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Caisse d'Epargne || The Future of the Past
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 02-01-2013 11:22
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Grand Tour Champion
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The startlist bit made me laugh...  Valverde is looking good for Liege.  |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 11:38
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World Champion
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Good result for Valverde, but Mollema  . And agreed with Freitas, that startlist. |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 12:10
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World Champion
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Love to see Mollema win! One of my favourite riders.
Great result from Valverde too!
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 17:31
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World Champion
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@ all: Really thanks a lot guys. Im glad it made you laugh, although it wasn't my intention  Mollema is surely over-performing right now, but like Pelli said, I like him so I guess its okay.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 17:59
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World Champion
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 Liege Bastogne Liege 2012
Caisse Squad
Startlist:
Spoiler Its here this time!
Caisse are looking to close out the final Ardennes classic with a win. Valverde is planned to be the overwhelming Team Leader as the secondary captain, Purito hasn't been performing near Valverde's level at all. Gilbert has been warming up, and could be the eventual winner here, but Mollema has been strong too.
The day begins with a breakaway, and today, BMC, Astana and Rabobank have only allowed a breakaway clear of 3 minutes. They also made sure that it contained exactly no threats for a potential win, they dont to take any risks today!
Predictably, with such a small gap to the breakaway, attacks started to establish about 40km from the finish. Voeckler and Albasini initially made moves, and that was enough for Joaquim Rodriguez to follow their move. It started a flow of moves, with pretty much every leader following the move, apart from Valverde and Mollema. Valverde took a gamble and thought that Rabobank, who were chasing hard could bring back the group, but that wasn't happening....
As we can see, the lead group containing all the heads of the race. Rodriguez and even Uran are in this group, being careful not to increase the pace for their team leader, but Gilbert is still making the pace high.
So with 20km to go, Valverde is now closing in on the final group, thanks to some amazing work by Pablo Lastras who's been helping pace him up to the group for the better part of 15km. He begins to drop down to the Mollema group (the 3rd group on the road) as he's done as much of his job as he can, and is now tired.
Uran is used as a sacrifice at this point and drops from the first group to help Valverde bridge the final 15 seconds.
The official re-grouping is made and Valverde has little time to recover. Purito looks a little fresher but neither look the strongest in the group!
The sprint begins, and Valverde's tried to surprise the group by making an attack but the group slowly gets back onto his wheel. Purito is also in decent postion, and another alright result from him is inevitable, and rescues his classic season for sure.
But Gilbert pulls around Valverde and just flys away from the rest. He takes the win, easily in the sprint, and Valverde grabs the 2nd place, again. It will be frustrating for Alejandro, who must be thinking he'd have the energy to win that sprint, if he hadn't missed the initial attacks on the stage, but instead had to bridge the gap with only one teammate with him for a good 20km. Its still a gutsy effort for 2nd though.
| 1 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | 7h14'24 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde | Caisse d'Epargne | + 19 | | 3 | Vincenzo Nibali | Liquigas - Cannondale | + 50 | | 4 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 5 | Jelle Vanendert | Lotto - Belisol | s.t. | | 6 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 7 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | 8 | Lieuwe Westra | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Óscar Freire | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 10 | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 2'42 | | 11 | Pablo Lastras | Caisse d'Epargne | + 3'34 | | 12 | Maxime Monfort | RadioShack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | 13 | Maxim Iglinskiy | Astana Pro Team | + 4'08 | | 14 | Dries Devenyns | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 4'32 | | 15 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 16 | Nicki Sørensen | Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank | s.t. | | 17 | Björn Leukemans | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 18 | Alexandre Vinokourov | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 19 | Vladimir Karpets | Team Geox | s.t. | | 20 | Kanstantsin Siutsou | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 21 | Danilo Di Luca | Acqua & Sapone | s.t. | | 22 | Igor Antón | Euskaltel - Euskadi | s.t. | | 23 | Tony Martin | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 24 | Jurgen Van den Broeck | Lotto - Belisol | s.t. | | 25 | Greg Van Avermaet | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 26 | Ben Hermans | RadioShack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | 27 | Carlos Barredo | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 28 | Lars Petter Nordhaug | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 29 | Jakob Fuglsang | RadioShack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | 30 | Javier Moreno | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 13:47
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 18:05
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World Champion
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Joined: 23-06-2011
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A 1st and 2 2nd places. A good average and with good results from other riders, you had a good time in the Ardennes. |
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| ste_18 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 18:06
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Damn! This must be frustrating for Alejandro!
Again second, but this time he made the mistake to don't follow Gilbert's attack Anyway 3 podium in the Ardennes season is good.
Which are Purito's SP stat? It's a bit strange to see him behind Wiggings in a sprint... |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 18:13
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Tour de France Champion
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Lastras did a Brilliant job in getting Valverde up the lead group 
But only for Gilbert to go and spoil it |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 02-01-2013 18:44
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Tour de France Champion
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Losing LBL to Gilbert is the best way to lose, if you know what I mean
Great job, excellent riding! After all, you can't have it all, unfortunately. Great screens and like always, enjoyable reporting. |
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 02-01-2013 18:58
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Grand Tour Champion
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Only the beast beat Valverde, so it was a great result. It has to be said, Valverde was the most consistent during the week. |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 02-01-2013 19:02
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World Champion
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Second place after having to work hard just to get back to the group is really impressive. Good race from Purito as well.
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| dienblad |
Posted on 02-01-2013 22:06
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3772
Joined: 10-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Nah, Gilbert was unbeatable today. Even if Valverde hadn't missed that earlier attack...
