Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 6 - Adelaide - Adelaide
This track is really a pain in the ass for a lot of riders, 100 bends and small percentages up and down on just 10 kilometer of road. Again we will try something with Matthews. We also want a rider like Flens or Clement in the breakaway because of the two KoM sprints.
*** Cavendish, Davis, Goss
The first two attackers, Vantomme (KAT) and Kondrut (LAMP). They been followed by Guarniri (LIQ) and it seems the pack let them ride.
Then it is Willson (GAR) who tries is with a bunch of others, can they close the gap?
Cobo (GEOX) also joined the group, now the peloton sets a quick pace trying to reel in the breakaway. But Cobo stays up front of the group riding at a high speed.
The breakaway split in to two groups and with still 1'05" in front, it looks like the pack is slowing down. The perfect moment for Clement to attack!
Here you see the first group, the riders are Cobo, Kondrut, Vantomme, Guarniri, Izagirre (EUSK), Van Poppel (UHC) and Rast (SHAC). They have a gap of 37" to the second group.
Those riders are Clement, Lodewyck (OMEG), Sijmens (COF), Vandewalle (QST), Hinault (AG2R) and Pedersen (LEOP) also joined to protect the leaders jersey of Benatti.
With 40k to go, the gap is at his max 2'20". Unless the few kilometers (87) it's a very hard day for the riders.
First goal is achieved, Clement is first at the KoM. Now Cobo and Clement are leading the group the most, but the peloton already came 30" closer.
Because of Leopard, the gap became smaller and with 30k to go it's only 1'00".
So Clement attacks because the other riders won't help, only Cobo but also he doesn't react. The only goal is to make it as first to the second KoM.
Our first leaders jersey! But Stef is only going to wear it on the podium since this is the last stage. But with 32 points he overtook Fischer with 4. It was very close as you could see, Kreuziger was already on Clement's backwheel.
The route is very dangerous with it's bends and small uphill sections. Only 15k to go!
With 10k to go it's Brown who's leading out Matthews, but it's not going well. They got boxed in and stick around place 30...
Again, it's Coen Vermeltfoort who is doing really great! He took the wheel of the leader Benatti! In front you see Davis and Goss who got lead out by there teammates.
One of the last corners and Davis (AST) had a small gap back to the pack. He's almost sure of his first victory this season.
But it's Matthews who found a small gap to fit trough, with a lot of speed he's bursting his way trough the sprinters! He's going a lot faster but Davis is to far away. Here Matthews is still next to Goss (HTC), Feillu (VAC) and Iglinsky and Bazayev (AST).
A clear victory for Allan Davis, while Matthews became 2nd very easily. The 3% uphill sprints suites him very well! But behind him it was Vermeltfoort who overtook the two other Astana riders. So only Rabobank and Astana within the first 5. Very good!
The management is really keen to see that our youngsters were doing so great. The last stage brought us a lot of joy, Matthews as leader of the youth and Clement as leader of the mountain classification. Vermeltfoort did a really great job by riding on the podium for two times and also Brown showed himself. We really love to see that he helped Matthews the last day because he knew himself so well that the stage didn't suite him.
Also Flens did great as a teammate and being in the break of the day at stage 5. Mollema tested himself but is still far from his form peak, but the Giro is still far, far away. It just was a shame that no one joined him.
Paris-Nice and the Tirreno Adriatico look far away but they aproach fast, we don't really know who to send there jet. The management will give you a list of riders who might join the two PT races as preview.
Standings 31st of January
Individual
With two stages and the overall win it's, of course, Benatti who leads the classification of the Pro Tour standings. Matthews and Vermeltfoort did great with a 3rd and 5th place for now. The first points are in!
Teams
Leopard also leads the team standings and because of the Rabobank team work in Australia we take a clear 2nd place.
Edited by Tombola on 12-06-2011 11:33
The just did the Vuelta à Mallorca as preparing for the classic season. Barredo was our captain and the other riders used this 5 days stage race as a training. Barredo's conditions were not really good yet (74) and so he wasn't able to get a top 10 in the general classification but was able to follow the first group on some tough mountain stages.
Michael Matthews did really great with two times top 10 in the first two stages which were more flat. The results after 5 days;
The team is now heading to the Vuelta à Andalucia and the first classics of the season with Omloop het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Then the second and third Pro Tour races will follow with Paris-Nice and Tirreno Adriatico.
Edited by Tombola on 13-06-2011 13:03
The Vuelta à Andalucia was very succesfull for team Rabobank, the first day was a prologue of nearly 7 kilometers. So Boom was the favorite for today and because of his great form which is getting better and better because of the upcoming classic's he took the 1st place. That also ment the first victory for Rabobank in 2011! He had an advantage of 32 seconds on Grivko, the Astana rider. That was a big gap considiring the small distance.
The next stage gave us, again, a lot of joy! It was Garate who took the first stage. It looks like it was going to be a great week for our team! Two days, two victories...
