The first cobbled race of the season was a very nervous one. And with a handful of talented cobblers making a break for it, the biggest stars didn't have what was needed to win here. The race was won by Joseph in a groupsprint of 5. Tom Boonen lead the favorites over the line 2 minutes down, in 6th place.
Looking at the sprint Steurs in 7th position is very promising, but adding a group of 5 the 12th spot isn't overachieving. But we are optimistic, if Steurs remains this focussed.
Steurs came here in good shape and looked to battle for a surprise top 5, but an early crash took him out of the equation. Instead Pozzato stepped up to the game, and managed to pick the right wheel on almost every occasion.
In the end he managed to pull through with a favorites group of 10, going into the final sprint. Here Tom Boonen was untouchable, and with strong sprinters such as Sam Bewley and Jempy Drucker we can't be too unhappy with 6th. On paper Pozzato should have been clinging onto a 3rd place here, but after a long stage with some very hard tempo on the cobbles we are very pleased with this.
The Rund um Köln was a sponsor target of this season, and lining up with recent Milano-San Remo 1-2, Diego Ulissi and Filippo Pozzato we had dreams going into the sky. This was a race for us to dominate, but what happened?
Nothing! Diego Ulissi managed to sit steadily in the favorites group of 21, but he didn't manage to show his sprinting talent, getting only 12th in a race perfectly suited for him. Pozzato even managed to drop of the leading group, a group where he could have dominated the sprint. Instead he ended up in a very dissapointing 24th position.
This season is looking to be everything but stabile. That is a real letdown!
Gent - Wevelgem shouldn't be the best race of the season for us, and with that in consideration we did fine. Geert Steurs managed to get an 11th place here, where top 10 was the goal. So that is acceptable. But having hit a run og bad races it is really starting to get to us mentally. Next up, one of the pre-season favorite races for us - The Vuelta al Pais Vasco!
Big letters are used. Even bigger voice are yelled with!:
A true disaster, nothing else! The Vuelta al Pais Vasco, is a race that brings joy to mind looking into previous years. This one? No!
Both Pozzato and Ulissi decided that this was not worth the effort, and despite a late call stagewin for Pozzato, this was a horrific race for us, where Ulissi was the best of the worst, clinging a ridicilous 31th place overall. Next up is two of the biggest cobbled classics in the world, so we must put in a little bit of patience, eventhough that is extremely difficult at the moment, going from one underperformance to another.
We can't point fingers at Geert Steurs this year. Looking past his crash in the midlands he has been one of the most stabile riders of the season - By far the most stabile in our team!
A rock solid 8th place in this monster of a race is every bit as good, as we could have imagined, and we now have the dreams of him copying this into the Hell of North - Paris-Roubaix. But after that - It's Contadortime!
Never have we seen such a wonderful Paris - Roubaix. The wheather conditions was better than often, and all the dieselengines was on the roll.
That made our day even better, as our own powerhouse Geert Steurs was also in jumping mood. First solo, and later on in the attempt to cling on to the very best.
As the favorites gathered in the velodrome, it was all about tactics and positioning, and Steurs did great doing exactly that. Obviously he can't fight a sprint with the best, Boonen, Bewley and such riders, but finishing in 6th place here was an extraordinary result for us, and it crowns a stabile cobbled season, and lifts it up to far above average. We can now conclude, that we have had a GOOD cobbled season, with top 10s in 3/5 races, and results just outside the top 10 in the last two.
In this schedule we are looking at our riders.
What they managed to grab last year, and what they have grabbed this season so far.
How many percentages they have gotten relatively to last season.
These riders need to score: 2691 to equal riders from last season.
At this point they have scored: 836
If they continue this, they will end up scoring: 2438pts
TEAM last season: 7162
TEAM this season: 1999
Races last season: 35
Races this season: 12
If the team continues we will end up with: 5830pts.
This schedule will be fitted into the 3rd post of our Teams HQ, and will be updated each time the Pro Tour Rankings is updated.
Edited by SotD on 11-12-2011 19:50
We had high hopes for the ardennes after the amazing 1-2 i the Milano-San Remo. But neither Ulissi nor Pozzato was anywhere to be seen. The best result was a silly 10th from Diego Ulissi in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. That despite of him being able to pull a 6th place of last years Amstel Gold Race. We can only conclude that Ulissi is a fine fine domestique for the hills, but we can not rely on him to give us the required amount of points for a top spot.
For the next season we will be looking to close the gap after Pozzato goes, with a significant hilly rider. One we can depend on will provide several top 5s in the ardennes. We really need that.
