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Discovery Channel - TdF 2011
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| Squire |
Posted on 14-04-2010 22:07
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Thanks for the comments. The prolonged easter vacation of this story should be over by now 
alexkr00 wrote:
It's nice to see you back. And great screenshots as always
I do look for interesting camera angles and beautiful backgrounds, so it's nice that you appreciate the screenshots! |
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| Squire |
Posted on 14-04-2010 22:47
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19.09.2009: Vuelta a España
Stage 20
Toledo - Toledo: 27.4km
Tactics meeting
The decisive final time trial is a fairly flat 27km test. Contador's Vuelta win is almost secure, so is Pereiro's 2nd place. The Caisse rider has been a great surprise this Vuelta, although the Tour maybe showed some signs of things to come. There will be a battle between Evans and Leipheimer for 3rd, but Cadel Evans seems to be in better shape than Levi at the moment so we're not overly optimistic.
Vasil Kiryienka of Caisse d'Epargne sat the early time to beat.
It was thoroughly beaten by the Swede Gustav Larsson. The Saxo Bank TT specialist recorded a time that was 1'12 better than Kiryienka.
Levi pedalled through the outskirts of Toledo in a pace much slower than we're used to from him. He had no chance of beating Larsson and behind him, Evans was setting some impressive times in the intermediate checks.
The Australian riding for Silence - Lotto finished 3 seconds ahead of Larsson while beating Levi Leipheimer by 50 seconds. This meant 4th place overall for our Discovery leader.
Vuelta surprise package Oscar Pereiro rode an unspectacular time trial, finishing 13th. But he easily kept his 2nd place overall.
Alberto Contador, who was 1 second away from the Tour de France win, secured his Vuelta win without much drama. He finished 3rd in the time trial, 22 seconds down on Cadel Evans, who won his second stage in the Vuelta 2009. Interestingly, the top10 of the GC remains unchanged after today except for the time gaps.
Today's winner
Results
1 Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto 34'41
2 Gustav Larsson Team Saxo Bank + 3
3 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 22
4 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel + 50
5 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 55
6 Vladimir Karpets Team Katusha + 1'15
7 Vasil Kiryienka Caisse d'Epargne + 1'16
8 Juanjo Cobo Fuji - Servetto + 1'20
9 Linus Gerdemann Team Milram + 1'29
10 Héctor Guerra Liberty Seguros + 1'36
GC
1 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team 81h28'40
2 Óscar Pereiro Caisse d'Epargne + 2'51
3 Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 3'33
4 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel + 4'44
5 Juanjo Cobo Fuji - Servetto + 6'07
6 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 8'08
7 Fränk Schleck Team Saxo Bank + 10'53
8 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 13'24
9 Linus Gerdemann Team Milram + 13'40
10 Xavi Tondo AndalucÃa Cajasur + 14'45 |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 15-04-2010 03:11
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World Champion
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Well just really glad to see this story back. I love your style and your screenshots. Defiantely one fo the best stories on the forum.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 23:20
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| Eeee394 |
Posted on 15-04-2010 12:16
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Amateur
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nice update |
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| apolloc |
Posted on 15-04-2010 23:05
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Amateur
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Great story so far!
One question: How do you toggle rider names before taking screenshots? Kind of annoying with the names hovering above riders' heads. |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 16-04-2010 02:06
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
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apolloc wrote:
Great story so far!
One question: How do you toggle rider names before taking screenshots? Kind of annoying with the names hovering above riders' heads.
tab
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| Squire |
Posted on 16-04-2010 16:08
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20.09.2009: Vuelta a España
Stage 21 [Last stage]
Rivas-Vaciamadrid - Madrid: 114.8km
Tactics meeting
The last stage takes the Vuelta into Madrid for a sprinters' showdown. It's yet another chance for our lone sprinter Tomas Vaitkus to test his legs. Contador will bring the golden jersey back to his city of birth and the crowds will probably be ecstatic for their big hero.
Turning onto the finishing straight, all the top sprinters were in good position. Vaitkus was not there though.
Thor Hushovd was the strongest on the last day of racing and clinched his third stage win!
But the main man today was Alberto Contador. After the stage, he was milking the applause from the home fans, having defended his Vuelta a España crown.