The point which was most impressive is that Garate overtook Davis in the sprint. Davis and some other sprinters were really exhausted, there for it was easy to pass the Australian from Astana. The results after the week in Andalucia;
General
1 David De la Fuente Geox - TMC 18h02'56 2 Juan Manuel Gárate Rabobank Cycling Team + 4
3 Lars Boom Rabobank Cycling Team + 7
4 Grischa Niermann Rabobank Cycling Team + 16
5 Bauke Mollema Rabobank Cycling Team + 18
6 Allan Davis Pro Team Astana + 22
7 Andriy Grivko Pro Team Astana + 31
8 Aitor Galdos Caja Rural s.t.
9 Roman Kreuziger Pro Team Astana + 40
10 Mikel Nieve Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t. 53 Paul Martens Rabobank Cycling Team + 2'32
70 Coen Vermeltfoort Rabobank Cycling Team + 5'17
78 Dennis Van Winden Rabobank Cycling Team + 7'10
106 Tom Slagter Rabobank Cycling Team + 19'38
Young 1 Bauke Mollema Rabobank Cycling Team 18h03'14 (1)
2 Roman Kreuziger Pro Team Astana + 22 (2)
3 Matthias Brändle Geox - TMC + 26 (3)
4 Ivan Rovny Team RadioShack + 26 (4)
5 Rafael Valls Geox - TMC + 29 (5)
6 Gorka Izagirre Euskaltel - Euskadi + 31 (6)
7 Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy Pro Team Astana + 32 (7)
8 Francisco Iriarte Movistar Team + 32 (8)
9 Jonathan Castroviejo Euskaltel - Euskadi + 32 (9)
10 Jacobus Venter Veranda's Willems - Accent + 37 (10) 19 Coen Vermeltfoort Rabobank Cycling Team + 4'59 (19)
23 Dennis Van Winden Rabobank Cycling Team + 6'52 (23)
Also Mollema did a great job by taking home the white jersey for best young rider. A real shame that Garate wasn't able to win the general classification because of a breakaway on the last stage. Which brought De La Fuenta the victory, Van Winden was also in the breakaway, unless he didn't helped for a second the pack wasn't close enough the last 10 kilometers.
But now the classic season is going to start with the Omloop and Kuurne!
Nice team choice,will follow this one as i currently have season with Rabo myself.Try extreme if the good results keep coming,i do and it is very entertaining and challenging
Good luck and great prologue by BoomEdited by hellboy on 13-06-2011 14:58
hellboy wrote:
Nice team choice,will follow this one as i currently have season with Rabo myself.Try extreme if the good results keep coming,i do and it is very entertaining and challenging
Good luck and great prologue by Boom
I'll see after a while, I know it's going to be hard because a lot of riders don't have the conditions they normally have so sometimes it's easier. But in the bigger Pro Tour races it's a different level then 1.hc or lower...
The first cobble classic of the season was the Omloop het Nieuwsblad which starts and finishes in the Belgium city Gent. The course is a bit tougher then Kuurne which is tomorrow, but still there are not a lot of riders which ride both of the races. In our team we had Breschel who saw the races as a training for Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. The men who had the best shape was Vermeltfoort (84) and Boom with (83) but the last one will wait until the time trial of Paris-Nice to go all the way!
The Omloop was very boring actually, except for the usual breakaway the pack itself stayed together. In the last 20 kilometers it were Cancellara, Boonen and Hushovd who attacked but Vacansoleil kept control and reeled them in. It was a sprint finish were Rabobank was going to sprint for Vermeltfoort with Langeveld and Breschel as his lead outs. Coen did very well between the big guys, although we have to say that the winner also was quite a surprise!
One day later it’s the traditional second race of the Belgium starting weekend of the cobble season. Freire was in the break of the day but the others weren’t strong enough, or to scared, to make it to the finish. The pack split up a few times because of the wind, but Boom, Vermeltfoort and Breschel were always in the first group. With 20 kilometers to go the attackers got reeled in and the pace slowed down so the peloton became 140 riders again. Then Cancellara attacked and Boom followed in his wheel. But Garmin-Cervelo kept a steady pace in the peloton so it was going to be a sprint again, just like yesterday. It was again a fantastic sprint of Vermeltfoort but Boonen was just way to strong and luckily Hushovd was far too late. A real nice result by Coen, two times podium in two days!
Michael Matthews - Broken Kneecap - Beginning of May
Jos van Emden - Broken Collarbone - Middle of June
Langeveld - Flue - Middle of March
Looks like these three guys have begin there season all over again. Jos is in a very bad condition (14) and will be out untill the several Championchips. Matthews is able to begin his training in May so he might be back for the semi-classics in August. Langeveld has a real bad flue and his condition is getting worse every day (56), so he can forget about Roubaix and Flanders. He is now going to aim for the Tour and the Worlds probably.
