Let's see if that's going to happen.

Without any preparation, prologue or something similar, first stage brings us high mountains. As the guys are still very fresh, we don't expect some major moves here, but a good ride from all favourites and maybe some nice Top 5 place by some of our climbers.




Just as the race started, 3 guys decided to make a move and create a break away group. Of course, hyperactive Johnny Hoogerland is there, alongside Ghyschelink and Madrazo.



This group wasn't really problem for peloton, so they let them go. Basically nothing happens in next 3 hills and riders arrived to Porte del Canto climb. 30 kilometers to go, few outsiders including Devenyns, Atapuma and Ten Dam makes a move and quickly merges with E1 group.



They kept co-operating until last hill, climb of Port-Aine. Atapuma made a move there and went on his own. He's trying to stay in front of peloton, but it's not really working that way. Peloton catches him at about 8 kilometers to go.



Everyone now expected big moves and attacks from main favourites, mainly Quintana, Porte and Purito, but surprisingly no one made a move in next couple of kilometers. Sky were just setting some normal pace. Our guys were constantly on the top of peloton.



And the situation didn't change in next 3 kilometers, so the final sprint started. Great positioning from our guys, but did they keep enough of energy and explosiveness to get a good result here?



As expected, Purito won this sprint without any problems. He's just the best sprinter amongst the climbers currently.



Surprsingly, our Robert Kiserlovski had a great fight with Quintana for 2nd place and even won that little fight and finishes as 2nd. 4 of our guys finished in Top 10 and we're more than satisfied with this stage.

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	4h00'45
2	Robert Kiserlovski	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
3	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	s.t.
4	Richie Porte	Team Sky	s.t.
5	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	s.t.
6	Daniel Moreno	Team Katusha	s.t.
7	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
8	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
9	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
10	Riccardo Zoidl	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.

GC	Joaquim Rodriguez [Katusha]	4h00'45
Points	Joaquim Rodriguez [Katusha]	25 points
KoM	Angel Madrazo [Caja]	26 points
U25	Nairo Quintana [Movistar]	4h00'41
Team	Trek Factory Racing	12h02'15

I'd say that i was really good more than solid stage. Kiserlovski finished in front of Quintana, Porte, Moreno and other big names, so it was pretty good result, besides 4 guys in Top 10 for Trek.

And yes, really strange that there were no gaps, but it's probably because all guys were fresh and ready for this, so no one could just attack that easy.

2nd stage of this year Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is first flat one. We don't really have any high expectations here as van Poppel isn't in great form currently, but some Top 10 place would be totally satisfying.




Once again, breakaway was created early and once again Gyschelink took part in it. This time, he's there with Molina and Cousin.



Just as in most of flat stages, one big nothing in next part of stage. 10 kilometers to go and Cousin is trying to stay in front. As Martin is chasing behind, he does not have any chances.



Omega Pharma Quick-Step creates train and they're the only one on top. Van Poppel is trying to follow Meersman's wheel, but he's loosing alot of energy there.



Meanwhile, about 10 riders at bottom of the peloton crashed. This Volta Ciclista a Catalunya will surely be marked as Ghyschelink's one, as he was one of the guys that crashed. He now only has to win the stage and that's all...



Anyways, at the finish line, after really long sprint from all guys, Gianni Meersman took the win in front of few other climbers, which was strange. Seems like most of the sprinters lost alot of energy yesterday.



Van Poppel finished as 10th and fulfilled our expectations. We're happy.

1	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	3h51'13
2	Daniel Moreno	Team Katusha	s.t.
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	s.t.
4	Andrew Fenn	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
5	Tom Slagter	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
6	Michael Albasini	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
7	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
8	Boy Van Poppel	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
9	Marcel Sieberg	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
10	Samuel Dumoulin	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.

GC	Joaquim Rodriguez [Katusha]	7h51'44
Points	Joaquim Rodriguez [Katusha]	41 points
KoM	Angel Madrazo [Caja]	27 points
U25	Nairo Quintana [Movistar]	7h51'54
Team	Trek Factory Racing	23h35'54

Not a great result for us, but definitely a good one.

