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Petronas - Monster Energy; The end of an era
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| dienblad |
Posted on 19-11-2012 18:48
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Stage 1
La corsa dei due mare kicks off with a 20 kilometre ITT in Civitavecchia. The route contains 1 climb, with a height difference of 328 metres.
Garmin's Tejay van Garderen has to start early, but it's absolutely no disadvantage for him. He sets the fastest time in 29'00 and he can take a comfortable place in the hot seat, as the time will be the fastest for a long time.
But when the current TT-world champion starts, Van Garderen knows that he will be kicked out of the hot seat. Fabian Cancellara is 24 seconds faster, and sets the new best time at 28'36.
Czech Roman Kreuziger begins the season for his new team Movistar in a good way. 2nd time so far at '23.
And here we have another rider that switched teams last winter. Kenian born Chris Froome joins the elite force of Radio Shack and starts the season very well. He is '2 faster than Kreuziger ad sets the 2nd time of the day.
Starting with a fitness of only 77, the question is how Robert Gesink can perform today. He surprises with the 14th time, '41 slower than Cancellara, but less than '20 slower than the GC-favourites!
The last rider to start is Movistar's Alberto Contador. The Spaniard is seen as one of the favourites to win the GC, and he starts pretty good with the 6th place at '29.
Results & GC
| 1 |  Fabian Cancellara | Sky ProCycling | 28'36 | | 2 |  Chris Froome | Radio Shack - Nissan | + 21 | | 3 |  Roman Kreuziger | Movistar Team | + 23 | | 4 |  Tejay Van Garderen | Garmin - Barracuda | + 24 | | 5 | Andrew Talansky | Garmin - Barracuda | + 25 | | 6 |  Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 29 | | 7 |  Rui Costa | Movistar Team | + 33 | | 8 |  Maxime Monfort | Sony Ericsson | + 34 | | 9 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Sony Ericsson | + 35 | | 10 |  Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | s.t. | | ... | | 14 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | + 41 |
Today's winner
Word from the DS
Considering the low fitness of our leaders here, they started pretty good (Gesink 14th, Dekker 19th).
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 19-11-2012 19:08
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Decent start from the Dutchies.  |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 20-11-2012 20:57
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Stage 2
Stage 2 brings the riders to the region of Umbria. After 153 kilometres, they'll finish in the town of Terni. The route contains some small hills, is classified as hilly, but the sprinters have a chance here.
76km to go
A big breakaway group creates a margin of 3 minutes. Strangely, a lot of good sprinters are present in this group, such as Grega Bole, Michael Matthews, Francesco Gavazzi, Bobbie Traksel and John Degenkolb. Also, some cobblers / puncheurs are in the group: Juan Antonio Flecha and Alessandro Ballan.
It's no surprise that the peloton doesn't want to let them ride away, as te group is far too strong.
32km to go
The big breakaway group gets caught, and then it's time for another strong group. What do you think about Sebastian Langeveld, Nick Nuyens, Manuele Mori, Filippo Pozzato and Luca Celli? For sure Pozzato, Langeveld and Nuyens, all preparing for the cobbled classics, are a big treat for the sprinters.
18km to go
The peloton has closed the gap to 2 minutes, but the undulating roads of the small hills between kilometre 125-140 are too slippery for some of the riders. A big first crash causes some victims, as Jetse Bol, Jeremy Roy, Borut Bozic, Heinrich Haussler and Theo Bos.
15km to go
A 2nd crash only a few kilometres later, decreases the speed of the peloton a lot, so the 5 riders in the breakaway will stay out of reach and fight for the win.
Andrew Talansky and Francesco Gavazzi show some great exercise of synchronic cycling diving, as they hit the tarmac together with José Rujano, Luke Rowe, Wout Poels, EB Hagen and Roman Kreuziger. Only 49 riders are able to continue in the first peloton!
Finish
The fight for the stage win ends in a sprint with 5, and of course Filippo Pozzato wins the stage. The Italian is in a great form in the early season, really paying off his transfer to BMC. Nuyens takes the 2nd place and Mori the 3rd. Marco Marcato wins the sprint for the 3rd place at 1'30, with Coen Vermeltfoort finishing in 13th place. Our main riders are in this first group.
