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Nokia - Ekspla: Project Baltic | Vuelta a Castilla y León
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 09-02-2013 10:04
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Atlantius: I hope so 
sutty: Yep, let's see if we can continue in that vein in the next stage!
Jesleyh: Thanks - I think it adds a little something to the report 
Jakstar: It's just the normal Nokia jersey that comes with the Expansion Pack. Something jersey-wise might change though - keep your eyes peeled...
Ian: Yep great start from Navardauskas, it's down to Bagdonas and Lasis to get some results in the sprints
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 09-02-2013 10:19
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 Stage 2 Palmerston North - Apiti - Palmerston North
A flat stage with a few undulations in the middle, it shouldn't stop the likes of  Bagdonas,  Nico Eeckhout or  Dean Downing fighting it out in a mass sprint
An intermediate sprint fairly early on today represented a chance for Navardauskas to gain some precious seconds over  Zirbel; but only if we could stop a break forming by then.
The Nokia riders are working hard at the front to prevent the break from forming
Unfortunately all our efforts come to nothing as Navardauskas (in the white jersey) is blocked and finishes fifth
Jayco's  Jay McCarthy won all but one of the mountain sprints - the rest of the break which consisted of  Jacobsen,  Averin,  Batek and  Pfingsten decided not to compete, and so he will wear the mountains jersey tomorrow
The breakaway was caught fairly easily and so it was down to the sprint. Wide roads at the finish meant it was a perfect opportunity to set up a train to see what we could do for Bagdonas.
Just under 5km to go and it was the Nokia train on the right against the Christina Watches train on the left, with Dean Downing and Julian Kern tagging on to the back of the Christina train.  Gatis Smukulis was doing a great job up front keeping the pace high
However, Marius Bernatonis couldn't quite keep up on his stint at the front as the Christina train accelerated rapidly. It was down to Lasis to rescue it as the lead-out man
Under the Flamme Rouge and the sprint is on! With a clever move Bagdonas has dinked round to the left of the road and you can see him coming up fast on the right behind the Christina sprinter Reihs, who's taken advantage of his team's excellent train
Michael Reihs takes a surprising win easily but the battle for second place is incredibly close - Bagdonas, Downing, Kern, Clausen, Eeckhout and  Brown are all in with a chance!
I think it's Julian Kern who takes 2nd and it looks like Bagdonas has got a third place!
And the crucial bonus seconds Bagdonas has gained in getting that third place means he moves up to take the lead in the General Classification after his excellent prologue yesterday! So the intermediate sprint mishap earlier on didn’t matter after all!
Confirmation of the result:
| 1 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | 3h29'37 | | 2 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 3 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 4 | | Dean Downing | Rapha Condor - Sharp | s.t. | | 5 | | Patrick Clausen | Glud & Marstrand - LRØ | s.t. | | 6 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 7 | | Arran Brown | MTN - Qhubeka | s.t. | | 8 | | Stefan Radochla | Team NSP - Ghost | s.t. | | 9 | | Alex Candelario | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | s.t. | | 10 | | Tommy Nankervis | Competitive Cyclist Racing Team | s.t. |
1 Bagdonas - Hard to put it past him after a great sprint
2 Smukulis - Did some great work in the train
3 Lasis - His lead-out pulled things back after a disastrous stint on the front from Bernatonis
Great sprint from Bagdonas to grab that podium place and the train did well apart from Bernatonis - a very promising stage!
Edited by Stromeon on 11-02-2013 12:20
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 09-02-2013 10:57
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Bagdonas with a brilliant sprint finish here |
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| krisa |
Posted on 09-02-2013 11:44
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again third |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 09-02-2013 13:04
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Bagdonas was so close to the win there |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-02-2013 12:18
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Ian: More of the same for the rest of the race hopefully!
krisa: Yep not bad
sutty: We just have to get up to the pace of the Christina train next time then we might win
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-02-2013 12:40
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STAGE 3 PALMERSTON NORTH - KIMBOLTON - PALMERSTON NORTH
Today’s profile is very similar to yesterday’s - flat at the start, then some gentle rolling hills, and then flat again at the end.
After a lot of attacking, counter-attacking and reeling in, a break of two riders formed. Here Competitive Cyclist’s  Franciso Mancebo takes the KoM points ahead of Whirlpool's  Jakub Danacik
Mancebo went on to win all the mountain sprints and will take over leadership of the KoM jersey from McCarthy
The gap started to get a bit out of hand - 7 minutes ahead with just 50kms to go so we decided to put our foot on the gas and mount a chase, as no other teams seemed very willing
With Belohvosciks heading up the pacemaking duties, the breakaway were caught with just under 25km to go - quite an acceleration from the peloton! Another sprint finish loomed, with similarly wide roads as yesterday
An Post started setting a furious pace and riders gradually began to slide backwards. Unfortunately key lead-out man Normunds Lasis wasn't feeling great and was going backwards, so our train had to be reshuffled
Under the 5km banner we went and we had decided to go with a risky three-man train. However, all the other teams' plans were in a mess but An Post were starting to get a bit of cohesion together for Nico Eeckhout at the back of their train. Yesterday’s winner Michael Reihs tags on behind Bagdonas at the back of our train
Navardauskas was doing a great job keeping our train ahead of the An Post one but suddenly Clancy, followed by Downing and Candelario drew up beside us!