Today's winner
Results
1 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team 2h31'14
2 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road + 0
3 José JoaquÃn Rojas Caisse d'Epargne + 0
4 Mirko Lorenzetto Lampre N.G.C + 0
5 Juan José Haedo Team Saxo Bank + 0
6 Óscar Freire Rabobank + 0
7 Daniele Bennati Liquigas + 0
8 Fabian Wegmann Team Milram + 0
9 Graeme Brown Rabobank + 0
10 Marcin Sapa Lampre N.G.C + 0
Final GC
1 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team 83h59'54
2 Óscar Pereiro Caisse d'Epargne + 2'51
3 Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 3'33
4 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel + 4'44
5 Juanjo Cobo Fuji - Servetto + 6'07
6 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 8'08
7 Fränk Schleck Team Saxo Bank + 10'53
8 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 13'24
9 Linus Gerdemann Team Milram + 13'40
10 Xavi Tondo AndalucÃa Cajasur + 14'45
11 Carlos Castaño Xacobeo - Galicia + 16'32
12 Janez Brajkovic Discovery Channel + 18'10
13 Iñigo Cuesta Cervélo Test Team + 18'46
14 Vladimir Karpets Team Katusha + 19'35
15 Vladimir Efimkin AG2R La Mondiale + 19'40
Points ranking
1 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi 215
2 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team 189
3 Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto 186
KoM ranking
1 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi 107
2 Juanjo Cobo Fuji - Servetto 106
3 Fränk Schleck Team Saxo Bank 106
Youth ranking
1 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road 84h13'18
2 Robert Kiserlovski Fuji - Servetto + 16'50
3 José Luis Roldán AndalucÃa Cajasur + 17'44
Team classification
1 Discovery Channel 252h37'37
2 Caisse d'Epargne + 5'58
3 Astana Cycling Team + 15'20
After losing the Tour by one second, it must be great for Alberto Contador to finally win a Grand Tour this year. His winning margin was not huge, but there wasn't really any doubt about his victory after the first few mountain stages. The big success of the Vuelta however, is Samuel Sanchez. The Euskaltel rider won both the points and the mountain classification as well as five stages. Who knows what the GC might have looked like if he hadn't lost five minutes on the Xorret del Cati due to bad positioning.
Thor Hushovd did well by winning three stages. Evans took two. The second place in the GC for Oscar Pereiro was a fantastic result for him. He's having a stellar season, coming 5th in the Tour de France and now 2nd in the Vuelta. Levi Leipheimer's 4th place was a bit disappointing, but he didn't have enough left after his long season. Our win in the team classification was good consolation though.
There's now only one major event left before the end of the season. The United States are coming into the Worlds in good spirits!
Edited by Squire on 16-04-2010 16:42
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 16-04-2010 16:11
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World Champion
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Well great story it brings enjoyment into my day everytime I read it!
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| Squire |
Posted on 16-04-2010 16:43
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That's nice to hear |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 16-04-2010 16:46
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World Champion
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You have one great gfx card.
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| Squire |
Posted on 16-04-2010 17:44
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24.09.2009: World Championships
The World Championships 2009 take place in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The road race course is a really hard one, suited for punchy climbers or well-climbing punchers.
The favourites for the Worlds are the riders who did well in the Vuelta. For the time trial, count on Contador, Evans and Larsson doing well. All three American riders could make an impact, and it's always hard to look past Fabian Cancellara, who won two stages in the Eneco Tour while the Vuelta was going on.
On the basis of Vuelta performances, the big favourite for the road race is Samuel Sanchez. The Spaniard won five stages in Spain and is in great shape at the moment. Good climbers like Cadel Evans or Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour of Missouri while Levi was in the Vuelta, could benefit from the hard parcourse. Thor Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert are one-day specialists who did well in the Spanish Grand Tour, and they could also have a chance at the Worlds.
The riders on the American team are all in fairly good shape. Tom Danielson and Christian Vandevelde could have done well here in Switzerland, but both are completely out of form so they were not selected. George Hincapie's injury-plagued season continues as he was once again injured in Missouri. He misses out on the Worlds, as he did with the Tour. The two Discovery top guns Levi and Lance are co-captains for the road race, but Garmin's David Zabriskie could launch a surprise bid for the win, as could Chris Horner.
