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Rui Costa/Project Legend
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 09-02-2013 09:42
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FDJ might not have the ideal team to chase the break, so who knows if it might reach it to the end! |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 09-02-2013 17:35
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Sutty: He sure do! 
Ian,Freitas: We will do everything we will need to do next stage to win it. Valverde is better in hills than in mountains we need to take advantage of it. |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 10-02-2013 18:23
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Profile:
Last 5 kms:
As you can see today is the first stage for Hilly/Mountain riders.
Valverde was looking for this day since he saw the route.
As we are not leading the race we didn't worked at the front of the race.
FDJ did one hell of a job in chasing the break! They were in front of the pack whole day.
With only final climb in front of us. We were perfectly placed behind FDJ.
It wasn't best race for cycling. Weather was cold and rain was falling all day.
Exactly how Gilbert likes it!
Phillipe attacked out of the peloton!
Nobody was able to follow. Alberto was eager to win his first stage after long break.
Sammy Sanchez suddenly attacked. I was nearly dead after Alberto's chase but Alejandro was feeling great today and followed his attack.
Gilbert was still up in front.
Rodriguez attacked out of the group of 4. Only Alejandro and Alberto were able to follow.
Rodriguez is for sure not in his optimal form. Froome single handedly brought them back.
Valverde is for sure not the type of guy that wait for a sprint finish.
Alejandro attacked out of the front group.
He was going hard but Gilbert was too far in front.
Gilbert took briliant victory.
Valverde was able to hold of the chasing group.
And Contador came 3rd.
Cobo came 10th I came inches behind him on 11th.
Stage:
| 1 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | 3h51'26 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | + 34 | | 3 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 50 | | 4 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | s.t. | | 5 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 6 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 7 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 8 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | + 1'09 | | 9 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre | RadioShack-Nissan | s.t. | | 10 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 11 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | s.t. |
GC:
| 1 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | 8h33'11 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | + 30 | | 3 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | + 1'04 | | 4 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | + 1'07 | | 5 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'17 | | 6 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 7 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | + 1'25 | | 8 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | + 1'44 | | 9 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre | RadioShack-Nissan | + 1'45 | | 10 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 1'56 |
Points:
| 1 | Matthew Harley Goss | Orica GreenEDGE | 0 | 25 | | 2 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | 25 | 25 | | 3 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | 20 | 20 |
KOM:
| 1 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | 16 | 16 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | 12 | 12 | | 3 | Ion Izagirre Insausti | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 12 | 12 |
Young Riders: Nairo Quintana
Best Team: Movistar
DS is pretty happy with how things are going at the moment.
Gilbert is the leader but he is not real threath for final GC. BMC will probably chase and we will be waiting in the pack for time to shine.
Tomorrow is stage classified as Mountain but I think if will Gilbert have a good day he can stay in the leaders jersey. I hope I'm wrong.
Seeya tomorrow
Rui |
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 10-02-2013 19:00
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Grand Tour Champion
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Good stage for Valverde.  |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-02-2013 21:47
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Tour de France Champion
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Valverde with some nice aggressive riding there |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 09:07
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 10-02-2013 22:42
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Movistar are looking in a strong position on the GC |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 11-02-2013 16:39
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Frietas,Ian,Sutty:Thanks guys Valverde was feeling extremly good with form +5. |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 15-02-2013 18:41
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Today's stage was the first one classified as Mountain.
Profile:
Last 5 kms:
Race:
Quintana was feeling good today and he started the day with an attack!
A big breakaway group was created.
I was really happy Nairo was in the BOD as I could enjoy beautiful weather.
Nairo won the only KOM sprint of the day. Securing points for our team.
With 50kms to go and still 5 minutes margin it looked quite good for them. But then favourites started the day with attacks. It was really strange from them to attack on the flat!
With 30kms to go they were back in the pack.
At the bottom of the final mountain pack caught remaining members of BOD.
I was feeling really good today. I was perfectly placed at the front.
