Comment: As you can see my team is in top form but need some race expierence. Also my pocket could need some new input, this is why I decided to partizipate in this stage race. Simply said, we need money and we will try to get as much as we can here.
Steigmiller is our teamleader for that race. Just because he is a good hilly rider and our best climber even he has 63 in the mountains. However, I don't think he as any chance at all for a good overall position, but could target maybe the mountain jersey or a breakaway win. Matzka as sprinter is a no-brainer. He has good form and from a quick-view I didn't see that much good sprinters, so mabye there is a chance for a stage-win or something. Surely Duque is the guy to beat there. Thiel is classified as a Climber, but just has 61 in mountians. Anyway, I thought it would be reasonable to give him a free role, definitely shouldn' hurt.
Good start, Steigmiller could join a group of 4 other riders and won all mountain classifications on that day. Okay it wasn't the hardest thing to do, because the other escapies concentrated more on the intermediate-sprints than the KOM's. 10km before the finish he was caught and I moved Matzka in a good position behind Duque...
The sprint was on, but there was no chance to pass Duque which wasn't that bad. Just by hanging on his wheel transfered me into 2nd place. Great result!
Btw, the stagemaker of this stage wasn't that much motivated, I guess
What a look! Matzka in the green and Steigmiller in the polka dot jersey. Todays plan was very alike the yesterdays. 1st: Go on the attack with Steigmiller to gather more points for keeping the polka dot jersey till the end of the stagerace. 2nd: Look out for Duque and get onto his backwheel in the mass sprint with Matzka. So, here we go!
The peleton let Steigmiller escape. Fortunately, because there wasn't just 3rd category climbs, but rather a short 1st category climb, where we could get 16 Points. Even it was harder to come trough the checkpoint as the first rider than yesterday, Steigmiller won all KOM-Sprints...
In the mass-sprint we saw another domination from Duque, who won easily this small uphill-sprint. This time, Matzka had no chance, he came in as 16th. But, I'm okay with that. We defended the polka dot and considering the stats of Matzka it would been a real surprise to see him always upfront.
sutty68 wrote:
Matzka not dropped away too far, so he is still in there with a shout
hehe, yes. But after the next stage not anymore^^. I think it should be the right idea to concentrate on Steigmiller. Probably just a few points more and the polka dot is pretty much safe.
Poor Steigmiller, but to be safe with his polka dot jersey he had to go on another attack...
and to gather more points as he successfully did. Another 16 points here and it was clear: He will win the mountains-jersey of the Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour 2012!
The peleton or better said what was left of it caught Steigmiller right after the descent of the last mountain. But what was that? Fabian Thiel was still in this selected group, had a protecting teammate at his side and a
+5 form. Quite a suprise in my opinion. I didn't wait any second, once I saw this I let him attack...
The guys around Moncoutie and Duque didn't even start to thinking chasing him. I guess there was no need for them. Duque already won 2 stages and was safe with his green and yellow jersey and Thiel lost in the stage yesterday more than 6 minutes. What a perfect situation!
And what a great attack by this kid. He saw his chance and used it! Wow!
Results:
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Fabian Thiel
Thüringer Energie Team
4h36'50
2
René Mandri
Endura Racing
+ 1'05
3
Leonardo Fabio Duque
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
s.t.
4
Junya Sano
Team Nippo
s.t.
5
Paul Voß
Endura Racing
s.t.
6
Fortunato Baliani
Team Nippo
s.t.
7
Ian Bibby
Endura Racing
s.t.
8
Stefan Schumacher
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
9
Sven Forberger
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
10
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
s.t.
Stage 4
The last stage and I really didn't want to make anything crazy. Just wait and see what is gonna happen and maybe get a result in the bunch sprint. But then I saw our Team was after yesterday's win leader in the team-classification. Of course we wanted to defend this, so I sent Barth up front to join the escape group by just sitting at the back.
8km before the finish the Peleton was already in our neck, the group didn't wanted to work anymore, so inspired by the yesterdays win I decided to attack with Barth and hoped he could survive...
But Duque and his guys accelerated and began to sprint, as Barth was almost at his limits. The gap between him and the peleton was getting smaller and smaller, while the finish line didn't seem to come closer...
But with a very small margin Barth could survive and gave us our 2nd stage win of this tour!