2km to go and Clancy peels off the front, leaving Downing effectively leading out Candelario, while An Post had made a resurgence and were storming up on the right. Bagdonas is sitting pretty in the middle on the wheel of Smukulis
As we go under the Flamme Rouge, Reihs has exploded off Bagdonas' wheel and is now way ahead, but he's started his sprint quite early.
500m to go and Eeckhout is closing the gap rapidly to Reihs! Bagdonas is fading a little, probably aiming for a top 10 place now
Nico Eeckhout takes it on the line in a very close sprint!  Alexandre Blain (in the middle) and Julian Kern (on the far right) both came from nowhere to complete the podium! Bagdonas could only finish 6th, just behind Reihs
| 1 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | 4h01'28 | | 2 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 3 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 4 |  | Sérgio Sousa | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. | | 5 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 6 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 7 | | Rico Dene Rogers | Node 4 - Giordana Racing Team | s.t. | | 8 | | Russell Downing | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 9 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. | | 10 |  | Cristiano Fumagalli | Miche - Guerciotti | s.t. |
| 1 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | 7h39'41 | | 2 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 10 | | 3 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 4 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | + 12 | | 5 | | Tom Zirbel | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | + 13 | | 6 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | + 15 | | 7 | | Ramunas Navardauskas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 16 | | 8 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 9 |  | Bob Jungels | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | + 17 | | 10 | | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg | MTN - Qhubeka | + 18 |
1 Navardauskas - Did his job perfectly in the makeshift train
2 Bagdonas - Finished 6th, but not with the usual train and build-up so not a bad result at all
3 Belohvosciks - Did a great job with the pacemaking earlier on in the stage.
Well a pretty good effort from Bagdonas considering the disrupted train and he's still well up in the GC, with two more sprint stages to come. He will have to watch out for Eeckhout and Reihs though, as they are both in good form.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-02-2013 12:44
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Bagdonas now within ten seconds of the race lead |
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Posted on 08-12-2025 17:56
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| krisa |
Posted on 11-02-2013 12:45
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Good job second overall |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 11-02-2013 13:02
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Now take back that GC-lead tomorrow. I believe in you Gediminas!
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-02-2013 16:29
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sutty: Let's hope he can pull it back to Eeckhout by gaining some bonus seconds!
krisa: We'll have to see if Gediminas is strong enough to keep it!
Atlantius: Hopefully he believes in himself as much as you do
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-02-2013 16:44
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STAGE 4 PALMERSTON NORTH
Today is a very flat stage, with few obstacles along the way for the sprinters. Can Bagdonas get Nokia our first win of the season?
As the sun finally shone after three rather miserable gloomy days, a break of 5 formed fairly quickly and drew out a decent-sized lead. Here  Anton Vorobyev of Itera-Katusha wins a mountain sprint ahead of Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Colton Barrett, Alessandro Malaguti, and Tomas Buchacek
Once again it was An Post setting a furious pace at the front for the race leader Nico Eeckhout
The break was caught with 27km to go. Lasis was feeling a bit better today, after not really looking at the races yesterday, and so took up his place ahead of Bagdonas in the train
5km to go and today it was NSP-Ghost setting up a rival train, with two strong lead-out men in front of their sprinter Radochla. Meanwhile familiar faces Dean Downing and Julian Kern had latched on to our train, with Smukulis at the front. Eeckhout’s An Post team seemed to have disappeared after their earlier exertions
3.5km to go - Eeckhout has found Radochla's wheel and Downing and Kern have jumped ship to follow him although Kern looks like he may be heading back to our train
Disaster strikes again as Lasis is unable to follow Smukulis, leaving Bagdonas miles behind! Something had to be done...
Suddenly Obst strikes out, with Radochla behind him and Eeckhout just doesn't follow him and the train almost grinds to a halt. On the right you can see Cardoso and Navardauskas, who was the first man in the train!
Just under 1km to go and MTN-Qhubeka's Arran Brown has shot up on the left to join Obst and Cardoso at the front. Meanwhile, Downing, Kern and Bagdonas are filtering through the middle, but look unlikely to get a win
Obst fades rapidly in the end and it's fellow countryman Kern who crosses the line first, while Fred Rodriguez comes from out of the blue to snatch 2nd place away from Brown. Bagdonas finishes 5th, another consistent finish.