Then Rodriguez with Sanchez opened series of attacks.
Valverde was badly positioned I and Cobo went to front to chase.
But we left Valverde behind.
I was feeling really good I could maybe even won the race but then DS told me the most retarded thing I ever heard. Let Cobo who was nearly empty go, and go back to Valverde! I was like what? Let Cobo go, but then he shouted at me and I had to go back.
Alejandro had really nice and high pace and he really didn't needed me.
We made few relays but I was feeling really like I shouldn't be there.
After a while I was just trying to hang on to his wheel with such a moral damage I earned I couldn't even ride with Alejandro.
Meanwhile Samy won the race.
Cobo came 6th 16 seconds back.
I ended 9th behind Alejandro.
When I came to finish Alejandro came to me and thanked to me. It was nice to hear that even when I didn't really done anything.
Stage:
| 1 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 3h57'23 | | 2 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 3 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | + 16 | | 4 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 5 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | s.t. | | 6 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 7 | Igor Antón Hernández | Euskaltel - Euskadi | s.t. | | 8 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | + 58 | | 9 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | + 1'09 | | 10 | David De la Fuente Rasilla | Caja Rural | + 1'32 |
GC:
| 1 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | 12h31'26 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | + 36 | | 3 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 41 | | 4 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 5 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | + 1'08 | | 6 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 1'13 | | 7 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 1'20 | | 8 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | + 1'34 | | 9 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | + 1'47 | | 10 | Igor Antón Hernández | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 2'08 |
Alejandro lost is still 2nd but now Froome is the one who is in front of him.
Cobo is 3rd. I'm on a 8th place but I should have been higher by this time!
This is not the first time I had problem with managment of this team but this is first time I said it here.
It's not the big deal I have to be a team player but still! I don't know how much longer I will be able to be just a teammate I want to win one of the GT when in my prime.
I don't know if I will be able to ride for this team next season but that's little bit off. I'm probably just frustrated.
Tommorow is flat stage we will try to place Alberdi best we for the final sprint.
Seeya tommorow
Rui
Edited by JuanMotr on 16-02-2013 10:51
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 15-02-2013 18:43
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Tour de France Champion
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Hope Rui can cope with the team though. He deserves a leader role, but right now working for Valverde is really important |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 15-02-2013 22:59
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Cobo now in to the podium places |
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 16-02-2013 10:44
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Grand Tour Champion
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Hm... at least the team has got different riders to aim for the win, Rui did a wonderful job. |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 16-02-2013 11:33
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8th in the GC is nice, but too bad that there are 2 team mates in front of him....
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| RedDisciple |
Posted on 17-02-2013 20:38
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I've read all the stories pages and I consider it a very interesting one.Keep up the good work, I will definitely follow you.
Edited by RedDisciple on 17-02-2013 20:40
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 19-02-2013 20:27
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Domestique
Posts: 701
Joined: 29-07-2011
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Ian: I don't know the things will turn out with the team yet. Maybe he will change the team after the season..
Sutty: We have two riders in top 3 which is for sure great!
Freitas:I'm starting to think that I chosed too strong team. probably too late
Dienblad: Rui will do his best to get up in the rankings.
RedDisciple:Thank you! I hope you will enjoy reading the story and that you will keep comenting 
All:Sorry for such a small amount of reports at the moment. There won't be report until monday. (Tommorow I will be snowboarding in Alps! ) But when I come back I will try to up the pace as I will have week off from school. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 20-02-2013 08:37
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Snowboarding? Have fun |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 02-03-2013 16:53
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Domestique
Posts: 701
Joined: 29-07-2011
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Profile:
Today was day for punchy sprinters. This was stage we marked even before the Vuelta that we would like to win it here. Mostly because of Alberdi.
Race:
5 riders created a BOD. Their biggest advantage to peloton was 10 minutes but sprinters teams had it under contol whole race.