Results
| 1 |  Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 3h44'39 | | 2 | Nick Nuyens | Saxo Bank SunGard | s.t. | | 3 | Manuele Mori | Lampre - Alitalia | s.t. | | 4 | Sebastian Langeveld | Qantas Airways | s.t. | | 5 | Luca Celli | Acqua & Sapone | s.t. | | 6 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | + 1'30 | | 7 | Davide Malacarne | Liquigas - Microsoft | s.t. | | 8 | Fabio Felline | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 9 | Giovanni Visconti | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 10 | Daniel Oss | Liquigas - Microsoft | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 4h13'47 | | 2 | Sebastian Langeveld | Qantas Airways | + 9 | | 3 | Nick Nuyens | Saxo Bank SunGard | + 35 | | 4 | Fabian Cancellara | Sky ProCycling | + 58 | | 5 | Manuele Mori | Lampre - Alitalia | + 1'00 | | 6 | Luca Celli | Acqua & Sapone | + 1'12 | | 7 | Chris Froome | Radio Shack - Nissan | + 1'19 | | 8 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 1'27 | | 9 | Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | + 1'33 | | 10 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Sony Ericsson | s.t. | | 11 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | + 1'39 |
Points
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Sky ProCycling | 15 | | 2 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 14 | | 3 | Nick Nuyens | Saxo Bank SunGard | 13 | | 4 | Chris Froome | Radio Shack - Nissan | 12 | | 5 | Sebastian Langeveld | Qantas Airways | 12 |
KOTM
| 1 | Francesco Gavazzi | Rabobank Cycling Team | 5 | | 2 | Juan Antonio Flecha | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 3 | | 3 | Jelle Wallays | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | 1 |
Today's winner
Word from the DS
We are really lucky that we could stay out of these nasty crashes. Our GC-man Robert Gesink is in 11th place of the GC, and his position will probably improve tomorrow with 4 ascends of the Mure Montelupone.
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 20-11-2012 22:48
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At least your main riders avoided havoc and are still in contention. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 20-11-2012 22:51
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Gesink still looking OK in 11th place  |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 21-11-2012 07:01
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Gesink is in a favorable place to move into a nice GC spot! |
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| jere5000 |
Posted on 21-11-2012 07:45
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Under 23
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Go Gesink! A great rider, hope he does well in the GC
Jeremy
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| Abelbaba |
Posted on 21-11-2012 09:14
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Domestique
Posts: 537
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nice spot for gesink, he will climb some places when the road starts to rise |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 21-11-2012 09:33
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3772
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Stage 3
Today we riders from Umbria to the Marche. The route form Chieti to Montelupone is 215 kilometres long, and in the last part the horrible steep Mure Montelupone (1600 metres with a maximum gradient of 20%), that has to be climb 4 times.
199km to go
Early in the race, 2 pretty dangerous riders attack out of the peloton. Both José Rujano and Jakob Fuglsang have lost a few minutes in yesterday's crash, and want to make it a long adventure today. But they are too dangerous for the GC, and get caught soon after.
37km to go
With the prospect of 4 steep climbs, only 2 riders dare to go attack today. Francisco José Pacheco (Vacansoleil) and Florian Vachon (Europcar) are the ones. They create a maximal margin of 7 minutes, and that has decreased to 3'49 when they climb the Mure Montelupone for the first time. Vachon gets rewarded after the stage with the KOTM-jersey, so he knows why he started this crazy adventure!
12km to go
It's already the 3rd and penultimate ascend of the Mure. The 2 leaders have been caught, and Liquigas Gabriele Bosisio opens the game. He gets countered by JoaquÃm RodrÃguez and Cyriel Gautier (Farnese Vini).
5km to go
Also Robert Gesink tries to counter, but he hasn't good the form to do it succesfully, and falls back in the chasing peloton. Filippo Pozzato is doing the pace there, knowing that his leaders jersey is in danger.
1km to go
The last ascend of the Mure Montelupone has started, and RodrÃguez is dropping Bosisio. The Italian gets joined by Roman Kreuziger, who attacked out of the peloton even before the foot of the hill. Gautier has fallen back in the chasing group. After his previous attack that costed a lot of energy, Gesink is struggling to keep a good position at these narrow roads.
Finish
RodrÃguez stays out of trouble and wins his first race of the year, fully deserving it after his attack. Bosision finishes in 2nd at '26, Kreuziger in 3rd at '36 and Ben Hermans (Astana) and Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) in 4th and 5th at '52. A group with Vandewalle, Barredo, Caruso and Seeldraeyers finishes at 1'01, and a bigger group with Pozzato (who stays in the GC-lead), Contador, Santambrogio, Rujano, Cataldo, Gautier and Gesink (18th) at 1'22.
Bad luck today for Marc Lootens, as he is forced to abandon the Tirreno because of a fractured arm, and will be out for 2 months.