That win by Kern has shaken up the standings a bit - Bagdonas drops down one place to third in the GC, while Navardauskas loses his white jersey, although he’ll still wear it tomorrow as Kern will wear the yellow jersey
| 1 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | 2h33'15 | | 2 | | Fred Rodriguez | Team Exergy | s.t. | | 3 | | Arran Brown | MTN - Qhubeka | s.t. | | 4 | | Dean Downing | Rapha Condor - Sharp | s.t. | | 5 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 6 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 7 | | Kamil Zielinski | CCC Polsat - Polkowice | s.t. | | 8 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 9 | | Cristiano Fumagalli | Miche - Guerciotti | s.t. | | 10 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. |
| 1 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | 10h12'52 | | 2 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | + 4 | | 3 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 14 | | 4 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 5 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | + 16 | | 6 | | Tom Zirbel | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | + 17 | | 7 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | + 19 | | 8 | | Ramunas Navardauskas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 20 | | 9 | | Bob Jungels | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | + 21 | | 10 | | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg | MTN - Qhubeka | + 22 |
1 Bagdonas - Good sprint after the chaos in the preceding kilometres
2 Navardauskas - More sterling work on the front of the train
3 Smukulis - Only because everyone else didn’t do anything
Bagdonas keeps putting in those sprint finishes inside the top 10 mark but not the win that would be the icing on the cake. Hopefully he can rectify that tomorrow
Edited by Stromeon on 11-02-2013 16:44
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-02-2013 16:54
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Hoping for that win! But a good performance already anyway |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-02-2013 23:00
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Bagdonas is still in with a shout |
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| ste_18 |
Posted on 12-02-2013 09:25
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Bagdonas is doing good, hope he could finally get this win. |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 13-02-2013 11:01
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Fingers crossed for a bit of luck on the final stage
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| krisa |
Posted on 13-02-2013 11:06
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Hoping for a good stage ... and hopefully the leaders jersey |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 13-02-2013 11:07
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Hello everyone, sorry for the lack of any reports for a couple of days - I'm just pacing myself 
As always, many thanks for all positive comments, really keeps motivation levels sky-high! Last stage up soon, hopefully Gediminas can be in the right place at the right time
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 13-02-2013 11:35
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STAGE 5 PALMERSTON NORTH CIRCUIT
Today’s stage is basically yesterday’s stage, but in reverse
A large break of 10 formed but nothing really happened and they were caught fairly quickly
Into the last 5kms and it’s complete chaos at the front. Our attempted train has been split in two so we decide against it and stick Bagdonas onto Eeckhout's wheel and hope for the best
2km to go and two distinct trains have organised themselves. On the left we have NSP-Ghost with Obst and Radochla, followed by Eeckhout, Bagdonas and Ribeiro of Efapel; and on the right we have Rapha Condor-Sharp with Downing and Clancy followed by Blain and Cardoso
Bagdonas launches his sprint from Eeckhout as Brown followed by race leader Kern come up fast on the right
500m to go and it's anybody's race!
Alexandre Blain is the strongest today, just beating Dean Downing. Bagdonas fades a bit in the last few metres and comes seventh, again not too bad.
| 1 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | 2h27'14 | | 2 | | Dean Downing | Rapha Condor - Sharp | s.t. | | 3 | | Stefan Radochla | Team NSP - Ghost | s.t. | | 4 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 5 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 6 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 7 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 8 | | Fred Rodriguez | Team Exergy | s.t. | | 9 | | Cristiano Fumagalli | Miche - Guerciotti | s.t. | | 10 | | Chris Opie | UK Youth Cycling | s.t. |
This race sees a dramatic conclusion as Alexandre Blain has managed to snatch the overall race win away from Julian Kern by just four seconds after the time bonifications at the finish! That means Gediminas drops down to 4th, but still a good showing.
| 1 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | 12h40'02 | | 2 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | + 4 | | 3 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | + 8 | | 4 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 18 | | 5 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 6 | | Dean Downing | Rapha Condor - Sharp | + 19 | | 7 | | Tom Zirbel | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | + 21 | | 8 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | + 23 | | 9 | | Ramunas Navardauskas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 24 | | 10 | | Bob Jungels | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | + 25 |
| 1 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | | 73 | | 2 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | | 67 | | 3 | | Alexandre Blain | Endura Racing | | 58 | | 4 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | | 57 | | 5 | | Dean Downing | Rapha Condor - Sharp | | 54 |
Another fourth place for Gediminas!
| 1 | | Francisco Mancebo | Competitive Cyclist Racing Team | | 17 | | 2 | | Jay McCarthy | Team Jayco - AIS | | 16 | | 3 | | Mathias Gade Jacobsen | Glud & Marstrand - LRØ | | 13 |
| 1 | | Julian Kern | Leopard Trek - Continental Team | 12h40'06 | | 2 | | Ramunas Navardauskas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 20 | | 3 | | Bob Jungels | Leopard Trek - Continental Team | + 21 |
| 1 | | Nokia - Ekspla | 38h01'23 | | 2 | | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | + 10 | | 3 | | Efapel - Glassdrive | + 12 |
Ah, victory at last!
1 Bagdonas - Recovered the debacle of the train somewhat
2 & 3 void - no one else did anything today
A good race overall, two guys in the top 10 speaks volumes for that, and although a stage win would have been nice, two podium places aren't bad either. The boys look in good shape for their peaking months ahead
Next race is the Volta ao Algarve, see you there
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 13-02-2013 11:47
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Top 5 in the first race is good. Good luck for the next race
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