Comment: I think I can live with that. No that big results, but its a 2.HC Stagerace and there was no way to beat Sagen and Co. But I think 23th in overall is a good result, just 1:42 to Martin in TT is very good and the 6th place on stage 5 also. In the end more than expected before the season.
Good results from the Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour! 2 stage wins, overall team and mountain jersey is more than expected! And I think Bayern Tour wasn't really successful in wins, but with this squad you reached good results on the stages. Maybe next year with a stronger squad you'll be able to win a stage or a mountain jersey. Good story, keep up writing!
What a brilliant race all round in France with stage victories for Thiel and Barth and the Mountains Jersey for Steigmiller and also the Team Classification, very successful indeed
Thanks to you all. I'm very happy with the outcome so far. Also the money is very appreciated. With this small and indeed "weak" squad I need at least 2 seasons to come to the WT. For that I definitely need more riders, talents and a better coach so my talents keep improving. And 17000€ within 4 days is a very good step into that direction.
And yeah, the Bayern-Tour was nothing special, but some honorable results. Especially if I consider my goal which was Stage Top 10.
Edited by bigggassi on 26-09-2012 20:52
A good course which is suited for my sprinters Barth and Matzka. 100% flat, not too long, perfect. As we came close on the last km's Barth und Matzka had found promising backwheels. Now it was just up to get it done!
Tight sprint, Matzka and Barth up front this time.... and... Too bad. Very good sprint of both riders, good result in the end, but there was easily more to achieve if we would been a little more smarter, though.
Results
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Matteo Pelucchi
Team Europcar
4h30'31
2
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
3
Steffen Radochla
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
4
Moreno Moser
Liquigas-Cannondale
s.t.
5
Ralf Matzka
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
6
Marcel Barth
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
7
Stefan Schäfer
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
8
Jure Kocjan
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
s.t.
9
Dominic Klemme
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
10
Roger Kluge
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
24/06 German Championships NC
Same here. I felt it was a good course for my timetrialists Sütterlin, Schaffner, Predatsch, Barth and Steigmiller, who was the leader of our team since he's a good hilly and good timetrialist. At least for standards of my team.
What an incredible ride by this guy. Even the other were so strong this day. Now it was time tremble, some good guys still out there. Gretsch, Martens, Klöden, Knees and of course the world timetrial champion himself, Tony Martin.
Gretsch was through... yes! 11 seconds slower than Steigmiller, who is still on 3rd...
Martens in the finish... too bad! 27 seconds faster. Steigmiller now on 4th...
Knees comes into the last Kilometer... wow! 1 tiny second between Steigmiller and Knees. 1 tiny second to the advantage of Jakob. Still on 4th.
Klöden finish and looks very good!... New best time! Steigmiller now on 5th and Tony Martin is still on the course...
What a time! 52'58, 26 seconds faster than Klöden. Tony Martin is the german ITT champion 2012!
Results
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Tony Martin
Omega Pharma-QuickStep
52'58
2
Andreas Klöden
RadioShack-Nissan
+ 26
3
Bert Grabsch
Omega Pharma-QuickStep
+ 30
4
Linus Gerdemann
RadioShack-Nissan
+ 56
5
Paul Martens
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 1'02
6
Jakob Steigmiller
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 1'29
7
Christian Knees
Sky ProCycling
+ 1'30
8
Markus Fothen
Team NSP - Ghost
+ 1'32
9
Grischa Niermann
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 1'38
10
Patrick Gretsch
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
11
Kevin Predatsch
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 1'40
12
Marcel Barth
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 1'42
13
Jasha Sütterlin
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 1'43
19
Moritz Schaffner
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 1'57
26/06 German Championship NC
It was a very tough race. Every attack of my team was always matched by the peleton, then they produced a horrendous pace over the whole course to catch those who could escape in the early minutes of the race. In the end I was very happy just surviving in the front group with Steigmiller, but when the favorites attacked I had nothing left to answer. However, not that bad result in the end.
Klöden won the race. He's now the new german champion.