Results
| 1 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | 5h44'07 | | 2 | Gabriele Bosisio | Liquigas - Microsoft | + 26 | | 3 | Roman Kreuziger | Movistar Team | + 36 | | 4 | Ben Hermans | Pro Team Astana | + 52 | | 5 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 6 | Kristof Vandewalle | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'01 | | 7 | Carlos Barredo | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 8 | Giampaolo Caruso | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 9 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Sony Ericsson | s.t. | | 10 | Mauro Santambrogio | Radio Shack - Nissan | + 1'22 | | ... | | 18 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 9h59'16 | | 2 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | + 21 | | 3 | Gabriele Bosisio | Liquigas - Microsoft | + 57 | | 4 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Sony Ericsson | + 1'12 | | 5 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | + 1'27 | | 6 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 7 | Giampaolo Caruso | Katusha Team | + 1'29 | | 8 | Kristof Vandewalle | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 9 | Carlos Barredo | Movistar Team | + 1'34 | | 10 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | + 1'39 |
Points
| 1 | Roman Kreuziger | Movistar Team | 18 | | 2 | Fabian Cancellara | Sky ProCycling | 15 | | 3 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 14 | | 4 | Nick Nuyens | Saxo Bank SunGard | 13 | | 5 | Sebastian Langeveld | Qantas Airways | 12 |
KOTM
| 1 |  Florian Vachon | Team Europcar | 10 | | 2 | Francisco José Pacheco | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | 6 | | 3 |  José Rujano | Androni Giocattoli | 5 | | 4 | Francesco Gavazzi | Rabobank Cycling Team | 5 | | 5 |  Jakob Fuglsang | Radio Shack - Nissan | 3 |
Today's winner
Word from the DS
Gesink wasn't as strong today as we hoped for. Probably when he would have waited and not made the counter attack, he would have finished in a better position. Probably.... I'm glad he tried, showing some balls.
And of course our best healing wishes to Marc Lootens after fracturing his arm...
Edited by dienblad on 21-11-2012 09:35
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-11-2012 09:55
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Nice to see that Gesink has moved in to the top ten
With a bit of luck he can make it in to podium position brfore the end of the race (only 42 seconds) |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 13:45
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 21-11-2012 10:01
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Well, he may not have had the best day but he's moving in the right direction |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 21-11-2012 10:03
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3772
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@ sutty & Ian: with 1 mountain stage coming up, he can/should improve his position!
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-11-2012 10:18
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Lets hope he has a Great day on that stage then |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 21-11-2012 10:20
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3772
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Stage 4
A short day today, only 140 kilometres between Maceratta and Offagna. The route is hilly again, with the last 2 kilometres going uphill, but not as difficult as yesterday.
12km to go
The stage is as boring as can be, untill 12 kilometres before the finish. Shortly before the summit of the penultimate hill, GC's number 2 JoaquÃm RodrÃguez attacks. The peloton immediately starts to chase him, with Movistar and BMC in the lead.
2km to go
RodrÃguez gets caught, and the riders start the last 2 ascending kilometres. Alberto Contador is leading the peloton, thus avoiding the chance to get blocked in the narrow roads. He's followed by Giampaolo Caruso and Jurgen Van den Broeck. Gesink & Dekker are pretty well positioned, in 7th and 8th place.
1km to go
Contador attacks under the flamme rouge, and only Caruso can follow him. Our 2 Dutch riders start to loose places, as they simply can't accelerate fast enough while starting the sprint.
Finish
Contador is able to keep the pace up high and takes the win in Offagna. 11 seconds behind him, the Katusha duo Caruso and RodrÃguez finish in 2nd and 3rd. Gesink finishes in 16th (Dekker in 18th), in the same time as Caruso.
Results
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | 3h34'58 | | 2 | Giampaolo Caruso | Katusha Team | + 11 | | 3 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 4 | Maxime Monfort | Sony Ericsson | s.t. | | 5 | Gabriele Bosisio | Liquigas - Microsoft | s.t. | | 6 | Roman Kreuziger | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 7 | José JoaquÃn Rojas | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 8 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Sony Ericsson | s.t. | | 9 | Mauro Santambrogio | Radio Shack - Nissan | s.t. | | 10 | Diego Milán | Movistar Team | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 13h34'25 | | 2 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | + 17 | | 3 | Gabriele Bosisio | Liquigas - Microsoft | + 57 | | 4 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 1'06 | | 5 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Sony Ericsson | + 1'12 | | 6 | Giampaolo Caruso | Katusha Team | + 1'23 | | 7 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | + 1'27 | | 8 | Kristof Vandewalle | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'29 | | 9 | Carlos Barredo | Movistar Team | + 1'34 | | 10 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | + 1'39 |
Points
| 1 | Roman Kreuziger | Movistar Team | 23 | | 2 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | 20 | | 3 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | 19 | | 4 | Gabriele Bosisio | Liquigas - Microsoft | 16 | | 5 | Fabian Cancellara | Sky ProCycling | 15 |
KOTM
| 1 | Florian Vachon | Team Europcar | 10 | | 2 | Francisco José Pacheco | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | 6 | | 3 | José Rujano | Androni Giocattoli | 5 | | 4 | Egoitz GarcÃa | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 5 | | 5 | Francesco Gavazzi | Rabobank Cycling Team | 5 |
Today's winner
Word from the DS
We don't seem to perform that well in these uphill finishes..... Tomorrow is a flat stage, the day after tomorrow is finally for the real climbers!
