Police Report: NetApp HQ flooded with Austrian Wine!!
Indeed folks. After Heimdal Hägg's overall win in Gabon, claiming NetApp Endura's first GC win under Luttenberger's brief leadership, NetApp Endura HQ has been a true party-heaven for riders, staff, fans and homeless people, who smelled the alcohol from afar.
Peter Luttenberger has spared no expenses and brought in dozen barrels of his finest wine. In the ensuing drinking game, Hägg went down pretty early. No surprise, the guy was exhausted from some spectacular racing! Naturally, his winning jersey got decorated with lots of paintings of penises, whilst he himself woke up with a new moustache. Oh boys.
Dermot once again disappeared with the fitness coach later that night. The joke gets old but he really can't seem to help himself. Von Triesenberg won a drinking game, receiving the honour of being the first to jump in the pool! Which was filled with wine. D'uh.
Whilst Ioannis was complaining about the lack of greek wine, Thomas Schwabe was holding a speech to his future achievements, including the Tour de France Overall Win in 3 or 4 years. Only young Juarez was hardly to be seen. Maybe he looked too young so the bouncer didn't let him in?
One of the guys later crashed into the barrels, thus causing a true flood in the HQ. For Cyclo-Cross rider Van der Poel a real chance to show off his skills, he made some drunk wheelies in the wine swamp. The police later found Luttenberger completely passed out, fantasizing about achieving the almost impossible Top 10 GC Paris-Nice goal.
Unnecessarcy to say that the celebration party has been a huge blast and NetApp Endura has thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Now off to Argentina, to compete for the first goal of the season. Poor guys that need to race there, sleep off your hangover in the plane, will ya?
Also, here's a shot of Heimdal Hägg in his jersey. Likely it's the best picture ever taken.
Congratulations to Heimdal and the team, who worked great to protect him on those difficult stages. You did a stunning job, lads, and can be proud of yourselves, all of you!
Edited by Shonak on 13-02-2015 21:05
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
I had no real interest in riding this race but of course I will do what the manager wants and I knew that it would help to get a bit of form into the legs even if the route was not my cup of tea. I knew also that my good friend Heimdal was really targeting this race and made no secret of that beforehand. So, when he won the first stage of the race, we were all happy to switch to plan B to help him out and try to defend the jersey.
I was tasked with being his main helper, keeping him out of trouble in the peloton until the final few kilometres. This meant I was actually holding a fairly high place on the GC to start with but then as the race continued and got harder and harder, I really started to struggle but still managed to do all I could to keep Heimdal where he needed to be.
Naturally, this meant I wasn't going for the sprints but there weren't many anyway. It was definitely better than being back home on the rock, training in hideous weather, and I'm extremely proud to have contributed to one of the team's biggest successes. It proves anything's possible if you really set your mind to it. And on that subject, I can't wait for Langkawi. The humidity sucks but the route is pretty good for a sprinter like me.
And I couldn't possibly comment on these rumours from the celebration. I was just putting in some extra fitness training. Don't see the problem...
Dermot
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Training Camp Report:
Peter Luttenberger makes a man out of you
(To Be a man)
We must be swift as
the coursing river
(Be a man)
With all the force
of a great typhoon
( To Be a man)
With all the strength
of a raging fire
Mysterious as the
dark side of the moon
A few weeks after the training camp, report has appeared that Peter Luttenberger's NetApp Endura training camp in a super secret location has been incredibly tough. And motivational - or so the team claims at least! Listening to Disney tunes all week, the guys have been on an all-time happy go lucky-crusade. One might even wonder if Disney was planning to take over the team someday. Oh my. But a GC & stage win is a starting result; according to Luttenberger, it has been merely the start of greater things yet to come though. Thomas Schwabe Tour de France victory comes to mind. Or basically anything Heimdal Hägg does. Boy has the midas touch. With reports being scare, the training camp has been as secretive as a military base camp but some shots have still managed to come to surface. Some may call it a human rights violation, but at NetApp Endura this is the daily fuel we ride on.
Say No to Doping. Say Yes to Singing in the Rain. And Riding in the Rain. Naturally.
Hit it, Mushu!
Let's get down to business
To defeat the Huns
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?
You're the saddest bunch
I ever met
But you can bet
Before we're through
Mister, I'll make a man
out of you
Tranquil as a forest
But on fire within
Once you find your center
you are sure to win
You're a spineless, pale
pathetic lot
And you haven't got a clue
Somehow I'll make all winners out of you!