After 2nd flat stage, the terrain goes uphill once again in Catalunya and will last for 2 stages. First challenge for guys is stage from Igualada to El Bruc with downhill finish, after 3 rated KoM climbs and one of them being HC, even. We do expect big gaps this time, tho!




Breakaway of the day group was created pretty late, as peloton couldn't agree with the guys in front for some long time. At the bottom of the first rated hill guys (Aru, Bookwalter, De Marchi, Sanchez, Kern, Landa, Gautier) made a move. They're looking good today.



They were in front for both first and second climb, and they were on downhill, 45 kilometers to go. Then, one big unexpected move happened in peloton. Rodriguez and Roche, as well as Devenyns, Nordhaug and Weening made a move. Is it too early?



And yes it was. Group caught that, as well as break group on the middle of last climb and now favourites are on top. Our 3 leaders, Zubeldia, Kiserlovski and Schleck are all on top of the peloton with few helpers protecting them. They're setting up the pace and it's really strong one.



Surprisingly, after only few hundred of meters up the road, guys on top dropped big group behind. Rodriguez, Moren, Herrada and Quintana, as well as Zoidl, Schleck, Zubeldia and Kiserlovski are there.



However, Martin and Contador recovered and caught that group on the top of last mountain. All of our guys that were previously there are still keeping their positions. Quintana attacks on the start of the downhill. Only 8 kilometers to go!



Moreno and Rodriguez were most active ones on the top of that E2 group, which was quite normal, as they had to save the jersey. 3 kilometers to go, Quintana enters the banner zone and group is getting closer. It's going to be very close finish. Kiserlovski and Schleck are strongest guys for us.



Sprint started and Rodriguez expectedly was the best one. It was now him or Quintana, as he got pretty solid advantage over other E2 guys. At the end, he somehow managed to win this, overtaking Nairo just on the line.



Robert finished as 5th, Andy as 7th, Riccardo as 9th and Haimar as 11th. Once again great team result for us.

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	3h09'51
2	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	s.t.
3	Daniel Moreno	Team Katusha	s.t.
4	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
5	Robert Kiserlovski	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
6	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
7	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
8	José Herrada	Movistar Team	s.t.
9	Riccardo Zoidl	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
10	Luis León Sánchez	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.

GC

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	11h01'25
2	Daniel Moreno	Team Katusha	+ 14
3	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	s.t.
4	Robert Kiserlovski	Trek Factory Racing	+ 18
5	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	+ 24
6	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
7	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
8	Riccardo Zoidl	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
9	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
10	José Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 1'14

Points	Joaquim Rodriguez [Katusha]	66 points
KoM	Luis Leon Sanchez [Caja]	43 points
U25	Nairo Quintana [Movistar]	11h01'39
Team	Trek Factory Racing	33h05'27

Thanks, expected you to comment on that great MSR race by Fabu. And yes, really great show from our guys in Catalunya, hope they'll keep this rhytm and keep their positions in GC (secretly hoping for podium from Robert).

Last 1.x "preparation" classic to what's coming in UWT is in front of us. Dwaars door Vlaanderen is actually known as hardest 1.x classic in CT calendar and it really looks hard. Few long cobblestones parts should make alot of problems to all the guys




With having Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg, Valkenberg in its route, it really justfies the name of hardest 1.x classic. Despite the fact that it the race has all of these popular cobblestones sections, it's 196 kilometers long, which is a bit shorter than all the classics that are coming. That's quite normal, as this is taken as preparation classic and everyone's looking on it like that.

The list of the starters contains some top of cobblestone names, such as Vanmarcke, Langeveld, Devolder, Vanendbergh but it still misses few great guys such as Fabian, Tommeke, Styby, Terpstra and rest. Talking about this fact, it will may be one-dimensional race with Vanmarcke dominating it, but at the end everything can happen in these type of races. Other than these guys above, Offredo, Eisel, Bozic and few more classic-guys are here, aswell.



