Yup, the results are a bit worse for us than they were at the start of the season, but things will change hopefully, once we start Spring Classics. Let's hope to start 'good results' streak with Milano - San Remo win.

Last challenge before Milano - San Remo for guys. Actually, none of the biggest names that will compete in MSR are here. All of them decided to race TA or PN instead of this, but that surely doesn't mean we're going to watch boring race in Netherlands, today.




Once again, as most of these 'preparational' races for upcoming classics, this one is pan flat with only few short cobblestone sections. There's still big quesiton mark on the winner topic. Stamina and riders that are mainly good on cobblestones will surely try something, but i think sprinters will going to decide the winner of this.

As I previously said, all major 1-day classic contenders are already on one of the UWT races that are going on, so the startlist isn't really strong here. Biggest favourites for this race are: Steegmans, Veelers, Rast, Sieberg, Mondory, de Kort and Wynants. Should be great fight!



Luckily, biggest part of our classic-team stayed home this time, instead of going to PN or TA, which will surely make us one of strongest teams in the race. Clearly, Rast is our leader here, but with having Stuyven, Hondo, Roulston in the team, the daily form will surely decide the on-field leader here. We don't expect alot from this race, but some Top 10 would be nice and we would be satisfied.



At the end, all depends on if the race is going to finish in mass sprint or by some solo attack from one of the race favourites. That brings big dose of uncertainty to the race and it's surely going to be interesting race to ride and follow.

See ya on the field, DS of Trek FR

Well, it really was. Thanks!

Quite warm time in Netherlands today. It's sunny, around 15°C which should be great time for some cycling. The race is about to start, so we have to log off. Wish our guys luck, they'll surely need it!




Big group of 13 cyclists decided to make a move and created a breakaway of the day group. Most of the teams had their guys here, as well as we did. Fabio Silvestere was our guy in breakaway today.



We decided to go with wheelsuck tactic, so Fabio decided to constantly skip relays. Rest of the group was a bit angry, but they had no choice. After some time, Fabio got flat tire and started loosing time on the breakaway group, who meanwhile upped the pace. Payback.



One big nothing in next 130-140 kilometers, so we'll just skip over that period of peloton chasing and E1 group trying to stay in front. Anyways, around 30 kilometers to go Marcel Sieberg from Lotto decided to make a move! He's followed by Veelers and they're now gaining some time on peloton. E1 group still has around a minute of advantage.



However, although they had Veelers in front, guys from Giant knew that Sieberg is stronger, so they had to chase and up the pace a bit. They were really active today!



20 kilometers to go and they caught both E1 and E2 group. Giant had some hell of the training-camps in pre season, as their guys are unbeliavably strong in this part of the season. Anyways, Vakoc, one of the guys that took part in BOTD group, attacked once again.



He kept the great pace until the 10kms to go, where Giant showed some class once again and caught him. Is this start of the passive race again? Of course no, main favourites for this races are attacking now and this can decided the race winner! Roulston, Rast, Wynants, De Kort and Sieberg are there. Only 3 kms to go now.



It's looking like the guys in front has only 100 or 200 meters of advantage, which means it will be very tight finish at the end. Hondo is Stuyven's leadout on the top of the peloton. Guys from Belgian teams are there, including Gert Steegmans. He's looking great!



And the sprint in front group started. Wynants and de Kort launched it, as 2 best sprinters in that group. Peloton is right behind them. Last corner, less than a kilometer to go. Who's going to win this?



After really powerful acceleration, strong and long sprint, Gert Steegmans gets a win for OPQS here! He finished in front of Van Staeyen and Fenn, who were 2nd and 3rd at the end.



Stuyven captured the 5th place. Pretty good result for a guy with 72SP, i'd say. I am pretty sure that we're looking at new great classic sprinter, hopefully new Tom Boonen!