When we were passing the hill in center of the circuit, only 90 riders were in the pack. Cavendish, Kittel, Greipel all of them were more than 3 minutes behind the pack so we showed our TTT train once again.
Aroyo was first one leading our train.
Than it was Cobo's turn.
He is clearly not in his best shape after le Tour. He was leading us only 1 km. Than it was up to me. I had to stay in front for at least 3 kms!
I was feeling great and I was turning the pedals like never before. It was slightly downhill but I never slowed down under 60km/h! After a while I heard Alejandro telling me that why I'm still in the lead? That is only 1.5 km left. I looked up and I could clearly see 1km banner.
With 1 km left I was still feeling really good but I signalized Alejandro that it is his turn now. He went full speed and never looked back.
With 500m left Ventoso (Alberdi) was supposed to overtake him but he was empty. Hushovd was coming fast from left.
Alejandro was still in front. But can he beat sprinter like Thor?
For sure he can! I think I never seen him sprinting like that in my life. When we had some sprinting contests through out the training camps. He never passed 68kms per hour but today he passed 75! I think it was just pure adrenaline. I ended on a nice 9th place
Stage:
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | 4h40'39 | | 2 | Thor Hushovd | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 3 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 4 | Heinrich Haussler | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 5 | Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 6 | Maxim Iglinskiy | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 7 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | s.t. | | 8 | Óscar Freire Gómez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 9 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 10 | Rinaldo Nocentini | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. |
GC:
| 1 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | 17h12'05 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | + 16 | | 3 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 41 | | 4 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 5 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | + 1'08 | | 6 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 1'13 | | 7 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 1'20 | | 8 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | + 1'34 | | 9 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | + 1'47 | | 10 | Igor Antón Hernández | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 2'08 |
Tomorrow is another stage for GC riders. We will see if Alejandro can get red jersey back to our team.
Seeya soon
Rui
Edited by JuanMotr on 02-03-2013 16:54
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 02-03-2013 20:05
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Tour de France Champion
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Nice sprinting there |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 02-03-2013 20:06
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Ian: Thanks I really ment to win with Alberdi but then Rui stayed in front on 99 effort for 5 kms. I never seen something like that  |
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| JuanMotr |
Posted on 02-03-2013 20:07
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Domestique
Posts: 701
Joined: 29-07-2011
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Profile:
Last 5kms:
Race:
Today was really nice and sunny day. We were in good mood whole day.
6 riders were brave enough to create a gap between them selfs and the pack.
Through out the race nothing much happened until..
Alejandro crashed with Alberto! They both fell because one of the Sky riders!
We don't have a picture of the crash but here you can see both of them 2 minutes behind the leaders.
I didn't hesitated I went back to him try to get him up to front. I can't forget what he did for me in Tour de Romandie!
Meanwhile that sky organised ''Sky Train'' in the front of the pack to make it tougher for us.
Quintana, Smirnyagin and I did the most of the chase.
After 5kms we could clearly see them.
And after another 5 kms we caught them.
Valverde came to Froome and started to talk with him. He was really disgusted.
When everything calmed down. Rodriguez, whose team didn't participate in the chase, attacked.
When we started the descend this is how it looked like.
When the final climb started we were perfectly placed at the front of the pack.
Cobo was now leading the race.
Than it was my turn.
And with 1.5kms left Alejandro decided now is the time. I said to him to wait a little bit but he wanted to gain some time on Froome!!
He was 10 seconds in front but Froome was coming and he was coming fast!
And after a U turn Samy came from nowhere.
Froome took a victory. For him any win is a good win.
Here he is on the podium.