Our team is pretty strong, but we misses our total cobblestone leader, Fabian Cancellara. Team will be lead by Devolder, while Rast and van Poppel will be there in case something unexpected happens. Hondo, Roulston and rest of the guys from our standard cobblestones squad are here aswell.



Devolder is in quite good form , so we do expect some Top 10 place from him here. Would be nice achievement for all his work he has done in the season so far. Danny van Poppel will just wait for sprint, if favourites somehow fail to finish in front of peloton. That was all for this preview, ee ya on the race!

DS of Trek FR - admirschleck

Thanks for support, guys! Cancellara is not here for a simple reason - it's not one of his most important races and he wants to save some race-days before Le Tour, Tour de Suisse and other UWT races.

And, the race in Flanders region of Belgium is about to start. Weather is cloudy, but it's still around 14-15 °C so it won't be a big problem to guys. Let's hope it won't be raining while guys ride over cobblestone sections. That would be disaster.




Huge 18-members breakaway created a breakaway early this morning and our Jasper Stuyven was once again part of it. It's his 2nd or 3rd breakaway this year, the guy is really active!



Surpsringly for this type of race, but nothing really happened until 40 kilometers to go. Styuven made a move there and he's now going on his own, versus break and peloton groups.



And, due to strong pace from OPQS and Sky guys, Styuven was soon caught. However, that definitely didn't mean stop of action, as Eisel, Pettit and Bozic created new group. They're looking great! Still 20 kilometers to go.



2 OPQS guys, Vanendbergh and Steegmans joined them and they're now gaining even more time. Vanmarcke and Trek guys are blocked behind...



Finally, 3 of our guys managed somehow to get on top of the peloton and attack. Devolder, Styven and Roulston are there with Iljo Keisse from OPQS. Styuven's previous attacks exhausted him too much and he's now dropping. Still no Vanmarcke and Langeveld there.



It was sprint time for first group now. The winner of this race is some of them, but who's gonna be that? Bozic, Eisel, Steegmans and Petit are all in advantage over Vanendbergh , who's not sprinter at all.



And after long sprint, Bernardh Eisel gets the win. Totally deserved after a great sprint. He finished in front of Bozic (2nd) and Petit (3rd).



Devolder finished as 7th, Roulston as 8th, while Styuven finished on 9th position, just in front of peloton. Mixed feelings.

1	Bernhard Eisel	Team Sky	4h21'48
2	Borut Božic	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
3	Adrien Petit	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
4	Gert Steegmans	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
5	Stijn Vandenbergh	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
6	Iljo Keisse	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 51
7	Stijn Devolder	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
8	Hayden Roulston	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'25
9	Jasper Stuyven	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
10	Tom Veelers	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.

Indeed. Spring Classics are very, very close now, so let's hope Fabian will get few good results there!

Looking on the profile of 4th stage of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya this year, it's almost the same as previous stage, so it's pretty normal that we expect similar result on this stage aswell.




Once again PCM being PCM. I wanted to move to next day (after i finished Dwars door Vlaanderen and 3rd stage, who were in the same day) PCM skipped the 4th stage of Catalunya, without a single fucking reason. So, results appeared in "Latest Results" after the race and that was all. I couldn't even export the results.

No time to cry about PCM13 bugs, here's the result from 4th stage. Totally expected result for a mountain stage and this competition - Quintana won in front of Porte, Henao, Rodriguez and Contador. Schleck and Zoidl were our best 2 riders, finishing as 16th and 17th on the stage.



Disappointing result, but nothing can be really done against it. Shame this is happening for 3rd time in this story. However, GC is looking like this at the moment.



As you can see, we still managed to keep 4 guys in Top 10 with Andy Schleck being our best one on 5th position. Moreno isn't too far in GC (only 10 seconds in front of Andy), so we'll try to overtake him and get the 4th position at the end, here.

That was all for this "report". I really hope this won't happen' again, but it's not mine fault.