1	Gert Steegmans	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	4h18'31
2	Michael Van Staeyen	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	s.t.
3	Andrew Fenn	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
4	Mickaël Delage	FDJ.fr	s.t.
5	Jasper Stuyven	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
6	Wesley Kreder	Wanty - Groupe Gobert	s.t.
7	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Kenneth Vanbilsen	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	s.t.
9	Alessandro Bazzana	UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling	s.t.
10	Roy Jans	Wanty - Groupe Gobert	s.t.

Well, Belkin and Giant are not Dutch for a simple reason - These companies are not Dutch, despite the fact that teams are both Dutch orientated. That's why Giant is from Taiwan and Belkin is from USA.

Yup, Jasper really did put a good ride in there. Okay, so I think i never posted anything about the talents of this team, so you'll get a bit scary when you see all of this:

Jasper Styuven	Potentially 84SP, 83ACC
Fabio Silvestre	Potentially 81SP, 84 ACC
Eugenio Alafaci	Potentially 75SP, 81ACC
Danny van Poppel	Potentially 82SP, 80ACC
Boy van Poppel	Potentially 79SP, 82ACC
Giacomo Nizzolo	Potentially 80SP, 79ACC

These are the sprinters, let's now check the TTers and Climbers:

Andy Schleck	Potentially 78MO,78HIL
Julian Arredondo	Potentially 77MO,75HIL
Bob Jungels	Potentially 75MO, 84TT
Riccardo Zoidl	Potentially 76MO, 77TT
Jesse Sergent	Potentially 85DO, 78TT

All in all - One hell of a sprinting team it will be. We'll try to focus on scouting and buying more climbers in future if we want to be best all-around team. Also ,just a note, i never edited any of the stats, so all of these potential stats are from Daily DB. I am planning to do so with Devolder and move him to 75COB, just before Spring Classics season starts.

7th stage of Paris Nice and surely one of the last chances to do something on Race to the Sun. Alot of short, steep climbs who should suit more to puncheurs than to real climbers. But, there's one big climb, last rated one, that should bring us alot of fun. So, nothing to wait for, let's just start!




Really strong breakaway launched early, with some big names in it. Bardet, Aru, Vichot, Amador, Bookwalter and Guillou are all there. They look really good. This might be the first breakaway to succeed in this edition of PN.



The gap were getting bigger constantly and it topped on 13 minutes. I now feel safe to say that peloton will let BOTD go. We regret for missed opportunity a bit, but we can't do anything about it now, except totally focus on Cancellara and Schleck.



All of these short climbs couldn't really drop any of major GC contenders. Last rated and longest climb in the stage started. Schleck brothers got the position on the top of the peloton at the bottom of it and they're now setting their tempo. It looks good for us so far!



That tactic worked out pretty well actually, as there were now only one group of about 20 guys, 20 guys that are fighting for GC. We're only on half of mountain.



The pace was even strong to drop Froome and Nibali for a moment. But they recovered pretty soon and they caught E2 group quickly.



Meanwhile, on the top of the race, guys were already on descent. Bardet dropped everyone and is having a great downhill. Bookwalter is the one closest to him, with more than a minute of gap. Only 15 kilometers for them. Romain is going for a stage win here!



For a big surprise, nothing happened on the rest of climb and on the descent in peloton. Guys behind had a great pace and on last climb, they managed to catch all the BOTD participiants, except Bardet. Final, hilly sprint is about to start for them.



Meanwhile, on the finish line, Romain Bardet got an easy win. Surely deserved one, as he clearly showed some class, saved energy for last few kilometers and dropped everyone.



More than a minute behind, group arrived. Both Cancellara and Andy finished in the same group as favourites. Betancur won the sprint in front of Kwiat and Purito and made it 1-2 for AG2R today.



Fabian finished on solid 9th place, while Andy got 14th. Solid result for the team, but you really can't beat Worlds Best puncheurs in climbs like this. GC remained the same, with Cancellara on 4th and Andy on 7th place.