Next was the smaller classic on the Belgium roads, Le Samyn. A race with several steeper parts but no cobbles this time. The team tought it was time for Coen his first win since he in on to a very good strike. But unfortunatly the sprint didn't worked out that well, again it was Landbouwkrediet who won a classic, this time with former Rabobank rider Bobbie Traksel! Martens did the lead out for Vermeltfoort but lost a lot of sprint so the Landbouwkrediet train overtook us and brought a few other sprinters with them...
No mayor difficulties today but it's not an easy stage either. Let's see what Bos can do and otherwise it will be Breschel who has to show our orange jersey!
It's Bennati in his Pro Tour leader jersey, but he wouldn't play any roll today dispite he is a 3 star favorite.
Katusha took the lead in the peloton and the gap got bigger and bigger, with 60k to go the gap was at his max with 4'59".
Here you see Mollema in front of the pack, surrounded by teammates. The weather was really awfull so our GC rider took no risks by staying at the front of the peloton.
It was Mörkov who "won" the first sprint. Why don't they every sprint for the seconds or points in the breakaway?
Gesink in the back of the peloton, watching his heartrate at a easy pace. A week of hard training for him...
A real shame for the young French man, it was Remy Di Gregorio who made a fall on the tarmac. While he hoped at a top 10 spot in the race in his home country. But today he already lost 9'21 because the pack was just starting to close the gap to the breakaway. 60 lonely kilometers for Remy.
Only 30k to go, the gap was only 2'04" when we heard over the radio that Ryder Hesjedal (GAR) had a flat tire. Di Gregorio had to do it all alone but Ryder thanks his teammate for bringing him back to the pack.
It was just15k to go and the pack could already see the breakaway, no chance today.
The mass sprint started but Martens and Bos were to fattigue to help Breschel out, so the Dane had to do it all by himself today. He took the wheel of Roulston (HTC), which was to early because a second later it was Goss (HTC) who got behind Matti.
Goss jumped out of his wheel and it looked like the flowers were for the young Aussie today.
With only 900 meter to go it was Grega Bole (LAM) who was behind Breschel, the young sprinter from eastern europe had a massive speed.
Nearly 300 meters later it was Bole who took over the lead, after winning Strada Bianchi and GP del Friuli last week he showed a great form here.
A great win by such a strong rider, with only 25 years we will see him a lot the upcoming seasons. Today he showed that he was in great condition by beating Goss. Breschel did an excellent job by riding on the podium, today was a day for the tougher sprinters...
tsmoha wrote:
Good luck in P-N! Bad luck with the three injuries.. but I like the short reviews of the smaller races Keep it going!
Thanks! I'm now going to look if it's possible to change the trainingshedule of Sebastian, Jos and Michael. But does any body know if it will work because the season already begun.
For those who are interested, I just attacheted a table of the riders in the "Riders" post on the very 1st page!Edited by Tombola on 14-06-2011 13:30
A more easier stage then yesterday, all though it will be hard for a sprinter like Bos because the roads isn't 100%. We just hope for the best today!
It is former Rabobank Continental talent Martijn Keizer (VAC) who makes the first move of the day. In his rear wheel it's Van Avermaet (BMC) and Klier (GAR) who are "training" for the classic season.
They got caught very soon because of team Leopard, now almost the same riders attack again. Only this time it's Gardeyn instead of Keizer for Vacansoleil. But we don't think that such a large group get's away from the pack.
But they do, it's HTC and Leopard who ride a easy pace and that gap starts to grow very fast.
The first part of the breakaway with Gardeyn, Klier, Ista (COF), Le Quattre (TSH) and Rash (GAR) who also wins the first sprint.
Here you see the second group coming up and the peloton which is still at a small gap from the first group.
Then the gap start to widing and with 13 it looks like a promising group, so we decided to attack with Wynants while the gap is still within a minute.
At the second sprint he reaches the group and the advantage to the pack is now 2'43", so a strong jump from Wynants there. The pack let him ride because of Maarten lost already 4 minutes yesterday.
The teammates of Bole (LAM) and Bennati (LEO) are doing the pace, at the half way point the gap is at a maximum of 6'40". Still 90k to go then.
With 15k to go the pack is at 1'06" from the group but not a lot of riders are willing to ride so Wynants attacks! He got four companions but they never got very far. With 10k to go the peloton was on their back wheel so the mass sprint could begin!
Unfortunatly my PC crashed at the start of the replay. The last couple of screenshot weren't in the folder so you have to read my boring story...
It was Lorenzetto (AST) who won the sprint, while Hammond (GAR) and Sabatini (LIQ) came in a suprisingly 2nd and 3rd. We made the mistake to ride for Bos while Breschel was definatly better, but that is something we saw half way the sprint so far to late. Bos just misses the podium but I almost know for sure that he will be on it this season.
He you see the results in a screen (could export either! Crap!)
Stage
General
Points
Mountain
Youth
Tomorrow there will be a stage were Breschel might have a good shot at winning because of the few hills in the last 30k.
Edited by Tombola on 15-06-2011 14:09
good luck in the following stages! 
he will be a very good rider. also a 3rd with breschel it is very good 
