Thanks for all the support.
Here's wrap up of the second week.
Giro d'Italia
Week 2
Stage 7 - Mountain
It wasn't bad, but wasn't good eighter for Anton. Depends really how you wanna look at it. He came 2nd, 1:25 ahead of Duarte and 1:42 ahead of van der Broeck, and that's a good part. The bad one is - it was his main rival in fight for a pink jersey, who came 1st - Thibaut Pinot, who worked off 21 sec.
Stage 8 - Flat
Ahead of this stage I realized than Jonathan Castroviejo won't be good enough to fight for KoM jersey in competition such as Giro, as he was in a breakaway group day before, but simply couldn't win anything there. I decided to replace him with Jonathan Monsalve.
And it looks like Castroviejo wasn't the only one who lost some strength, as my train was much weaker than at the beginning, and that resulted with only 5th place for Nunez. It was Michael Matthews, who was the strongest on the last meters of stage 8.
Stage 9 - Hilly
Hilly stage with lots of mountain premiums. I went for them with Monsalve again, and lucky enough the breakaway group he was in wasn't chased too hard. My rider was the one, who kept most of the stamina, and on top of 10 mountain points, he got his first win of the season.
Anton came 11th, losing another 33 sec to 9th Pinot, who at this stage was only 35 sec behind him in GC.
Stage 10 - Flat
Another bad day for Nunez and his team mates. He came only 8th this time.
Stage 11 - Hilly Monsalve did good job in fight for a mountain jersey, winning 1 of 2 mountain premiums, but wasn't strong enough to win the stage. Despite successful breakaway he was only 5th in 10-rider breakaway group.
Igor Anton attacked from a peloton on last kilometres, and managed to came first, but didn't gain any time.
Stage 12 - Mountain
What he couldn't do on stage 11, did perfectly on this one. Again he attacked from peloton, and was countered by Duarte, but he couldn't keep Anton's pace. My best climber won it, Duarte got 2nd place, but rest of the riders was classified with the same time, so Anton got only 20 sec advantage to Pinot, who was 9th. Unfortunatelly I don't have any screenshots or video, that I tried to take, as my Fraps disappeared on this stage.
Stage 13 - Mountain
Stage 13 was definitely unlucky for me. On this stage I was stripped of leader's jersey, by great performance from Pinot. He won by 1:05 to Duarte. Anton was 4th with loss of 1:17.
It looks like my riders get tired. At this stage only Anton's recovery is excellent. It looks like he should be able to keep his 2nd position (however I will be fighting for the 1st place). The other good thing is Nunez has some lead in points classification, as it does't look like he's gonna get many of them now. Dropped down in team classification, but that was inevitable. Pretty confident about the KoM jersey. It was good decision to go for it with Monsalve.
Ok, so the third week of Giro is over and it looks like it's getting worst and worst for me. I lost 2nd place in GC, spriner jersey, few riders and an hour and a half in team ranking.
Giro d'Italia
Week 3
Stage 14 - Flat
Flat but with some hill before the finish line, and that's way it was Anton who got best place in my team. However he was only 8th, as there was successful breakaway and stage was won by Gabriele Pizzaballa who, on the final metres, had more strenght than Pieter Serry.
Stage 15 - Flat
Even worst day for Nunez - it looks like with each next stage of Giro he has less and less energy. He came only 24th. It was actually Anton who got better result - 16th. Stage was won by Vandousselaere followed by Matthews.
Then it was a rest day in Italy.
Stage 16 - ITT
A massive 40,5 km long mountain time trial. I knew Pinot will gain big advantage over Anton here, but 5:50 min surprised even me, as it basically buried my chances for win. And if that wasn't enough Rein Taaramare got 2:34 advantage to Anton and pushed him down to 3rd place in GC.
Stage 17 - Mountain
Very important stage for KoM riders, as there was 37 up for grabs... and it all went to Monsalve and he basically secured his blue jersey... at least that.
Lucky enough the breakaway he was in wasn't chased and on top of mountain points he got 4th place (18th in general). Anton came 16th 5:21 min later. Pinot got another 2 min to him, and Taaramare 0:40. Duarte also came ahead of him - only 19 sec, but it was enough to pass Anton in GC, by only 5 sec.
Win went to Spaniard Daniel Navarro.
Stage 18 - Mountain
Penultimate mountain stage of the tour also ended up with successful breakaway and also wasn't lucky for Anton. Despite his desperate attack on final meters he came in peloton and didn't win any time to his opponents. Robert Kiserlovski won the stage after probably most exciting mountain finish of the tour.
And if that wasn't enough the stage was too much for few of my riders including Nunez, who by withdrawal gave up his red jersey. The other riders who quitted were: Luca Barla, Arnaud Demare and Alex Rasmussen, so I left without sprinters for Turin.
Stage 19 - ITT
Another long (35 km) time trial but this time flat one. All my riders were pretty exhausted ahead of this stage so I wasn't counting on win (I was more like hoping they will be able to reach the finish line). But it was good opportunity for Anton to regain 3rd place, as Duarte, who was only 5 sec ahead of him has the same TT, as my rider - 69. However it looks like he got more stamina as he finished 23rd - 37 sec ahead of Anton who was 45th. My best rider - Adriano Malori finished that day on 22nd place.
So with only 2 days of Giro to go ranking looks like this.
So finally the great Giro is over. Last 2 stages weren't lucky for me, as it was getting continuously worst and worst after week 1, and it wasn't so hard to predict.