1	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	5h23'16
2	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'12
3	Michał Kwiatkowski	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
4	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	s.t.
5	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
6	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	s.t.
7	Chris Froome	Team Sky	s.t.
8	Peter Velits	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
9	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
10	Robert Gesink	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

GC

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	27h13'28
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 9
3	Michał Kwiatkowski	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 46
4	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	+ 53
5	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 54
6	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 1'02
7	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'39
8	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'45
9	Dries Devenyns	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 1'46
10	Christian Knees	Team Sky	+ 1'47

Points	Fabian Cancellara [Trek]	98 points
KoM	Fabio Aru [Astana]	40 points
U25	Michał Kwiatkowski [OPQS]	27h14'14
Team	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	81h44'07

I'd like to thank you all, who voted for me in New Story of the Month initiative. I was really surprised when I saw that I won, but that just motivates me to keep this one alive. Once again, thanks everyone.

I was not able to keep the old pace in last few days, as I had alot of job to do, like school-work, real-life stuff, MG work and all of that. This part of the year is always busy for me, but I hope i'll continue old pace (min. 1 report per day) soon.

Baia, I planned to share it here, once i convert them to PCM size and all, so they can be used in PCM, also. I'll contact you and post the thread here, once I do that.

First hilly stage of Tirreno - Adriatico 2014 is in front of us. ALot of steep and short climbs today, finishing with deadly one, that has percentages more than 16 and is rated as black. No precise plans for us, except that Zubeldia is our leader, as it was obvious.




The breakaway was a bit late, but it really was strong group. With Montaguti, Cunego, Fedrigo and Kolobnev, this group has really great chances to stay in front of peloton until the end, especially considering the thing they all have more than 1'30" disadvantage in GC.



Peloton didn't really care about them, so they let them go. almost half of the race passed and the first and only rated hill was in front of us. One of the favourites for todays stage, Domenico Pozzovivo is having troubles there. He has been dropped there!



He recovered in next tens of kilometers and thanks to helps of his teammates, got back into the peloton. 25 kilometers to go now and only 3 significiant hills there. Jungels is trying to make a move from his seat!



We never expected serious reaction from peloton, but the top favourites really reacted. De Gendt, Valverde, Jungels and Van der Broeck are now about 30 seconds in front of peloton. 20 kilometers to go.



It was expected from Jungels to drop due to high pace that De Gendt set and it was like that. Meanwhile, Hesjedal moved up in front and he's now there instead of Jungels. They're still only few hundred of meters in front of peloton. 15 kms to go.



Meanwhile, our guys were in the middle of the peloton. Guys on the top of it Contador, Costa and few others are setting the high pace. Their goal is clearly to catch E2 group.



Breakaway of the day group finished downhill and they're now only 10 kilometers in front of finish line. 2 hills are in front of them. Montaguti already dropped on previous climb. One of them is going to win this stage, surely.



Peloton quickly arrived to next hill, the 2nd one before the end. Kreuziger is making move and one big, compact group is back behind. They're trying to get him, but seems like AGR champion from 2013 is doing a great job. Zubeldia and Voigt are still there for us.



As these climbs are short, that one finished quick aswell and soon riders were facing the last, and hardest climb on todays stage. Fedrigo is accelerating from his seat and seems like Cunego and Kolobnev can't follow that!



Kreuziger arrives after 40 seconds, while peloton is there after 1'20". Our Haimar Zubeldia had a great strategy to place himself on the top, before these narrow roads arrives. He's even attacking!



The climb was steep but it was short aswell. Fedrigo managed to keep his position in front of the others and won this stage. He's really exhausted. He can't even raise his hands!



Kreuziger reduced his gap to 30 seconds, while peloton finished 1 minute behind. Zubeldia had a great day and finished on 5th place, as first guy in peloton. This is great indicator for rest of the race!