EPIC rider schedule announcement has not been forgotten. Will come of those days.
Edited by Shonak on 15-02-2015 21:42
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Hi, folks. Long time since I've updated this blog the last time. Now the season is about to start. I came back to Germany after a long offseason. I spent most of the time back home in Mexico together with my family and friends there, but due to an illness I wasn't able to train and so had no training progress.
While preparing my trip back to Germany I followed how my team did in Gabon and surprisingly Heimdal Hägg won the race there. Shortly after I got a message from Peter Luttenberger, that there would be a big party at the Netapp HQ when the heros around Hägg would come home. Unluckily that party would be right at the night when my flight after 4 switches arrives, so I expected to be very tired and Luttenberger assured me that he'd send someone to pick me up from the airport.
And indeed there was someone with a sign saying something about a party waiting. I went to him and told him that he probably was looking for me. After looking on a tiny black-white picture he agreed. To my surprise he kept calling me Juan, though. But in my tiredness that didn't really bother me. After a short drive of 15 minutes we arrived at the Netapp HQ, which seemed to have changed a lot since I was last there. But also that didn't bother me as I was very tired. Getting in there I at first didn't recognise anyone of my team, as they all seemed to have aged during my absence, but that didn't really bother me as I didn't sleep well for 36 hours and there was enough alcohol. I shortly got a little angry at Peter Luttenberger as he didn't tell me that it would be a theme party. However I couldn't figure the theme out as there was a big variety of costumes around. I met everything from princesses over pirates and even a speaking piece of crap was there. However, in the end the party still became fun only confusing thing was that people kept praising Allah. Whoever I wanted to talk to started the conversation with "Allah", so I got a little scared about terror, but the enlightened man I am I didn't say anything.
On the next morning I checked my phone and was very surprised when seeing that I got 19 new messages of which one was my mother asking how the trip went, but all others came from someone from Netapp. The first one was Peter Luttenberger asking where I am and that I wasn't on the airport and the last one was of Blaz Jarc babbling disjointed stuff but also he seemed to miss me on the party. And then it hit me, the guy on the airport wasn't the one sent by Netapp, the party I attended wasn't the one celebrating a win in Gabon, but a German carnival party, the people didn't say "Allah" but "Alaaf" and the woman I woke up next to wasn't Peter Luttenbergers girlfriend.
Two days later some of the team including me would set off to a training camp. We weren't told where that would be and Peter Luttenberger only made vague remarks. I felt like I did something wrong when I arrived and we had to hand everything in that could have GPS trackers in it. The team bus' windows were darkened so we couldn't see through. The trip took roughly 5 hours which could have also been less as we suspect that some bonus rounds were build in to confuse us so we wouldn't know where we were heading. Though the evil masterplan was pulverized when we got to the reception of the hotel and the lady there greeting us with an accent "Welcome to the best hotel in Innsbruck". Slightly pissed Peter Luttenberger was the first to go to his hotel room only to show up shortly later with a new training methode. From then on we had to listen 24/7 to songs from disney. Even on our rides the lovely sounds came out of the windows of the team car's motivating us. On a short trip visiting the city Peter Luttenberger took his ghettoblaster with him, so even then we could listen to songs of friendship and love. After some time we were even made to sing along, which turned out terrible as sportsmen are very untalented singers. I believe that the recent GC win in Gabon wasn't good for Peter Luttenberger psyche. After a week the training camp was finally over and now I'm motivated to start the racing soon.
Edited by Bikex on 17-02-2015 18:07
It's been a while since you've heard from me. Mainly because I have been very busy after the win in Gabon.
First it took a while to sink in - little me winning the yellow jersey...
Then I have a faint recollection of everyone being very happy and celebrating at Luttenbergers mansion. The night ended pretty early though - at least that's how I remember it.
The next day I woke up looking like Gorka Nieve and with my yelow jersey ruined. What they did to the jersey would have broken my heart had I not heard that they planned something earlier, so the one the painted on was the one I got after stage three - I really wanted to save both the first yellow jersey I wore and the first I won.
Anyway I just have to once again thank the team for standing behind me and doing such an amazing job protecting me and keeping the other breaks at the exact right distance. Then the big teams will have to blame themselves for failing to get any bunch sprints - that's not our problem...
This picture really says all about how amazing they were:
After the race I have been giving a lot of interviews in local media since it's been quite a while since a Swedish cyclist won anything more noteworthy than the national championships.
