Thanks all. It was definitely a much better race for us than expected. But sutty, I doubt Ji will do anything like this again since his potential is very limited. It's pretty bad to be honest.
The AMGEN Tour of California is a week long stage race held in California during May. It's often a mix of flat and harder stages, and most times also a very important longish timetrial. The still quite new race was held for the first time in 2006 and has been dominated by the home riders. Only non-American to ever win here is Michael Rogers in 2010.
Skil squad:
Not very different from the squad we used in Dunkerque, but this time they are all a lot more fit. Especially Docker and Geniez are feeling pretty good at the moment. Those two are our biggest hopes for a good result on a stage or overall.
15.05 - 17.05: AMGEN Tour of California - Part one
Stage 1
Southlake Tahoe - Northstar Resort
The race begins with the stage that was cancelled due to bad weather irl. It's mostly flat, but there are a few climbs on the route, with the last one topping out just five kilometres from the finish. Not a day for the sprinters.
Nicolas Roche showed that he still had some of his Romandie form left in his legs by putting in a strong attack near the top of the last climb, dragging Contador, Anton and recent Romandie winner Schleck with him and easily outsprinting them for the stage win. Group 2 arrived half a minute later, with Docker finishing 10th as best Skil rider.
Result:
1
Nicolas Roche
AG2R La Mondiale
4h41'42
2
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank SunGard
s.t.
3
Igor Anton
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
4
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
s.t.
5
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 31
6
Andreas Klöden
Team RadioShack
s.t.
7
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
8
Peter Sagan
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
9
Simon Gerrans
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
10
Mitchell Docker
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
...
14
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
23
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
Stage 2
North Lake Tahoe - Sacramento
The second stage provided a much easier day than the opening one. Starting high up in North Lake Tahoe and then going down for pretty much the whole day to finish in Sacramento. No difficulties at all, so a mass sprint is expected.
We didn't get any sprint though, as Juan Antonio Flecha attacked out of a successful breakaway and rode home solo to a magnificent stage win. Peloton arrived 2'15 later with Thor Hushovd at the front. Kittel's medium fitness once again costed him too much energy to be able to challenge.
Result:
1
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky ProCycling
4h54'36
2
Scott Thwaites
Endura Racing
+ 58
3
Paul Poux
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
4
Philip Lavery
An Post - Sean Kelly
+ 1'27
5
Bart Dockx
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
6
Adrien Petit
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
7
Ino Ilesic
Team Type 1
s.t.
8
Thor Hushovd
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 2'15
9
Nicolas Roche
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
10
Jimmy Engoulvent
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
...
16
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
Stage 3
Auburn - Modesto
Stage three was another flat day, this time hopefully with the sprinters battling it out in the end.
The sprint got really messy thanks to a late catch of the breakaway. Robbie Hunter profited from this and jumped around Thor Hushovd in the final kilometer to celebrate a dominant sprint win. Kittel once again disappointed and missed the Top 10 for a second day in a row.
Kittel is a bit disappointing in last few stages, especially here in California.. but he will bounce back in style, I think Docker did well in first stage, maybe he can grab a nice stage-result in next days.
18.05 - 22.05: AMGEN Tour of California - Part two
Stage 4
Livermore - San José / Sierra Road
Stage number four might not look too hard, but truth is that it was probably the one that decided the overall in the real life race. A very strong Chris Horner cracked everyone up the last climb and won solo on top, took yellow and kept it all the way. Maybe we'll see something similar here?
A very hard attack from Igor Anton halfway up the final climb for a long time looked like the winning move, but Schleck managed to catch him in the final kilometer and also jump ahead to take the stage win and took over the yellow jersey from Roche.
Anton's team mate Sanchez took third ahead of Evans, Klöden, Leipheimer and Gerdemann. Behind them a small gap to Contador, Wiggins and a strong Geniez, who got to pull on the white jersey thanks to his performance.
Result:
1
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
3h52'32
2
Igor Anton
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 46
4
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 53
5
Andreas Klöden
Team RadioShack
s.t.
6
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
7
Linus Gerdemann
Leopard Trek
s.t.
8
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank SunGard
+ 1'12
9
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
10
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
...
15
Nicolas Roche
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 1'50
16
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
Stage 5
Seaside - Paso Robles
For some reason, this stage refused to work. I tried several times on different graphic levels and rebooted the computer, but nothing worked. Therefore it's played in detailed simulation.
The stage ended up in a mass sprint, won by Heinrich Haussler ahead of his team mate and the man he was leading out, Thor Hushovd. Robbie Hunter completed the podium, while Docker and Kittel finished 5th and 7th respectively. Great result, considering how we've failed in the sprints earlier.
Result:
1
Heinrich Haussler
Team Garmin - Cervélo
6h08'24
2
Thor Hushovd
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
3
Robert Hunter
Team RadioShack
s.t.
4
Kevin Lacombe
Team SpiderTech powered by C10
s.t.