1	Pierrick Fédrigo	FDJ.fr	6h01'40
2	Alexandr Kolobnev	Team Katusha	+ 18
3	Damiano Cunego	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
4	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 30
5	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'01
6	Rui Costa	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
7	Ryder Hesjedal	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
8	Samuel Sánchez	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
9	Philippe Gilbert	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'22
10	Richie Porte	Team Sky	s.t.

GC

1	Alexandr Kolobnev	Team Katusha	15h57'04
2	Samuel Sánchez	BMC Racing Team	+ 8
3	Richie Porte	Team Sky	+ 14
4	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
5	Pierrick Fédrigo	FDJ.fr	s.t.
6	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 29
7	Philippe Gilbert	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
8	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
9	Ryder Hesjedal	Garmin Sharp	+ 32
10	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 33

Points	Andre Greipel [Lotto]	22 points
KoM	Johnny Hoogerland [Androni]	10 points
U25	Fabio Felline [Trek]	16h04'13
Team	Trek Factory Racing	47h20'16

Our sponsor goal is Top5 here. Haimar will only have to keep with the favourites in next, only mountain stage, to be in Top 5, as he'll surely overtake Gilbert, Kolobnev and Fedrigo there. Will be hard!

Thanks alot, baia. As Shonak once said, both FDJ and Trek could win easily if they were competing in different months. Shame that you didn't make it with such a story, but we can still "fight" for Story of the Month, next time. Be sure i won't let you get it easy.

And last stage of Race to the Sun is in front of us. After 7 days of great racing, we finally came to an end of 2nd UWT race of this season. Last stage is hilly one with long downhill until 1km to go. It's 2 circuit around Nice for final here, should bring us alot of fun.




From the start of the stage we had a plan to send Zoidl in breakaway and it finally happened when stage started. He joined guys such as Millar, Hivert, Pineau etc. in 1st group and they created break of the day.



Zoidl felt good today so he had multiple tries to make a solo move and do something on his own. However, guys back behind always managed to catch him somehow, so he had to give up after few tries, or he'd lose too much energy.



First 2 hills passed without any major stuff, with only few teams on top of the peloton controlling the stage. However, the second climb was time for favourites to attack. Roche was first one to attack and he was followed by alot of the guys. All of that was quickly neutralised by peloton.



Katusha set the high pace on the top of the peloton and managed to catch guys from breakaway on the top of the mountain. Nibali, as one of best downhillers in that group is making a move. Schleck brothers, Cancellara and Zoidl are in that group for us.



Rodriguez made a move soon. He was followed by Cancellara. Fabian doing all the work from his seat looks so scary. He's so strong today. 7 kilometers to go.



Sprint is about to start, riders are finishing the descent and are entering the zone of banners. Who can win this? They're about 20 seconds in front of peloton and one kilometer to go.



Fabian is first one to launch the sprint! Looks like Nibali is too exhausted. Purito, however, manages to follow that. Spaniard is looking too good...



And, shite! Really close sprint between Rodriguez and Cancellara was decided by half of wheels lenght. Rodriguez took the win, while Fabian got 2nd place.



Not really bad, but it could've been way better for us. If nothing, this means great form for Fabian just before Milano - San Remo, who's coming in few days.

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	3h30'46
2	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
3	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
4	Tony Gallopin	Lotto Belisol	+ 15
5	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
6	Michał Kwiatkowski	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
7	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Chris Froome	Team Sky	s.t.
9	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ.fr	s.t.
10	Bauke Mollema	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

GC

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	30h44'08
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 13
3	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	+ 40
4	Michał Kwiatkowski	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 52
5	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 1'00
6	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 1'08
7	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'45
8	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'51
9	Dries Devenyns	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 1'52
10	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'53

Points	Fabian Cancellara [Trek]	120 points
KoM	Jerome Coppel [Cofidis]	46 points
U25	Michał Kwiatkowski [OPQS]	30h45'00
Team	Trek Factory Racing	92h17'58

And great race for us. Fabian managed to catch the Top 3 at the end, as well as green jersey, while team won overally. That was all for Paris - Nice 2014, see ya!