Jesleyh wrote:
@The_hoyle you should take a look at my riders name again

Daggen wrote:


I'm sorry Jesleyh but your rides is welsh now

Jesleyh wrote:
@The_hoyle you should take a look at my riders name again

@Fernando Will there be a good climber in Oman for stage 5?
Or are you going to do a small preview with the line-up just like Qatar?

Daggen wrote:
When is Daggen going to race?

Before we start, I would like to say a big 'Congratulations' to the team for their overall performance in Australia. The Tour Down Under was a blast, we got some great results on the road (in particular on stage 4 Grin).

Being the only Frenchman on the team, I wondered about having problems with language, and fitting in on the training rides, but I couldn't have been more wrong! Somehow, with a mixture of 'Franglais' and thanks to a general understanding of bicycles and racing, all the team has been very welcoming.


This warm hospitality was definitely shown when some of the English speaking guys invited me to a long weekend in the Welsh Valleys. A bit of team bonding, with some hard training added in was great. Gary Sutton organised the whole trip, and along with with Mike Pye and Louis Remington, we were joined by the Alex DeLarge and Jack Wiles.

Being a local to the area, Gary knew the roads like the back of his hand, picking routes that showed the best views of the surrounding area. Growing up on the Cote d'Azur, the closest I had got to scenery like this was during the family holidays to the Alpes. Here is one of the pictures taken by Louis, after a long climb up one of the hills.



Next I am off to Qatar, hoping to help the team to success like in Australia, so until next time, a bientot mes amis!

J-P

The traning start Nine a o'clock in the Hungary . Some members of the team Mountaing traning the leader in the team Pukaric . Pukaric will get into shape for Le Tour . The Guys great feel on the hill.
Some one Then came a number of journalists and questions for the pukaric :
J:How do you feel in the Hungary?
P: I feel great ver very nice Country .
J:Where do we prepare for?
P:Famously , the team mate realy great and help a lot
J:Thank you very much.

At the end of the session with the team mate drinking a cafe .
Then, afternoon ride was a little more

That was it. My first racing experience for Spidertech - Cervélo. It was great. I mean, yes, it was hot, yes it didn't go well, but still, it was great.
I started this race with a really bad form. That's why I did only get an 6th place at stage 1, and after that nothing for a while. I mean, 6th is good, and I'm really happy with it, but I aimed for a Top 5 finish, and the manager says that I'm even capable of winning here. He's really a good motivator.
The TT went good, and I really appreciated that they took a strong TT squad to Qatar, almost only for me. How great is that Wink
Stage 3 & 4 were a mess, and I was a bit struggling too... I felt way better at the last two stages, and I finished as the first guy from the peloton!! Unfortunately, there was a break ahead both times(although the jury classified them with the same time).
So, no stage wins, and I was a bit sad after stage 6, since I didn't make it to a Top 5, but then the manager shouted to me. He had some good news. I made a 4th place in the GC! I completely forgot about the GC!
I really want to thank my team for this! I thank the 4th place for 90% to the TTT.

I really, really wanted to show you a picture with me in action. Unfortunately, only the winners get photographed in a flat stage, so there's no clear photo of me. Although you can see me here, I'm the one riding completely in the middle, at the 6th position.




Right, now lets move on.
We leave Qatar, but I don't have to travel too far. I went straight to Oman. I didn't have the chance to return to my home, but well, that's life.
I'm typing the blog from an hotel in Oman btw, it's a very nice hotel.
Instead of going home, I'm getting in a better form here in Oman, and the manager keeps telling me that I can have a good result here, at least a Top 3. I really want it, and I also want to do it for him a bit. He really motivates me all the time. But right, you will see me on TV very soon. I heard that the full race gets on TV, instead of the last 10km, which was the case in Qatar.

See you guys on TV,
Wesley Hoogenboom

Tensions are rising higher as the cobbled season is nearing. Me and the boys are finishing off some hard trainings on the small, Belgian roads. The weather is like I've never seen before, but it's all part of the great classics. I definitely hope for some good results from the team this year. I have a feeling Mike [Pye] will have his big breakthrough year.

While the guys are doing great in Australia, I’ve done some training in Qatar. I did explore the route and tried to get used to Qatar and its high temperatures. That wasn’t easy though. I will never get used to high temperatures. That makes sense, I’m from Holland, we all suffer and complain when it gets more than 25 degrees (Celsius) here.
But since training in your own is too boring, even more in a desert, I took some of the guys who were also scheduled at Qatar with me. We were there with four people, and raced a lot of km. But man, Qatar is even more flat than the Netherlands… I couldn’t train on my hilly abilities in Qatar, and I surely want to improve that. So I will go to Limburg for a while I guess, a bit practicing on the Cauberg etc. I won’t be the best on hilly riding from the peloton, but that’s not my aim. I mean, I’m a sprinter. I do want to be one of the best hilly riders of the sprinters though.
But right, I’ve got some pictures again, now of my training in Qatar.







As you can see, Qatar is really, really boring. I prefer Europe or America, to be honest. But most of the guys in the peloton do, so it’s not really shocking. Still, can’t wait to start my racing. Those guys seem really nice, and I think I can do something in Qatar.
As you can see, we practiced some sprints in Qatar too. There wasn’t a top-sprinter with me in Qatar, so I won it by a nice distance. If you wonder who’s the second, it’s Dupont. He’s a great TTist, but he can also sprint decent.
We will take some of the strong TTists with us. I might even want to go for the GC win, but maybe that’s too ambitious. I will try to get in even a better form before Qatar.

See you guys,
Wesley Hoogenboom

I'm quite happy that I didn't go to Qatar. I hate the heat and racing with no audience.
During the Qatar race I was home in my flat in Geneva. I moved to Switzerland when i got the contract with Spidertech. I was quite bored of Sweden.
Anyway, during the Wednesday afternoon I was out training on my Cervélo bike and some people actually knew me. Some people wanted photos others just a chat. It was a real motivational boost for me. A club outside Geneva asked if I wanted to do a training ride with them.

Things like that would never have happened in Sweden.
The way people treat you in Switzerland, when you say you're a cyclist, is completely different than they do in Sweden. For instance, when you talk about bike riding in Sweden, people think you mean pedalling to work or Uni. In Switzerland they know that it's road, well most people.


Back to the training ride in Geneva. The club was a training club for youths from fifteen and they often tried to talk with pros in the vicinity and get them to go to the club and talk about how it is to be a pro cyclist. Afterwards you do a little training ride with them about thirty kilometres and yeah you get it. That was really nice and they talked to me like the rider I was and part of the great squad I was. Things like that really gives you a boost.

Anyway, I've probably bored you enough now.

Thanks for reading and supporting the SpiderTech - Cervélo team
Daggen Jensen