We are really looking forward to the next race. The Tour of Romandie, as there haven't been many climbs of this season so far. As a matter of fact, only the Tour of Oman and the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya have proven to be interesting for the top climbers so far. In both cases we did pretty well on the terrain, so we are eager to see whether or not Contador got the level to compete in the top level.
He will be supported by Jose Serpa, and Tim Dees in the mountains, which must be in the higher ranks of domestiques. Anthony Lavoine will be there to focus on the sprints, with help from Jonas Ljungblad, Rafael Rodriguez Segarra, Damion Drapac and Paul Voss. The goal is top 5, but we are yet to see the list of competitors, which we fear will be immense.
Despite starting of awfully by dropping Contador, Serpa and Dees in the start of the race, all three showed some quality riding. Tim Dees rode a very strong hilly TT, Serpa managed to push for Contador who won stage 5 and took an impressive 6th after being set back by the drop. In the end Contador came close to the 4th place but a melting groupfinish caught the clock to be nulified.
We are very happy with how it all ended up, but are yet again worried with the amount of races in which we end up losing ground due to bad positioning. We really need to be better at that. Next up is Markus Fothen's first race of the season. Welcome Giro d'Italia!
We started the Giro d'Italia out with hopes of giving it everything with the combination of Diego Ulissi and Markus Fothen. What did we do? Jack! Both crashed early on. Ulissi finished the race injured from scratch, while Markue Fothen withdrew from the race. We will see him in the Tour de France again, and hope for something better. This was definately a "one-off".
What looked to be a real cushin of points for us, turned into nothing yet again. Contador pushed for a good result, but ended up crashing out of the race with only 2km of racing to go! Shit!
Alberto Contador was here, there and everywhere. Unluckily for us one guy was just a little bit more over the place. A little might be unfair. He was ALL OVER THE PLACE. Our loanie of last year, must have had a good year in the stable of Contador, and this year he bashed him over big time. We are very pleased to see this young nice guy winning the overall, and can't be anything but happy for him, and his team. We are happy to have had the honor of loaning him, and wishes him all the best. Apparently he doesn't need wishes though.
Yet another time crashes and splits made the call upon overall results in the french warmup for the Tour de France.
Contador was riding well here, and Serpa was also for part of the race. In the end we had to settle for 8th which was atleast 3 spots below our expectations. We are fed up with bad luck, and every time we are riding a Smaller GC race, our captain either crashes or loses significant time on a split. Alberto has been in 4 small GC races this season, and in 3 of them he has been affected by these. Luckily he was out of danger in the Vuelta, and also in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, which settles him fairly high in the rankings, but a reckoning 4th here and 5th in the Tour of California (which he crashed out of 2km from the line) he would have been top notch this season.
8th here, and hoping for better luck for Markus in the Suisse country. He has been out of luck aswell, crashing out of his only race so far - The Giro d'Italia.
We weren't quite sure what to expect from the Tour de Suisse, as we had only seen Fothen crash out of the Giro this season.
In the end there was no stopping him, and 2nd GC is an amazing result for us. We have a hope, that Fothen will bring on this form to the Tour de France, where he can then battle for a top 5 result.
So where did it all start? Hopes were sky high, as we entered the first race of the season. Last season the team managed a 4th place, which was the 2nd highest ever position for the team. The team had been scaled up a notch and was therefore ready to conquer the world this year. Let's have a look at the ups and downs for the team.
It wasn't long before the team was unfocused, in fact already on the 2nd stage of the entire season, in the Qatar Tour, 6 out of 8 riders was dropped due to heavy wind, and the good start of the TTT the day before was eliminated. Only loanie Dan Holloway and Mathieu Bernaudeau managed to stay clear of splits throughout the race. Let's have a look at splits that caused some bad results for the team:
Paris-Nice, stage 3, 5 and 7
Filippo Pozzato was race winner favorite for the race, but in stage 3 he was totally unfocused and lost 3'44" on the stagewinner and 2'45" on the other favorites. On stage 5 he yet again decided that focus wasn't for this race, and lost 3'50" on stage winner, and somewhere between 2-3'50" to his competition. Throughout the race he managed to lose time on almost every occassion, as had he crashed at some point, finishing the race in dissapointing 34th, more than 13 minutes down on race winner, Yuri Trofimov.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco, stage 1
Diego Ulissi had his co-winner of the Milano-San Remo race, Filippo Pozzato with him to dominate this race, but already on the first stage, Ulissi was caught behind slow riders on a climb he should be putting pressure on, in the end losing a staggering 8'08" minutes on stagewinner, and atleast 7minutes on the group he should have been in, on a bad day. Disaster struck on stage two, where Ulissi managed to get in the first group, but instead Filippo Pozzato was caught in a split losing 2'42" on the peloton. The entire race had been one big disaster if it wasn't for Pozzato who won a stage in the 5th stage, after losing more than 15minutes on stage 4. In the end Ulissi was the best placed rider in 31st more than 17 minutes behind race winner Gesink (slightly infront of Bakelants).