In one inteview on a radio station they had heard about the jersey-incident and that jersey is now being set up for an auction where the money will go to a project buying bicycles for children, who can't afford them. Everyone should have a bike I think so I'm happy I can help that way.
Not quite sure where I'm racing next, but I'll probably find out when they send me the plane tickets - I'm always ready to race.
Of course every rider wants to know his schedule as fast as possible, but unfortunately we at NetApp Endura HQ still kinda are hung over from Heimdal Hägg's win. But, there's no further delay, for now.
We know Heimdal, that you'd like to ride every race of the seaosn. And after your win in Gabon, we actually would love to see you take part in every race of the season. Your gutsy breakaway performances are always a joy to look at. Unfortunately there's this time called recovery-time, which is sadly needed even for true, long-distance powerhouses like you. After you start in Gabon, you can return to GP Marseillaise, where we hope you feel inspired by your last year's performance. More one-day classics will be up shortly later: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne and Strade Bianche! All three are quality one-day classics. But the climate changes won't stop then: Next up is Vuelta a Catalunya, some hilly stages could provide you with some Gabon-esque chances of a stage win. Not yet raced enough? Alright alright alright: Your early season closer will be Three Days in Panne, which are actually Four Days in Panne, and eventually Volta Limburg, where we hope you can maybe achieve a Top 10 result by brave attacking. Lots of racing this schedule, in total race days of 23. No Grand Tour planned as your request.
Catalunya will also feature Ioannis. Our greek mountain goat already gets some early racing kilometers in Tour de San Luis right now, where we hope he can help Dominik achieve a Top 10. After the little stunt in Argentinia, you'll get some time to relax until riding Roma Maxima, the other one-day classic will be GP Indurain. Clearly Roma Maxima will be a warm-up to Tirreno-Adriatico, a real world tour quality race with some nice mountains in it. Tirreno-Adriatico meanwhile is a warm-up race itself for... pow pow pow... Giro d'Italia! That's right Ioannis, we feel that your quality climbing could be great for the quest for stage wins in Italy, and we are sure your first Grand Tour experience will help you develop very much as a rider. In total this will be 16 days this season, with 21 reserved for GT riding.
The Giro d'Italia is also planned as a season highlight for one other young rider. Future GT-contender Thomas Schwabe gets to right in Italy, most likely as a captain with ambitions for a stage win. To be in great contention for that, Thomas will get a finely tuned season opener schedule. Taking use of your exquisite climbing and TT capacity, we start in Volta ao Algarve. Lots of more stage racing follows soon with your participation in Paris-Nice, where we need a Top 10 goal. Likely Dominik will be our leader there. Similiar goes for Criterium International, although your quality in Time Trials and Mountains gives you a real chance in this 3 day race. With 15 days you don't have many races this season part but the quality of the races really stands for itself here.
Another name featured in Volta ao Algarve is youngster Jose Alberto Juarez. Although recently having experienced some strange adventures in Europe, you should be fit to race by then. Being a similiar type of rider as Thomas, your best chances lie in races with TT's and Mountains and little else. You'll get a one-day classic in Italy, Roma Maxima. Afterwards lots of kilometers are ahead of you: Tirreno-Adriatico and Catalunya. Very ambitious race schedule indeed, but it's important that you get some racing soon in your legs. Not enough yet though. Criterium International will be your last race in this season part. In total 23 race days, lots of traveling ahead you, lots of hotel rooms. Hopefully not too many further strange adventures and no more orgies. Cheers! No Grand Tour planned for you this year, at least no Grand Tour of cycling wink wink.
Whilst most guys are stage racers, Mathias Von Triesenberg, our champion from Liechtenstein, will be our card for the one-day classics. GP La Marseillaise, Omloop, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Strade Bianche and GP Indurain. Ooffa! So many one-day classics. Since it's good to stay in the same country too for a while, you'll also get some stage racing this season part. Paris-Nice and Catalunya make a nice combo of races, where lots of hilly terrain is featured. A welcome opportunity to see your talent in those areas. Those experiences might help you a bit later in the 3 Days of De Panne, a race that should suit you very much with its mix of steep hills and nice cobblez. A total of 23 race days for now, lots more to come. No GT planned.