5
Mitchell Docker
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
6
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Marcel Kittel
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
8
Rubén Pérez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
9
Robert Förster
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
s.t.
10
Yaroslav Popovych
Team RadioShack
s.t.
Stage 6
Solvang (ITT)
As always in the Tour of California, a longer time trial is present. This time it's 27 kilometres long, about 26 kilometres longer than we'd like, seeing both Geniez and Geschke are weak timetriallists.
After looking good in both Romandie and the earlier stages here, Joost Posthuma surprised everyone with an incredible time trial, beating Alex Rasmussen (HTC) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky). Geniez rode quite well and just lost two places in the overall, finding himself in 12th, just 9 seconds from the Top 10.
Result:
1
Joost Posthuma
Leopard Trek
31'48
2
Alex Rasmussen
HTC - Highroad
+ 14
3
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
+ 19
4
Andreas Klöden
Team RadioShack
+ 25
5
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 27
6
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 31
7
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank SunGard
+ 35
8
Fabian Cancellara
Leopard Trek
+ 39
9
Linus Gerdemann
Leopard Trek
s.t.
10
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 43
...
29
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
+ 1'37
69
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
+ 2'07
Stage 7
Claremont - Mt. Baldy
The queen stage of this race, finishing on top of the mighty Mount Baldy. Radioshack completed their overall domination by taking a double win with Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner here, with the latter one securing the overall victory.
Levi Leipheimer proved to be both the smartest and the strongest on the final climb. A perfectly timed attack cracked all his rivals, leaving him riding up to the top solo and claiming a nice stage win.
Contador finished second and gained a few seconds on the man in yellow, Schleck. But more importantly, they lost almost a minute to Leipheimer, which was more than enough for the American to take over the race lead!
Geniez climbed brilliantly once again and finished 10th, losing time to all the big names, but gapping everyone else. This performance allowed him to jump back into the Top 10 for the final stage. Great.
Result:
1
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
3h46'34
2
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank SunGard
+ 53
3
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
+ 59
4
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
5
Andreas Klöden
Team RadioShack
+ 1'09
6
Igor Anton
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 1'21
7
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 1'32
8
Chris Anker Sørensen
Saxo Bank SunGard
+ 1'41
9
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
10
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
+ 2'24
...
14
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
+ 2'58
Stage 8
Santa Clarita - Thousand Oaks
After a hard week of racing, the final stage provides a celebration day. Levi Leipheimer's smart riding yesterday moved him into yellow, and I doubt he'll lose it today. And from our perspective, Geniez is 10th overall and best young rider as long as he doesn't crash today.
After an easy day we reached the finishing town for one final mass sprint. Thor Hushovd was the fastest and grabbed the last stage here ahead of Alex Rasmussen and Elia Viviani. Best of all was that Kittel finally challenged a bit in the sprint and just missed the podium.
Leipheimer stayed on his bike and secured the overall victory, while Geniez did the same and could retain his white jersey at podium.
Nice race in California, well done by Geniez to get a Top 10 and the youngs jersey. Kittel got some nice performances on these last stages. Nice to see Levi winning as well
And the stupid lead-out wins ahead of sprinter bug is still there in the detailed simulation
At least Kittel got a 4th in final stage.. but Geniez is definitely your rider of this race: two nice Top-10s in the mountains and a well deserved 10th Overall.. and, I may have mentioned it before, but the screens in your last report are pure quality! Awesome
@all: Thanks a lot! Really appreciated. @hemsedal: Yeah, it's in 2011. I don't know why, but I prefer to have the irl national and world champs. Therefore Cav and Martin in rainbow. @Spilak: Definitely. He's already around 90, and he'll just grow better. @baia: So am I. But his shape isn't on top yet, so it's not that strange. @tsmoha: An extra thanks for liking the screens.
The Ronde van België, or Tour of Belgium as it's called in English is a five day stage race around Belgium. It's a quite flat race, but cobbles are often present. Therefore the overall winner is often a sprinter who survives some cobbles.
Skil squad: Docker is our strongest man on the cobbles, and therefore he'll go for the overall, seeing stage three includes a lot of paved sections. Kittel is still not in top shape, but should be able to do decent in the sprints. He'll get help from Kluge and Reimer, who'll be the train guys. You might wonder why Van Hummel doesn't get to be Kittel's leadout man, but the answer is simple - he's out of shape and is only here to find some of it.
Real life home winner Philippe Gilbert is here, searching for the rl-game double. If his shape is okay he should be able to gain time on everyone in the hard, cobbled stage three. That will be enough for him I think.
Biggest challenge will come from decent cobblers but great prologueists David Millar and Lieuwe Westra. Seeing the flatness of the race, the prologue might decide the overall if it stays together on the cobbles. That's their chance.
25.05 - 29.05: Ronde van België
Stage 1
Buggenhout
Lieuwe Westra showed great form by completely crushing everyone else in the prologue. We had a lesser good day with Kittel finishing best of our riders, 15th.