Tour of Romandie, stage 3:
On this race, fairly well suited to Alberto Contador, he managed to miss a split on the rainy stage 3, among with some other strong riders. 59 riders in the group ahead did cause a lot of lost ground for Alberto, and in the end losing 4'23" on stage winner, and 2'37" on the other favorites. On stage 5 Alberto showed that he was by far the strongest rider in the pack and won the Queen-stage of the race. In the end Contador ended up in 6th place, 2'22" down on race winner Thomas Dekker. Without the time lost on the split, he would have won the race.
Criterium du Dauphine Libere, stage 3
Alberto Contador had showed his strength in the Vuelta, and despite of bad luck in the California race, we were content that his luck had now turned, and we were looking forward. The joy was short though, as heavy wind caused Alberto to lose 5'09" to the stage winner and 3'30" on the favorites. It was a major blow, as Alberto made a huge impact on stage 2 claiming his presence. Throughout the remainder of the race he showed, that his form was undeniable, but ending the race in 8th place was a bit dissapointing. Deducting the time loss of 3'30" he would have climbed to 6th overall.
From unfocused riders to unlucky ones. We had a lot of bad luck throughout the season, with mainly the two biggest races of the year, coming to mind: Le Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. Let's see some of the noteworthy crashes of the year:
Tirreno - Adriatico, stage 2
Diego Ulissi was on home soil, and expectations was high, but already on stage 2 the unlucky rider hit the floor. 4'09" was lost on the stage winner, while 2'30" was lost to the competitors. In the end Ulissi did climb solidly back into contention, but finishing 8th, while 5th should have been the result took it's toll on Diego.
Giro d'Italia, stage 6
On the so far most important race of the season, Markus Fothen showed that he was exactly where he needed to be, dragging his way into the finishline among the very best in the first couple of days. On stage 4 half the team was caught in a massive crash, and Diego Ulissi raced the remainder of the race injured. On stage 5 a split caused Markus Fothen to lose almost 2 minutes, but the disaster was still to come - Stage 6! Markus Fothen crashes out of the race, and the almost certain top 10 was gone.
Tour of California, stage 8
Everything went as it should in the United States, while Fothen crashed out of the Giro. Contador wasn't the strongest in the pack, and 5th seemed like the result doomed to happen. We could live with that. 1km!!! from the finishline on the final stage, stage 8, Alberto Contador was dragged down by a huge crash. Not too bad since we were within the final 3km mark, but disaster struck anyway. Alberto wasn't going to get up. Not by a long shot! And there, 1km from the finishline of the race, we had to pull him out of the race, thus giving us NOTHING, while a 5th was certain.
Tour de France, stage 6 and 9
After the bad luck of the Giro d'Italia for Markus Fothen, we were back in the game. Yet again Markus was the main competitor for us, and a top 10 should be fairly safe, while top 5 could even be possible. It all started out as it should. Markus was clear in the front of the race, also putting in a good first Timetrial. On stage 4 he showed that his climbing skills was also thereabouts putting him into overall 10th after the 4 first stages. On stage 6 the crashed happened. Markus Fothen went down, but seemed rather unaffected by the crash. He did lose 2'28" on the crash though, which was a severe setback in the fight for top 10. The next day, Markus showed that a crash couldn't stop him, and climbing with the very best on the final climb a 5th on the stage put him right back into contention. The joy was short, however, and on stage 9 Markus was yet again down. This time it didn't cost any time on the stage, but injury was inevideble. The next stages Fothen lost out a significant amount of time, and thus making top 10 impossible. On stage 18 Markus clawed one back to win a magnificent solo stage win. The overall classification was a dissapointing 18th place.