United States of America
Time trial
 Levi Leipheimer
Lance Armstrong
David Zabriskie
Road race
Lance Armstrong
Chris Horner
Levi Leipheimer
David Zabriskie
Tyler Farrar
Danny Pate
Taylor Phinney |
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| Squire |
Posted on 17-04-2010 12:53
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24.09.2009: World Championships
Individual Time Trial
Mendrisio: 45.4km
Tactics meeting
The time trial has a few climbs, which should suit the stage race time triallists more than riders like Grabsch, Lang or Gusev. The weather forecast says fine weather, so the conditions will be equal for everyone. We're looking forward to seeing what our three Americans can do here.
David Zabriskie was one of the earliest starters. He did a great time trial, setting the early best time.
Not surprisingly, Vuelta winner Alberto Contador beat Dave. But the deficit was just 12 seconds.
Levi Leipheimer was the next one on top of the leaderboard. He took the lead by 24 seconds on Contador. Had Levi finally won something really big this season?
Just behind Levi on the course, Cadel Evans was doing some strong time checks. The winner of the final time trial in both the Tour and the Vuelta crushed Levi's time at the finish by 36 seconds!
If USA was to win the ITT championship, Lance Armstrong had to produce the goods. But Lance has lost some of his time trialling ability from his heyday, and only managed to get 3rd behind Evans and Levi.
The last man on the course was Gustav Larsson. The Swede was matching Levi on the time checks, but was always a bit behind Evans. In the end, Larsson finished 2nd, 32 seconds behind the world time trial champion, Cadel Evans from Australia!
Today's winner
Results
1 Cadel Evans Australia 1h01'37
2 Gustav Larsson Sweden + 32
3 Levi Leipheimer United States of America + 36
4 Lance Armstrong United States of America + 50
5 Alberto Contador Spain + 1'00
6 Fabian Cancellara Switzerland + 1'11
7 David Zabriskie United States of America + 1'12
8 Thor Hushovd Norway + 1'18
9 Vladimir Karpets Russia + 1'26
10 Vladimir Gusev Russia + 1'37
When everybody is tired, Cadel Evans is the best. He proved that in the Tour and the Vuelta, and now he has proven it at the World Championships at the end of a long season. He will get to time trial in the rainbow jersey next year.
Levi Leipheimer took the bronze medal, which was probably the best he realistically could get, judging by his performances in the final week of the Vuelta. Armstrong's 4th place was quite impressive. Other Discovery riders also did well. Gusev finished 10th, Brajkovic 11th and Cummings 13th. Discovery showed itself as a great time trialling team once again.
Now we're focusing on the road race which comes up in a few days. |
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| kirosha |
Posted on 17-04-2010 13:45
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Domestique
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Who can beat Evans in TT? |
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| Squire |
Posted on 17-04-2010 15:43
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27.09.2009: World Championships
Road Race
Mendrisio: 261.0km
Tactics meeting
The World Road Race Championship consists of 15 laps on the demanding course in Mendrisio. Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong are our designated co-captains for this race. They will have to do something special to beat Samuel Sanchez, whose form makes him the best rider in the world at the moment. The Italians also field a strong team, while the home team of Switzerland may want to stir things up as well with Cancellara and Albasini.
An 18 man breakaway was established. Among the riders were Soler, Cancellara, Boom, Wiggins and Matthew Lloyd. The three Discovery riders Klöden, Paulinho and Brajkovic were there as well. The most important nations missing from the break were Spain, Italy and the United States.
In the front of the peloton Spain and Germany were setting the pace.
At 40km remaining, the last remnants of the breakaway had been eaten up by the pack.
The main field had become considerably smaller. Only Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong were left for the USA team.
With 20km left, Trofimov and Albasini broke away.
Five riders took up the chase: Hushovd, Gilbert, Armstrong, Cancellara and Karpets.
At 12km remaining, Karpets, Gilbert, Armstrong and F.Schleck led another group by 20 seconds. In the chasegroup behind them were Cancellara, Evans, Hushovd and Sanchez while other riders were not far behind.
A couple of kilometers later, Samuel Sanchez' skills on the descent brought him up to the four leaders.