Result:
1
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
6'50
2
Markel Irizar
Team Radioshack
+ 6
3
Dominique Cornu
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
+ 7
4
Ramunas Navardauskas
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 9
5
Sebastian Lang
OmegaPharma - Lotto
s.t.
6
David Millar
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
7
Benoît Vaugrenard
FDJ
+ 10
8
Nelson Oliveira
Team Radioshack
+ 11
9
Cameron Meyer
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 13
10
Brett Lancaster
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
…
15
Marcel Kittel
Skil - Shimano
+ 15
Stage 2
Lochristi - Knokke Heist
After the prologue we faced a flat stage. It's really weird, since it's the second time I think that a stage looks really similar to one in Albert Achterhes Profronde van Drenthe. Hmm... What can it be?
The stage ended with a mass sprint, just like expected. Romain Feillu proved that he really is a top sprinter by taking a very dominant victory. Kittel didn't manage to come to the front in time and had to start the sprint from a bit behind. Therefore we see 4th as a very good result. Looks like his form is rising after all.
Result:
1
Romain Feillu
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
3h58'03
2
Michael Van Stayen
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
s.t.
3
Reinier Honig
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
4
Marcel Kittel
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
5
Philippe Gilbert
OmegaPharma - Lotto
s.t.
6
Tomasz Kiendys
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
7
Jonas Ljungblad
ContiTeam Differdange - Magic Sportfood
s.t.
8
Mitchell Docker
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
9
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team Radioshack
s.t.
10
Theo Bos
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
Stage 3
Knokke Heist - Ieper
The crucial stage in this race. Lots of cobbles and small, razor-steep hills. A real test for the riders, and if you want to create gaps then this is the stage. A solo move is not impossible at all. Most interesting thing to see will be whether Philippe Gilbert has the legs to attack or not.
Docker attacked up the last little hill and the only one who could respond was race leader Westra. However, they played cat and mouse once we came down from the hill, which resulted in them being caught by a bigger group.
Docker had thrown away too much energy in his attack and didn't stand a chance in the sprint. Westra on the other hand seemed to have a lot left and easily won the sprint, growing his advantage in the overall even bigger. Stupid AI invicible strength.
The peloton arrived almost one and a half minute later. Biggest surprise there was pre-race favourite Gilbert, who wasn't able to counter the decisive attacks.
Result:
1
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
4h59'06
2
Staf Scheirlinckx
Veranda's Willems - Accent
s.t.
3
Karsten Kroon
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
4
Marco Marcato
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Sebastian Langeveld
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Ian Stannard
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
7
Mitchell Docker
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
8
Adam Hansen
OmegaPharma - Lotto
s.t.
9
Markel Irizar
Team Radioshack
s.t.
10
Arnaud Labbe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 43
…
15
Dieter Cappelle
Veranda's Willems - Accent
+ 1'23
Stage 4
Bertem - Eupen
Another flat stage, but with a quite interesting finish. Partly because the final part of the stage is on a circuit that's not completely flat, but also because the last 500 metres is slightly uphill. That might be enough to crack some sprinters.
The breakaway were successful and held on by just under a minute. Jérôme Baugnies was the strongest in the uphill sprint and took the stage win in a tight battle against CCC's Dariusz Batek and Garmin's Cam Meyer.
Feillu was again the fastest in the mass sprint, while Docker finished well, taking second behind the Frenchman.
Result:
1
Jérôme Baugnies
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
4h19'01
2
Dariusz Batek
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
3
Cameron Meyer
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
4
Nicolas Schneider
ContiTeam Differdange - Magic Sportfood
s.t.
5
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
6
Martin Kohler
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Sven Nys
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
8
Matti Breschel
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Darius Dzervus
An Post - Sean Kelly
s.t.
10
Rohan Dennis
Rabobank Continental Cycling Team
s.t.
…
13
Romain Feillu
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 57
14
Mitchell Docker
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
Stage 5
Oreye - Putte
Another flat stage? How surprising. Maybe the day Kittel finally breaks his winless streak. One can always dream.
We changed the plan slightly after Docker's great sprint yesterday. Some bonus seconds would move him up to third overall, therefore we set up our train for him today, with Kittel as leadout man.
Unfortunately Mitch didn't have the speed to match the fastest in the end and finished on a mediocre 8th place, barely being able to pass Kittel. How disappointing.
Feillu once again showed who's the best sprinter in the race by taking his second stage win ahead of FDJ's Hutarovich, who were the only one that could break a Vacansoleil 1-2-3. Marcato and Westra therefore had to satisfy with 3rd and 4th, more than enough for Westra to secure his overall victory.
@sutty: I don't we did that bad. Top 5 overall was about what I expected. @Yves S: Nah, not at all. His morale is "over the moon" and his fitness is now on almost 90, so he's in good spirit at the moment. @dienblad: Thanks for the comment. And I've fixed the Westra issue. It's easy to confuse the Dutch and the Belgians sometimes. Especially when you write a report in a bit of a hurry. @baia: Yeah, he did pretty well.
Giro review coming up later today or more likely some time tomorrow.