It hasn't been all bad though, and while the lost ground is the base of why we aren't topping the rankings we need to look into the bright side of life. Because there are some, actually quite some. Let's check it out:
Tour of Oman, stage 2 - Anthony Lavoine
Throughout the off season we were shot in the shoes for pinpointing the sprinting talent of Anthony Lavoine, but in the end he didn't need that many chances to shine. In the Tour of Oman stage 2 there was no holding him back, and he could raise his fist in celebration.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Alberto Contador
The first real challenge for Alberto to show his strength was a comfortable succes. A podium behind superstar Aleksandr Pluchkin and his rival Beñat Intxausti was a very good way to start his season. Only 55 seconds was between the winner and Contador, while only 5 was between him and Intxausti.
Milano - San Remo - Diego Ulissi/Filippo Pozzato
The Milano - San Remo has to be the teams most spectacular race of the season. We were here there, and everywhere in this race, and while Pozzato was clearly the fastest on the line, Diego Ulissi just had the best legs - By a long way! Solo he finished the race as winner, and in spectacular fashion Pozzato lead the group over the line, getting the team a much needed 1-2 after a series of bad luck.
Paris-Roubaix - Geert Steurs
We were up against some serious competition in the Hell of North, and while Geert Steurs had already showed promise throughout the cobbled season, we had to raise our hands in applause when he cleared the line in 6th place. An amazing result for the ever loyal helper. We were happy that Geert was able to get strong results of his own.
Vuelta a España - Alberto Contador
The Vuelta always was priority 1. We knew that winning the race would be difficult going up against Angel Madrazo, and we had to accept that he was a level above Alberto throughout the race. Alberto never stopped attacking which lead to five 2nd places and three 3rd places. In the end finishing the race waving out to the audience as a solid 2nd place of the race. A great result after last years bad luck, where crashes caused him to drop well outside the top 10.
Tour de France, stage 18 - Markus Fothen
It was devastating when Markus Fothen hit the ground for the second GT in a row, and therefore we had an extra crumbled fist in the air, when he soloed his way to a beautiful stagewin on stage 18, after being put back, day after day, due to an injury. It was a shredded Fothen we embraced after the stage, and this was probably the most moving situation of the entire season. What a mentality that man has!
Tour of Switzerland - Markus Fothen
The unlucky man no.1 had a thriller of a race in Switzerland finishing the GC in 2nd position. Despite of Markus Fothen being our biggest point-hope of the season this race was the only succesful one of the entire season. We are happy that something did went well for him, but we are truly hoping that he will get better luck next year.
GP Liecthenstein - Alberto Contador
It was important for us to show that our climbing abilities was state of the art, despite failing big in the Giro and the Tour, due to bad luck. It was therefore very important that Alberto showed himself from the best possible side to get a podium in the mountainous race. There are better climbers out there, so it was important that we could show that we are no walkover.
Vattenfall - Diego Ulissi
In the Vattenfall race we were unsure of what we could expect. Diego Ulissi seems to have a very good start and end of the season though and getting 3rd here while winning the MSR shows that we can yet again trust in our young prodige.
Tour of Northern Europe (TONE) - Filippo Pozzato
Throughout the race we were on top of things. Filippo Pozzato showed that he was not going to be stopped by winning the stage 2 and after that he was not going to look back. Geert Steurs was the super domestique that the other teams needed to put pressure on Pozzato, and Steurs singledhandedly shredded the pack in both cobbles and hilly terrain opting Pozzato for a huge win, only to finish 9th himself. What a race!
GP de Fourmies - Anthony Lavoine
While it was a while ago since Anthony Lavoine put in a classy sprint, he decided to pick the best possible race to do it. Anthony used every sprinting fibre in his body to get a 4th place here, continueing the strong end to the season
Edited by SotD on 24-08-2012 12:26
Directeur Sportif Andreas Jøhnke, has announced that co-sponsor CONEC will not renew the contract, and the company has used the following statement.
"We were certain that CONEC would get a huge boost through sponsoring a team so fully committed to support Markus Fothen in two of the biggest races in the world, and most interestingly the Tour de France. Due to misfortune Markus has been out of contention to win the races he was able to compete in, and that has deminished the interest that we hoped we would be able to land through strong results. We are not going to continue our sponsorship in the next season, though we are sorry that this has been the reason for us withdrawing the sponsorship. Neither the team, the manager or Markus could do anything to prevent the dissapointing result"
We have been in contact with Festina who are happy to continue the sponsorship. We are looking for a designer who can help us get back to the starting point, in which Festina is the dominant shirtfactor. We are looking into a couple of co-sponsors atm, but we are not interested in saying more at this time. We hope that this announcement will make a designer or possibly two contact us, indicating that they are able to help us.
Please do contact me on my Personel Message inbox.