The Cycling Team from Thuringia signed five new riders. Besides Malte Duck, Stefan Finke, Martin Reimann and Tim Gruber they also signed current 10th placed U23 Rider Marcel Weiss. All of them got a contract of 3 years and working already as trainees with the team. "We very happy to found these guys and convinced them to come to us." said Bigggassi. Top-Prospect Marcel Weiss who actually was born in thuringia said that "it is a pleasure to work with this team. I followed their improvement over the year, was dreaming about to be a pro cyclists and now I can ride for this team. This is something special".
Arndt and Vasyliv will join the Energie Team in 2013!
Nikias Arndt (20, Sprinter) and Yuriy Vasyliv (18, Puncheur) just signed a new contract with Eon for the next season. Both are considered to be big german talents.
"No interest on Stefan Schumacher!"
Some unknown sources spread the rumour the thuringian "Energie Team" are looking on a future signing of Stefan Schumacher as their new teamleader. Teammanager Bigggassi negated this with vehemence. "Schumacher is no option. We don't have any interest on former doped riders. We want to keep our clean image with young talents, there is simply no place for Schumacher". Schumacher, who tested positive in 2008 for PED's is still looking for a new team as his contract with Christina Watches expires after this season.
Edited by bigggassi on 27-09-2012 02:43
Reimann gets his first pro-victory in his very first pro-race!
Unbelievable! In his first pro race Reimann was able to dominate the remainding riders and to achieve the first victory of his young career. Also the other "TET"-riders were doing great.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
5h31'46
2
Simon Špilak
Katusha Team
s.t.
3
Mathieu Sprick
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
4
Marcel Barth
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
5
Christian Knees
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
6
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
s.t.
7
Tino Thömel
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
8
Daniel Oss
Liquigas-Cannondale
s.t.
9
Ralf Matzka
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
10
Bartosz Huzarski
Team NetApp
s.t.
11
Jakob Steigmiller
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
14
Bastian Bürgel
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
02/08-05/08 Tour de Pyrenees 2.2
Stage 1: Reimann strikes again!
With a(n?) brave attack and the help of Matzka, Reimann was able to deliver again! As there were just 4km left, Matzka started a brilliant attack with Reimann on his backwheel. When Matzka made his work, it was just up to Reimann to get it done!
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
4h00'41
2
René Mandri
Endura Racing
s.t.
3
Jonathan Bellis
An Post - Sean Kelly
s.t.
4
Daniel Foder Holm
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
5
Ralf Matzka
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
6
William Walker
Drapac Cycling
s.t.
7
Henry Frusto
Team Nippo
s.t.
8
Stefan Schumacher
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
9
Florian Bissinger
Team Vorarlberg
s.t.
10
Rens Te Stroet
Cyclingteam Jo Piels
s.t.
Stage 2: Lost one jersey, but achieved another!
Another newcomer for TET, Marcel Weiss going on the attack and for the KOM-Points!
What the f***?! As Steigmiller and Predatsch doing some pacemaking, many riders got dropped. Kern, Moncoutie and Fothen got caught, but are fighting back. Reimann looks indeed calm and collected, though. Can he keep the yellow jersey?
Oh no, Reimann lost connection to Moncoutie and Fothen on the last climb, but still fighting to limit his losses. Fortunately a +5 form helped him to do so.
Moncoutie wins by a small margin and is the new leader of the bikerace. Reimann lost a couple of minutes, but showed a strong ride this day, though. But at least Weiss was able to get the KOM-Jersey, so TET is still in the game!
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
4h49'39
2
Markus Fothen
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
3
Julián David Arredondo Moreno
Team Nippo
+ 2'04
4
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
+ 3'57
5
Christophe Kern
Team Europcar
s.t.
6
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 4'06
7
Dimitri Champion
Bretagne - Schuller
+ 5'01
8
Luis Ángel Maté Mardones
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
+ 5'42
9
Cyril Gautier
Team Europcar
s.t.
10
Dennis Van Niekerk
MTN Qhubeka
s.t.
Stage 3: Another stage win for TET!
What an epic win of Marcel Weiss! Going on the attack at Kilometer 0 he won not only all KOM-Sprints, but rather could drop the other escapies on the slope of Joux-Plane to finally win the stage in Morzine. Besides the stage win he will wear the polka dot jersey till the end as there aren't enough points left to collect for the other riders. Reimann did great as well, he didn't lost that much time and is still in the Top 10 of the general classification.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Marcel Weiss
Thüringer Energie Team
5h20'08
2
Harald Totschnig
Tirol Cycling Team
+ 1'41
3
Luis Ángel Maté Mardones
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
+ 2'48
4
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
s.t.