At the bottom of the last climb with 5km to go, Kolobnev bridged the gap to the leaders to make it six riders in front. Armstrong was still looking good.
Behind Kolobnev, four other riders also got up to the breakaway. Evans, Rodriguez, Hushovd and Trofimov, who had been on the attack earlier in the race.
Three of the riders who had just come up, Rodriguez, Evans and Hushovd, attacked just as they made contact with the leaders. There were now only 4km left!
Armstrong decided to follow the three attackers.
When they slowed down, Armstrong counter-attacked. He got himself a small gap!
Armstrong was really strong and the gap increased! He lapped poor Tyler Farrar just before the finishing line.
Lance Armstrong is the champion of the world!
Behind the American, Hushovd won the sprint for 2nd place with the pre-favourite Samuel Sanchez in 3rd.
38-year-old Armstrong's show of power earns him the prestigous rainbow jersey for next season. We're looking forward to see him in the bright colours of the world champion!
Today's winner
Results
1 Lance Armstrong United States of America 7h08'34
2 Thor Hushovd Norway + 24
3 Samuel Sánchez Spain + 24
4 Cadel Evans Australia + 24
5 Fränk Schleck Luxembourg + 24
6 JoaquÃm RodrÃguez Spain + 24
7 Alberto Contador Spain + 24
8 Alexandr Kolobnev Russia + 24
9 Yuri Trofimov Russia + 24
10 Vladimir Karpets Russia + 24
16 years since his first World Championship win, Lance Armstrong is once again on top of the podium. What a great comeback-season for him this is turning out to be!
Thor Hushovd did well to get the silver medal, while Samuel Sanchez secured the 3rd place. The Italians were very disappointing, with Basso as their best in 15th place. The German team also performed below their standards, with Fabian Wegmann in 12th as their best rider. The best team effort was made by Spain, with three riders among the top 7.
The World Championships were the the last races we consider as targets this season, so next up is a season summary and transfer announcements for next season. Stay tuned! |
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| kirosha |
Posted on 17-04-2010 15:49
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Domestique
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Amazing! Can't wait for next season! |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 17-04-2010 16:35
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
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Great reports I love this story. Great ride by Hushovd since it is quite a hilly profile and yet he manages a 2nd. Hopefully you signed realistic riders.
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| Squire |
Posted on 17-04-2010 17:40
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Season summary
Discovery Channel's comeback season has been a great success story. All our riders has shown great commitment and has helped us reach the majority of our goals. The most important results were of course the total domination of the Tour de France and Armstrong's Worlds win. Armstrong also won the Giro di Lombardia to end a magnificent comeback season for the old man. Levi Leipheimer has been quite unlucky not to get any major wins, but he has been competitive for the entire season and has been the world's best time trialist this year together with Cadel Evans of Silence - Lotto.
The season has had it's near misses, as Klöden's Suisse campaign and Levi missing out on the Vuelta podium, but as a team that has just come back from hiatus we have performed brilliantly.
Important victories 2009
Tour de France
General classification (Lance Armstrong)
3 stages (Levi Leipheimer, Lance Armstrong, TTT)
Mountain ranking (Egoi Martinez)
Team standings
Giro d'Italia
2 stages (Janez Brajkovic, Chris Horner)
Vuelta a España
2 stages (Levi Leipheimer (2))
Team standings
World Road Race Championship (Lance Armstrong)
PT
Giro di Lombardia (Lance Armstrong)
HC
Amgen Tour of California (Yaroslav Popovych)
Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg (Andreas Klöden)
Tre Valli Varesine (José Rubiera)
Tour of Missouri (Lance Armstrong)
1st cat.
Urkiola Igoera (Andreas Klöden)
Regio Tour (Levi Leipheimer)
Sparkassen Munsterland Giro (Tomas Vaitkus)
Chrono des Nations (Vladimir Gusev)
NC
German National Championship (Andreas Klöden)
Portugese National Championship (Sergio Paulinho)
Portugese National ITT Championship (Sergio Paulinho)
Season rankings
UCI Pro Tour
1. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne 546
2. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team 476
3. Tom Boonen Quick-Step 462
1. Caisse d'Epargne 1713
2. Team Saxo Bank 1460
3. Quick-Step 1069
Continental Tour
1. Giovanni Visconti ISD 758
2. Matteo Carrara Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 667
3. Bobbie Traksel Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 566
1. Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 3870
2. Discovery Channel 2394
3. ISD 1624
Victories
1. Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 52
2. Caisse d'Epargne 48
3. Discovery Channel 45
Edited by Squire on 26-04-2010 19:10
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 17-04-2010 17:53
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World Champion
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Vacansoleil had a great year. Good report now lets see some signings!