Stage:
| 1 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | 4h19'08 | | 2 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | s.t. | | 3 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 4 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | + 26 | | 5 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | s.t. | | 6 | Enrico Gasparotto | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 7 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 8 | Björn Leukemans | Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 10 | Mathias Frank | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 11 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 12 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | s.t. |
GC:
| 1 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | 21h30'53 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | + 28 | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 1'21 | | 4 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'27 | | 5 | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | Katusha Team | + 1'54 | | 6 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 2'06 | | 7 | Rui Alberto Faria Costa | Movistar Team | + 2'20 | | 8 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp | + 2'33 | | 9 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | + 2'48 | | 10 | Igor Antón Hernández | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 2'54 |
Points:
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | Movistar Team | 16 | 69 | | 2 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 20 | 68 | | 3 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | 25 | 58 | | 4 | Philippe Gilbert | BMC Racing Team | 5 | 46 | | 5 | Alberto Contador Velasco | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | 12 | 40 |
KOM:
| 1 | Chris Froome | Sky ProCycling | 6 | 26 | | 2 | Samuel Sánchez González | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 4 | 23 | | 3 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver | Katusha Team | 1 | 21 | | 4 | Ion Izagirre Insausti | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 0 | 18 | | 5 | Damiano Caruso | Liquigas-Cannondale | 0 | 17 |
Team Results:
| 1 | Movistar Team | 12h58'16 | 63h57'44 (1) | | 2 | BMC Racing Team | + 2'20 | + 15'42 (3) | | 3 | Katusha Team | + 4'09 | + 13'39 (2) | | 4 | Garmin - Sharp | + 4'14 | + 21'50 (4) | | 5 | Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | + 24'26 (6) | | 6 | Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 4'42 | + 23'33 (5) | | 7 | Sky ProCycling | + 4'44 | + 29'37 (9) | | 8 | Caja Rural | + 6'20 | + 30'09 (10) | | 9 | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | + 33'10 (12) | | 10 | RadioShack-Nissan | + 6'23 | + 28'31 (8) | | 11 | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 7'32 | + 32'18 (11) | | 12 | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | + 49'39 (17) | | 13 | FDJ-Big Mat | s.t. | + 37'57 (14) | | 14 | Omega Pharma-QuickStep | + 10'21 | + 36'23 (13) | | 15 | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 15'07 | + 27'49 (7) | | 16 | Astana Pro Team | + 21'36 | + 45'14 (16) | | 17 | Lotto Belisol Team | + 21'39 | + 44'51 (15) | | 18 | Liquigas-Cannondale | + 22'24 | + 55'53 (18) | | 19 | Orica GreenEDGE | + 32'42 | + 1h13'27 (19) | | 20 | Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne | + 38'48 | + 1h53'18 (20) | | 21 | Team Argos - Shimano | + 51'42 | + 2h12'22 (21) | | 22 | Team Europcar | + 56'02 | + 2h58'36 (22) |
After the race there was lot of talking about what happened. Here are few of them.
Alejandro Valverde:
“This is anti-sporting,Sky went to cut the peloton, which is within their rights and I understand it, but what you cannot do is go to make an abanico and cross right in the middle of the road. What happened? They were the ones who caused the crash. And later they do not have the balls to stop.”
Juan Antonio Flecha:
“It was a dangerous situation. There were crosswinds and all the teams were worried. It’s better to take the initiative yourself rather than having to react to others and that’s what we did,”
Joaquim Rodriguez:
“I heard a big crash and I thought we were going to stop, but no one waited and there were echelons quickly forming.” We decided to collaborate because in the abanicos, it’s always to be better to be inside than out. Later, Intxausti came up to me and said that Valverde was back and that’s when I took the decision for our team not to collaborate. I do not criticize the decision of the others, but that’s what I decided to do.”
Rui Costa:
“I was in front of the pack, when suddenly I heard in radio that Valverde fall. I didn't hesitate and I went back to help him chase the peloton. I think it was awful what Team Sky did. Alejandro was second in GC! Froome just want to win anyway he can. I think now if anything happens to Froome there will be no waiting!”
Seeya soon
Rui
Edited by JuanMotr on 02-03-2013 20:09
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 02-03-2013 20:11
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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It was brave of Rui to wait for Valverde and bring him back!
He's waiting to be a leader but doesn't let down his leader yet great! |
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