Dermot, Dermot... as our Endura poster boy you get a real kickstart to the season. You did a great job in Gabon, helping Heimdal to the GC victory. You'll get your sprint chances soon later though. You may still have very good memories to your stage win last year: Tour of Oman is on your schedule. Maybe a return to Oman will return you to winning ways as well? At least we hope you get in some great shape there, because it counts later in Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia. Ten Days of racing in that climate, but I guess you are used to some exotic locations by now. A stage win is our goal there, and we hope, we beg of you, that you and the other guys achieve it. Fully confident in you, as always! After Malaysia, you'll get a long break of races. Too many hills in all those stage races. Better save them for when it counts. 23 race days in early season part. No GT as per request.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Liechtenstein Champion Mathias Von Triesenberg got early on in the breakaway of this classic like we hoped one of our riders would. Over the gravel roads through Tuscany, Von Triesenberg's skills in cobblestone came handy but it was more his abilities to climb well who kept him fresh for an intense final.
There he played his cards perfectly, waiting for his moment to strike till the end against his breakaway companies. Some mature, gutsy & smart riding by him delivers NetApp's first true classic win. More of those in the future please?
When he crossed the finish line, ahead of the upcoming, hungry peloton, he had a minor, yet solid lead but no energy left to celebrate at the finish line. Rest assured though, we'll celebrate the victory in all its glory.
Strade Bianche Top 10
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Mathias Von Triesenberg
Team NetApp - Endura
4h31'55
2
Dennis Van Niekerk
MTN - Qhubeka
+ 10
3
Ryan Roth
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Bobbie Traksel
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 17
5
Marcel Aregger
IAM Cycling
+ 22
6
Alessandro Proni
Neri Sottole
s.t.
7
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
8
Manuele Mori
Lampre - Merida
+ 30
9
Gorka Nieve
Colombia
+ 34
10
Carlos Betancur
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
So, my first race of the season, my first ever showing in the jersey of NetApp (albeit with the colors of Liechtenstein). Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne would be my opener, but I figured I'm better in the hills than at the cobbles. I took it easy and finished around 50th place.
My second race came shortly after, the dirt roads of Strade Bianche. Paul Voss was designated as team leader by the organizers, and Gabon-winner Hägg was also in the squad. However, I was allowed to sneak into the break. So I did. I rode on the sandy hills of Italy. Behind me, big guns attacked, and I feared I, and my mates in the break, would be reeled in before the real finale.
But they didn't. With 1 kilometer to go, Roth attacked. I followed, overtook him, but knew riders like Martin and Sagan were close behind and would overtake me. But every meter I got closer to that finish line, every meter I was still leading, meters in which riders behind couldn't overtake me. 500 meters, 400 meters! Where are they? 300, 200! Legs are hurting, but I have to go on. 100 meters, I believe I can win this.
The Giro d'Italia is also planned as a season highlight for one other young rider. Future GT-contender Thomas Schwabe gets to right in Italy, most likely as a captain with ambitions for a stage win. To be in great contention for that, Thomas will get a finely tuned season opener schedule. Taking use of your exquisite climbing and TT capacity, we start in Volta ao Algarve. Lots of more stage racing follows soon with your participation in Paris-Nice, where we need a Top 10 goal. Likely Dominik will be our leader there. Similiar goes for Criterium International, although your quality in Time Trials and Mountains gives you a real chance in this 3 day race. With 15 days you don't have many races this season part but the quality of the races really stands for itself here.
Okay, guys. I know you propably expect me to top the rankings before the monuments but the sad reality is: I'll only use these races as a preparation for my first GT. I'm considering of not following any attacks in Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice but just use it as a chance to race in race pace.
The chance of leading the Giro might not look too big for a rider like me but I already feel the pressure on me since a good appearence there could give the team the chance to advertise the team to new sponsors and new sponsors means more money. And more money means better domestiques for next season. I'll be on heat!
On the other side there is the Criterium International. Last season this race was the start of a catastrophical relationship to my team manager and the other ducks in my team. It cries after revenge And a Schwabe always pays his debths! Better watch out, France! Or Flee already!
Hi, my season still didn't start, but I'm very excited to finally get back into racing again. Currently I'm with my team mates in Portugal waiting for the Vuelta ao Algarve to start, which will be my debut race this season. The start of the race has been moved several times already as there are some issues with the race route. I don't mind as the hotel is perfect. I only have to avoid the chef after a little incident when I mistook the kitchen for the hotel's sauna.
After Algarve I will travel to Italy where my next racing awaits. After racing Roma Maxima I will take part at the Tirreno-Adriatico as an essential part of our Time Trial team there. My second WT stage race will be the Vuelta a Catalunya. After that I will finish the first season part on Corsica at the Criterium International. A lot of racing in the sun awaits me. I hope to surprise like other youngsters of my team so far, as it gets kind of embarassing being one of the only ones without a major win.