Giro d'Italia
Week 4
Stage 20 - Mountain
That was my last chance to get the podium with Anton that was mentioned in comments. But he (or should I say "I" ) did pretty bad, as I missed attack from Pinot, Duarte and many others, and finished only 19th, 3:30 behind and dropping to 8th position in GC. Monsalve did little bit better as staying in breakaway group for the whole race, and finishing 14th (18th in GC). Stage was won by uncongested, and well deserved Giro 2017 winner - Thibaut Pinot.
Stage 21 - Flat
Having both my sprinters drinking latte in Italian ristorante since day 20, I decided to play it very quick and leave it to the others. Kern turned up first in Turin, followed by Matthews and Kittel.
And final standing looks like this.
I guess "disappointing" is the right word to describe them. I'm disappointed with Anton's place in GC (mostly thanks to me), disappointed not seeing Nunez in points ranking, and his performance after first week, disappointed with TT stages (apart from day 1 TTT), and with my team result. I guess the only thing that I can be happy with is KoM jersey, but that isn't too much.
I can olny hope that next year it will be better.
Edited by wroblitz on 30-10-2012 11:22
I guess top 10 finish in Giro is good result... especially compared to 12th place in Criterium du Dauphine. But let's start from the beginning.
Criterium du Dauphine
Stage 1 - Hilly ITT
A 6,5 km long time trial was far from good for me. Few factors impacted that. First of all - that tour corresponded with Tour de Suisse, so that meant I had to split my team into two. Second of all - none of my riders were in good form. Group 1 was already pretty tired, especially after Giro, group 2 just started and didn't get into racing shape yet. Results? Anton 19th, Castroviejo 17th, and my best rider - Ben King only one place higher. Tejay Van Garderen grabbed a win 4 sec ahead of Contador.
Ben King during time trial.
Stage 2 - Hilly
A day when Castroviejo started his battle for Polka dot.
But it wasn't him, who was remembered after that day. On last meters, when it seemed that win will go to one of the puncheurs Sergio Henao showed what he's made of, and grabbed a win after a great style finish.
Stage 3 - Hilly Anton decided to go for a win on last tiny hill but was chased down on last 2 km. In mass sprint finish Peter Sagan gave the rest no chance. Four other riders passed Anton, and he ended up 6th on that day.
Stage 4 - ITT
A 49 km long time trial with one hill suited Van Garderen best with Contador being second again. My team did much better - King was 7th, while Kwiatkowski reminded about himself just before National Championships and got 5th place.
Stage 5 - Mountain
With Anton in bad form and riders like Contador, Henao, van der Broeck and Andy Schleck I couldn't do much. El Pistolero was in great shape for this tour and he showed it straight away on first mountain stage winning it by good margin.
Anton was 8th, with 1:32 loss.
Stage 6 - Mountain Castroviejo got another few points for mountain classification, and what's even better he was in 9-rider breakaway group that reached the finish line first, as peloton wasn't bothered to chase it, losing 5:30 to them. Angelo Tulik was the strongest in the breakaway group, but Castroviejo did entirely well finishing 3rd after very close battle with Grega Bole. He would have come 2nd if the finish line was 20 meters farther as he was closing down on him.
Stage 7 and 8 - Mountain
Last two stages was show of Contador skills. We won both of them with some margin and won the whole tour. Igor Anton was 8th and 17th what gave him 12th position in GC.
Criterium du Dauphine (WT)
Overall: 12th Anton
Points: 9th Castroviejo
Mountain: 1st Castroviejo
Young: 6th Olszewski, 10th Pawilowski
Team: 6th
Was gone for some time (can't believe it's nearly 6 months), but it looks like my story is still here (hope the followers also). Not to make this introduction any longer just wanna say I recently finished Tour de France 2017 (actually I simulated second half of it). No great results there. The tour was won by Andy Schleck, with Contador 2nd and Nibali finishing 3rd. My best rider - Peter Kennaugh came 11th (was 8th before I decided to simulate). The good news is - from next season Schleck will be riding for my team, but I will get to the transfers at the end of the post. Didn't get a mountain jersey, but Ciolek came 3rd in a battle for a green jersey (1. Sagan, 2. Boasson Hagen). My squad was 8th team of the tour.
Few minutes ago Sparkassen Giro (1.1) came to the end. It was won - just like last year - by Gerald Ciolek. Sacha Modola from CSF Inox - Domina Vacanze came 2nd, with Coca-Cola's Oleg Krivenco, Michal Kwiatkowski and Ben King finishing behind his back, so much better race for me, but also much less demanding.
Now, promised transfers. I have to say few of my good riders will be gone this season: Barla, Anton, Pozzovivo, Demare, Krivenco, Sorensen, so obviously I had to get few to replace them (don't know how many as due to long break I haven't got a clue who I signed already - just hope I won't bankrupt next season). The certain ones are:
Climbers: Andy Schleck and Pierre Rolland.
Puncher Josep Cardo.
Sprinters: Kris Boeckmans and Valery Burlakov.
and team-mate Enrique Sanz.
Once again, sorry for neglecting my story (if anybody was looking for continuation). Should be updated more often than once every 6 months now. Thanks for all the support.
Edited by wroblitz on 28-03-2013 04:59
). But it was good opportunity for Anton to regain 3rd place, as Duarte, who was only 5 sec ahead of him has the same TT, as my rider - 69. However it looks like he got more stamina as he finished 23rd - 37 sec ahead of Anton who was 45th. My best rider - Adriano Malori finished that day on 22nd place.
