably the last two. But I need to pick up points where I can. In stage 2, we had Jon in the break, which was good as well. Unfortunately Jon just missed the podium and even worse I didn't score any points as my 6th place in the peloton sprint was only a 12th overall. Stage 3 was pancake flat, nothing for me, so I saved my strenght for later on. I really hope to write some good news later this week!
Not exactly the good news I was hoping to write, but well, I guess most of you saw it on tv already. The management decided we need points rather than results at this point (which I can understand seeing the dire situation), so when Jon was still 5th after the time trial and with two stage to go, we all had to work for him. Not that I mind getting my hands dirty, but these were the stages I could try to get some results. Yet it was not to be, we had to protect Jon.
Though we managed to make him finish in the peloton on the cobbled stage, it was not enough for some points. Another disappointment for the team, but no time to mourn, as we need to keep scoring points. Our Vuelta team is off to a good start at least, actually scoring points in a team time trial!
For the final 7 stages of the Tour we mainly saw Nieve on rare occasions hiding in the peloton.
On stage 19 he even squeezed into the top 20 only to drop out again on the following stage after having done absolutely nothing all race.
In fact the closst thing to a highlight in the final wek for us was Oroz being in the break on the champs.
Partly because that was our first break partly because the Champs Elysees means that this embarrasment was finally over...
To everyones great surprise the break managed to keep the sprinters at bay long enough for Oroz to take a surprising top 10.
Ricardo Mestre
Chris Froome
Nairo Quintana
Peter Sagan
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