Currently there's lots of stage racing going on. Breakaway opportunities and mostly desperate attempts at scoring high results in bunch sprints for us. Walker, Arndt and Jarc are all in action. Whilst in Argentinia, our GC guys fight for a Top 10 result, that they will need a small miracle to accomplish, we might get a win to celebrate sooner or later again. Volta ao Algarve and mostly Tour de Langkawi are closely followed by the team.
Till we have more news, enjoy the racing.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
All in a sudden, you change from, 'that guy with that thing' that 'Mathias von Triesenberg, the first ever race winner from Liechtenstein'.
Yes folks, I'm a national hero. Before my victory in Strade Bianche, I could walk around without being recognised. Now, everyone wants my autograph or wants a picture with me. There are talks about making a reality soap about me, and I noticed some new fans along the road during races. I never thought I would be this famous around here
But, you know, the world doesn't stop, and so does the world of cycling. I had to race in GP la Marseillaise a few days after my victory, and finished steadily in the peleton. in Omloop het Nieuwsblad I couldn't make a name for myself either.
Everything you need to know is in the header. With little to no attacks the team wasn't even looking for breakaway opportunities. Instead, most riders were content, sitting in the bunch. Nikias Arndt got several Top 10 results, that's about all we took from this race.
Really, we just need to forget that now.
Currently, two more goals are about to get failed. Tour de San Luis has been a major disappointment so far with our squad for hilly duties, led by Dominik Nerz, severely lacking in quality to compete against the likes of Sagan, Kelderman & Co. At Paris-Nice, we surprisingly sorta have a chance but we are afraid to jinx it. At least Nerz has shown himself active so that's gonna count for something, amiright?
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
The race to the sun is over and unfortunately, we have lost it. Alejandro Valverde won it ahead of Daniel Martin and Peter Sagan. Our best picked riders were Ian Boswell at 15th, and Dominik Nerz at 17th.
Boswell got up there in the rankings through a successful breakaway and kept the rank throughout the race. Nerz, who has been far more active in his riding than in San Luis, had put in several moves. None of those moves lead to a time gap, instead Nerz got a bit unlucky at times getting caught by the peloton.
This leaves our third sponsor goal uncompleted. We had basically no hope for this Top 10 GC goal of Paris-Nice, but coming 15th it may have had worked out. Less than two minutes seperated our boys from the golden spot of 10th. Alas, it's woulda coulda for us there.
With Tirreno still going strong and Catalunya soon to be raced, NetApp Endura has two more World Tour races to be part of. Hopes are, we mioght get a stage win out of one them.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
I know it's a long time since you've heard from me, but I've had a lot of press stuff to do back home in Sweden. People have suddenly started opening their eyes for the sport after seeing that Sweden has a rider capable of winning.
After Gabon I was racing in GP Marseillaise. A race that means a lot ot me as it was my first ever pro race, where I even finished within the points.
Again this year a break was succesful. In fact even more so than last year, but I was too closely watched in teh start to get in it and none of the other guys on the team managed either.
A weird feeling that people actually watch me closely when I move towards the front of the peloton…
Then the manager was so kind to let me race cobbles in both Omloop and Kuurne as I really wanted to see how my legs would handle those in a race situation.
I know that if you watched Kuurne you probably didn't notice us there but I promise you we were.
The same goes for Omloop, though Roger actually got us a decent result against many of the really big names.
I guess the conclusion after those two races is that I'll mainly stick to races without or with very few cobbles. Strade Bianche was a beautiful race. The landscape and the white roads was an amazing experience to ride in.
Even more so as Von Triesenberg was our man in the break and he as so strong that the rest of us could just enjoy the landscape and liten to radio Tour behind.
All-in-all a good day that ended with watching the podium ceremony and getting some champagne as Mathias managed to win the race.
I'm pretty sure that makes cyclings popularity in Liechtenstein ride even more than my Gabon-win made it in Sweden.
I just want to thank everyone for the kind words after my victory in San Luis. It's been an odd race for me, adding up to a weird season. However, after my victory I feel stronger than ever, and I'm glad I've delivered my beloved team a much wanted victory.
Also, I'd like to congratulate fellow youngster Heimdal on his great victory in Africa. The season can only get better now!
Tour de Gabon, Final GC 
Mathias von Triesenberg