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| Squire |
Posted on 17-04-2010 18:34
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Transfer season 2009/2010
Riders leaving Discovery Channel:
Steven Cummings -> Cinelli
Victor Hugo Peña -> DHL - Author
John Devine -> OUCH
Jason McCartney -> End of contract
Fuyu Li -> End of contract
Uros Murn -> Retired
Chris Horner -> Retired
Signings for 2010
 David Millar
The British time trial champion David Millar is one of my favourites. He won both time trials in the 2009 Dauphiné. Even though his strength has decreased over the last year, he can still get results in time trials or in breakaways.
 Rémy Di Gregorio
Di Gregorio is one for the future. He is already climbing quite well, and we expect him to develop further. His big weakness is his time trialling ability, or lack thereof.
 Peter Velits
With half of our team being in their thirties, we are signing mainly young riders for this season. Peter Velits goes well in the hills, but he really is an all-rounder. He may have a shot at the Ardennes classics and maybe a Grand Tour.
 Linus Gerdemann
Except the good performance in the Tour de France, the young Gerdemann has had an anonymous season. He's brought in as a domestique for the Tour, and will ride his own chances in small races like the Bayern Rundfahrt.
 Oscar Pereiro
We had tied up Pereiro before the Tour, so his great performances in both TdF and the Vuelta were a very welcome surprise. He has weakened quite a bit lately, but is still a good helper in the mountains.
 Roman Kreuziger
Could he be a future Grand Tour winner? We certainly hope so, and look upon young Kreuziger as the heir apparent to our three ageing captains. He didn't do much last season, but if he performs well in the first part of 2010, he could be given leadership in either the Giro or the Vuelta already this year.
Gerald Ciolek
The young German sprint talent Ciolek will make sure Discovery finally has a chance to shine on flat stages. Ciolek recorded zero victories for Milram last season, but we hope he'll start winning if he's given time.
 Bernhard Eisel
Eisel had a very quiet 2009 with no podium placings. But we reckon he can do a good job as the lead-out man for Gerald Ciolek, and we hope our newly built sprint pair can deliver the goods in 2010.
 Gustav Larsson
Just before the end of the season, we made our last signing: the diesel engine that is Gustav Larsson. He finished 2nd in the Worlds ITT and had a good Giro last year where he also climbed quite competently. The Swede will be present wherever there's a team time trial.
Other major transfers
Damiano Cunego: Lampre -> Katusha
Vincenzo Nibali: Liquigas -> Acqua & Sapone
Stijn Devolder: Quick-Step -> Saxo Bank
Robert Gesink: Rabobank -> Quick-Step
Oscar Freire: Rabobank -> Silence - Lotto
Johan Van Summeren: Silence - Lotto -> Caisse d'Epargne
Cadel Evans: Silence - Lotto -> Rabobank
Andre Greipel: Columbia -> Milram
Filippo Pozzato: Katusha -> Quick-Step
Jakob Fuglsang: Saxo Bank -> LPR Brakes
Martijn Maaskant: Garmin -> Caisse d'Epargne
Thor Hushovd: Cervélo -> Lampre
In the 2010 season, we'll be concentrating on mostly the same type of races as last year. We will target Swiss and French stage races, with the Tour de France as our main goal again. With the addition of Peter Velits, the Ardennes will also be contested. American races like the Tour of California and the Tour of Missouri will once again be on our program, and we aim to repeat our wins there from last year.
Discovery Channel 2010
Edited by Squire on 26-04-2010 19:13
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| Kami |
Posted on 17-04-2010 19:56
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3485
Joined: 19-06-2009
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Awesome, your Tour was just perfect and now also winning the Worlds, really awesome! Good job!
Btw, did i see Armstrong improve a bit on his old day? 
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