5
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
s.t.
6
Yukiya Arashiro
Team Europcar
s.t.
7
Florian Bissinger
Team Vorarlberg
s.t.
8
Alejandro Manuel Marque Porto
Carmin - Prio
s.t.
9
Frederik Wilmann
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
10
Christophe Kern
Team Europcar
s.t.
16
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 3'28
Stage 4: TET dominating the tour!
Apperently no stage win this time, but a good result to defend the green jersey! In a big picture a really good tour, great results in my opinion! Check it out!
Endresults:
Spoiler
Stage:
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Reinardt Van Rensburg
MTN Qhubeka
3h43'32
2
Tino Thömel
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
3
René Jørgensen
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
4
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
s.t.
5
Markus Fothen
Team NSP - Ghost
s.t.
6
Stefan Schumacher
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
7
Iker Camaño Ortuzar
Endura Racing
s.t.
8
Ian Bibby
Endura Racing
s.t.
9
Alejandro Manuel Marque Porto
Carmin - Prio
s.t.
10
Sébastien Turgot
Team Europcar
s.t.
General Classification:
1
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
17h56'28
2
Markus Fothen
Team NSP - Ghost
+ 8
3
Julián David Arredondo Moreno
Team Nippo
+ 2'16
4
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
+ 4'17
5
Christophe Kern
Team Europcar
s.t.
6
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 4'46
7
Harald Totschnig
Tirol Cycling Team
+ 5'16
8
Luis Ángel Maté Mardones
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
+ 5'54
9
Dimitri Champion
Bretagne - Schuller
+ 6'01
10
Bruno Sandinha Saraiva
Team Differdange - Magic-SportFood.de
+ 6'02
15
Jakob Steigmiller
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 7'15
18
Marcel Weiss
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 8'40
Points:
1
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
49
2
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
39
3
Markus Fothen
Team NSP - Ghost
35
4
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
31
5
Luis Ángel Maté Mardones
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
29
6
Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg
MTN Qhubeka
29
7
Marcel Weiss
Thüringer Energie Team
27
8
Stefan Schumacher
Christina Watches - Onfone
22
9
Julián David Arredondo Moreno
Team Nippo
21
10
Harald Totschnig
Tirol Cycling Team
20
Mountain:
1
Marcel Weiss
Thüringer Energie Team
108
2
Yukiya Arashiro
Team Europcar
35
3
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
30
4
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Team Concordia Forsikring - Himmerland
30
5
Julián David Arredondo Moreno
Team Nippo
28
6
Matej Jurčo
Whirlpool - Author
28
7
Florian Guillou
Bretagne - Schuller
24
8
Dimitri Champion
Bretagne - Schuller
22
9
Bernardo Colex Tepoz
Amore & Vita
22
10
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Endura Racing
20
Young:
1
Julián David Arredondo Moreno
Team Nippo
17h58'44 (1)
2
Martin Reimann
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 2'30 (2)
3
Cyril Gautier
Team Europcar
+ 4'26 (3)
4
Jakob Steigmiller
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 4'59 (4)
5
Niv Libner
Amore & Vita
+ 5'39 (5)
6
Marcel Weiss
Thüringer Energie Team
+ 6'24 (6)
Team:
1
Thüringer Energie Team
54h05'32 (1)
2
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
+ 4'15 (2)
3
Team Europcar
+ 8'02 (3)
4
Team Nippo
+ 10'16 (4)
5
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 17'37 (5)
06/08 Criterium Hainleite 1.2
This was the first time one of my riders was considered as the main favorite by the game. Reimann, just came home from a very good tour in france was in a really good position when he started the sprint, but ran out of energy with just a few meters to go which cost him in the end the win. Actually I really wanted to win here, because the race took place in Erfurt (our sponsors city) but its not always possible, I guess. Even so, it was an acceptable result.
Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour 2.2
Leonardo Fabio Duque
23/05-27/05 Bayern Rundfahrt (2.HC)
Ivan Basso (LIQ)
Mikel Nieve (EUS)
Mark Cavendish (SKY)
Rigoberto Uran (SKY)
Jurgen VandenBroeck
Andy Schleck