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| dienblad |
Posted on 21-11-2012 11:49
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Stage 5
One easy day for the GC-contenders, as stage 5 is, except for some hills in the first part of the stage, pretty flat. A mass sprint is expected in San Benedetto del Tronto.
18km to go
Again, a crash occurs in the peloton. Biggest victim is Gabriele Bosisio, the number 3 of the GC, who has to abandon the Tirreno in an ambulance with a broken wrist...
6km to go
The last 2 members of the BOTD, D'Amore (Farnese Vini) and Sulzberger (Qantas) are about to get caught by the peloton, when Juan Antonio Flecha (Euskaltel) launches his attack.
2km to go
The sprinter trains are looking at each other, as Flecha increases his lead to 24 seconds. We decide to chase him, although Gesink and Dekker aren't the best riders to form a train for Coen Vermeltfoort...
Finish
We can't close the gap to Flecha, but the other sprinters can. Flecha gets passed only 200 metres before the finish. Matthew Goss (Dexia) takes the win, the first of this season, after beating Michael Matthews (Qantas) and GC-leader Filippo Pozzato. Vermeltfoort finishes in 10th place.
Results
| 1 |  Matthew Goss | Dexia | 3h13'32 | | 2 | Michael Matthews | Qantas Airways | s.t. | | 3 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 4 | Andrea Grendene | Androni Giocattoli | s.t. | | 5 | Juan Antonio Flecha | Euskaltel - Euskadi | s.t. | | 6 | Andrea Guardini | Pro Team Astana | s.t. | | 7 |  John Degenkolb | Sony Ericsson | s.t. | | 8 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin - Barracuda | s.t. | | 10 | Coen Vermeltfoort | Petronas - Monster Energy | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 16h47'53 | | 2 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | + 21 | | 3 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 1'10 | | 4 | Giampaolo Caruso | Katusha Team | + 1'27 | | 5 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | + 1'31 | | 6 | Kristof Vandewalle | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'33 | | 7 | Carlos Barredo | Movistar Team | + 1'38 | | 8 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | + 1'43 | | 9 | Dario Cataldo | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'57 | | 10 | Cyril Gautier | Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli | + 2'10 |
Points
| 1 | Roman Kreuziger | Movistar Team | 23 | | 2 | Filippo Pozzato | BMC Racing Team | 22 | | 3 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Katusha Team | 20 | | 4 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | 19 | | 5 | Fabian Cancellara | Sky ProCycling | 15 |
KOTM
| 1 | Florian Vachon | Team Europcar | 10 | | 2 | Luca Celli | Acqua & Sapone | 8 | | 3 | Steven Van Vooren | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | 8 | | 4 | Francisco José Pacheco | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | 6 | | 5 | José Rujano | Androni Giocattoli | 5 |
Today's winner
Word from the DS
And another stage we stayed out of havoc..... Tomorrow is D-day for the GC, with 2 ascends of the San Giacomo.
Edited by dienblad on 21-11-2012 11:50
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-11-2012 16:38
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Tour de France Champion
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Hope Robert is up for the battle in the next stage |
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| ryant |
Posted on 21-11-2012 19:05
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Good Luck in Tirreno with Gesink! He has somehow managed to stay away from the crashes so it must be a sign.
BTW Rodriguez has declined a lot more in your game than mine, ouch!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 22-11-2012 06:57
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Come on Gesink, tomorrow you have to do it |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 22-11-2012 16:03
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@ sutty & Ian: I can already tell you, that he improves his GC-position with more then 2 places
@ ryant: he has surely declined in his Mo-stats, but that's the game!
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 22-11-2012 16:22
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Grand Tour Champion
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Well, then I hope Gesink will shine on the queen stage. |
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