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 04-01-2013 10:23
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Team Manager
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I finally managed to catch up with this story, I like it a lot Caisse is a great team with some of my favorite riders in it and it seems like you will be able to bring in even more good results. Count me in as a regular follower from now on
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| andy222c |
Posted on 05-01-2013 11:54
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Sprinter
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Great race! So close, but yet so far for Valverde. Either way he at least tried something. Gilbert seemed to be the by far strongest, so losing to him, and taking 2nd is a fantastic result
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 18-01-2013 01:39
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World Champion
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Thanks a lot everyone. Im sorry I've been inactive with this lately, but I've been a bit busy with school and things. I've still not exactly got loads of time, but I am having fun with this, and thats all that really matters.
I've also been thinking about this a lot for the future seasons, and Im thinking of changing something.....of course Im not going to say, that spoils the surprise
 Tour de Romandie 2012
Caisse Squad
Startlist
Stages
The race has many real contenders here. Wiggins, Schleck, Mollema and Vanendert are all quality riders, and it will be a challenging route as well. The field is strong as many riders are using this race as build up to the Giro d'Italia in just over a weeks time. For Caisse, the race is being used as exactly that, a tune up to the first Grand Tour of the season. The goal there will be a Top 10, and we will likely see one of the 3 riders here (Costa, Intxausti, or Bruseghin) leading the team in Italy (and briefly Denmark) for the Giro. But now on to the Romandie report!
The opening prologue was not a very good start for the Caisse squad, as no riders finished inside the Top 25 for the team, a rather weak result, considering the riders who are here, and aren't all that bad at time trialing. Wiggins wins the stage and opens the tour in the leaders jersey. The last place finisher was only 35 seconds behind, so everyone was essentially equal on time, as the mountains would surely settle who is actually the strongest.
Stage 2 had Jens Voigt make a late stage attack and win the stage, just out lasting the charging peloton to the line. Caisse's leadership was still a little up in the air, but the riders finished slightly higher, a sign that they were in decent form for the race.
Stage 3 saw another sprint to the line, that also did not feature any actual sprinters. Bauke Mollema took the day in a sprint, while all other contenders for the overall finished well inside the first group. No significant time changes again. This race was becoming very stale for the fans, but the mountains coming up, would surely solve this problem!
And so in stage 4, we saw a bit more action! The real favourites maanged to pull away from some of the "pretenders" and a gap of 42 seconds was made as they crossed the line. Vanendert took the win thanks to his good positioning going into the final corner of the stage.
| 1 | Jelle Vanendert | Lotto - Belisol | 3h51'08 | | | 2 | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | | 3 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | | ... | | 17 | Beñat Intxausti | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | 18 | Marzio Bruseghin | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | ... | | 20 | Dries Devenyns | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 42 | |
And stage 5 was really full of action. On the descent before the final climb, the peloton put on a good chase to bring back the escapees, who had made their moves near the top of the climb. It was wrongly understood that those riders were just picking up KOM points, but it turned out they had more in store.
Eventually the chase was on, and at the top of the final climb a real selection was made with Wiggins and Zubeldia nad Kreuziger to name a few as well as Caisse's own Benat Intxausti, who actually pushed the pace at the very summit and picked up a few KOM points in the process. When no gap was made for him, he stopped his quick descent and decided to store up energy for the sprint. And in the final sprint, he was able to grab a 5th place among many strong riders! Wiggins won the day, but Intxausti can be very proud of his ride today!
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | 4h52'33 | | 2 | Bram Tankink | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 3 | Haimar Zubeldia | RadioShack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | 4 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 5 | Beñat Intxausti | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. |
In the final TT, only one man had the legs to win and that was overall race Leader Bradley Wiggins, who some would say, has dominated the race or rather controlled the race from start to finish. Much to everyones disbelief, thanks to the amazing ride put in by Intxausti in the TT, he was able to move into 2nd overall, a terrific achievement for him personally! And what a ride for Caisse too! They may just have found their leader for the Giro!
| 1 | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank Cycling Team | 30'24 | | 2 | Jelle Vanendert | Lotto - Belisol | + 5 | | 3 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 4 | Andy Schleck | RadioShack Nissan Trek | + 7 | | 5 | Marzio Bruseghin | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | 6 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 10 | | 7 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 8 | Beñat Intxausti | Caisse d'Epargne | + 12 | | 9 | Levi Leipheimer | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 15 | | 10 | Michael Rogers | Sky Pro Cycling | + 18 |
Final Overall
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | 18h21'59 | | 2 | Beñat Intxausti | Caisse d'Epargne | + 30 | | 3 | Rein Taaramäe | Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne | + 36 | | 4 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 5 | Mikel Astarloza | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 57 | | 6 | Steve Morabito | BMC Racing Team | + 59 | | 7 | Lieuwe Westra | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | + 1'20 | | 8 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin - Sharp | + 1'22 | | 9 | Linus Gerdemann | RadioShack Nissan Trek | + 1'30 | | 10 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ - BigMat | + 1'31 |
Points
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | 10 | 69 | | 2 | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank Cycling Team | 15 | 52 | | 3 | Jelle Vanendert | Lotto - Belisol | 12 | 43 |
KOM
| 1 | Alberto Losada | Katusha Team | 0 | 44 | | 2 | Stephen Cummings | BMC Racing Team | 0 | 25 | | 3 | Maarten Tjallingii | Rabobank Cycling Team | 0 | 25 |
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| maxime86 |
Posted on 18-01-2013 01:54
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2950
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good result from Intxausti |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 18-01-2013 08:22
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3772
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Wow, amazing 2nd for Intxausti, did not expected that!
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 18-01-2013 09:05
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Intxausti did a great job, only beaten by Wiggins, very nice!
I think he'd be great in the Giro. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 18-01-2013 09:14
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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Intxausti put in a Great Performance in Switzerland |
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 18-01-2013 15:12
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8389
Joined: 08-09-2009
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Nice ride from Beñat. |
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