I've some news, it's a bit late, but I was suffering some major headaches from the partying in Australia. Somehow I don't remember coming back to Belgium, but here I am anyway. However it was that put me on the right plane: thank you!
So, back in the country, my next race is in Oman. Only thing I know is this: if we win a stage, I won't be celebrating with Richie (DS n°2) again, he's just too wild with the booze, like.
Meanwhile, I missed some racing here. The team didn't quite catch on after Australia. Greg Van Avermaet managed a third place somewhere, but that's about it, unfortunately. However, we're concentrating on some training tactics at the moment. In March we'll be back at full power, don't worry about it. We have a grand plan here.
In my little personal project of guiding Rik, Tom and Vincent, there has been some interesting development. Vincent Beaufort has been racing in the Star of Bessèges. If you don't remember, he's that guy who only discovered our two-wheeled hobby about a year ago.
And I must say, he held his own. He did his best and managed to stay in the peloton and succeeded in doing so. It all came down to the final time trial, which was a bit hilly. I'm proud to present the result to you here, once again, a bit late due to headaches, but I present them nonetheless:
That's the result of the time trial and also the final classification. There you have it. An amazing first race for him, he'll get a lot of confidence out of that.
On another note, Rik (Steenacker) came to see me just tonight. He was quite nervous, says he's been training quite good lately, though. The thing is, we're leaving for Oman in two days. It's his first race at this level and he's starting to panic a little bit. I'll have to keep an eye on him on the way there. He'll be fine, though, he's a good kid.
Tom (Butler) is also starting there. Nothing like a little plane ride with Father and Son. We'll see how he handles a bike between experts soon. I really hope he's more talented than I was, or I will have to fire him, like.
Have to go now, though. I'll see you in Oman after the first stage! Rik will be the one to look out for in the first stages, with his finishing sprint. Though with the field including Cavendish, Greipel, Kittel and Degenkolb, he'll have to fight for a good spot!
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Yeah ok, but why do you use the KoM leader helmet for the Tour de France as a main helmet, when there is a red and blue team helmet? Doesn't make sense to me, especially since you don't have many opportunities for adding extra equipment.Edited by anderspcm on 05-08-2013 23:16
I don't use it as a main helmet, I'll only use it whenever in yellow
EDIT - Oh, is that red helmet the KoM helmet? I thought it was the main helmet! I think it looks good, though. Edited by Ian Butler on 06-08-2013 08:42
Time to start properly for me. I've cleaned up my act and decided to start acting like a real DS. I came down here (Oman) with the boys and we were all desperately ready to start racing again. After Australia, the team has disappeared into the background, we're here to turn that around.
Tom came to my room this morning. He told me he wanted to get in the breakaway today. "Listen, boy," I telt him, "Yeh're too light, like. Yeh're more likely tea git bloown away by the wind. Jist save yirself fir the mountain stage, ken?"
The good boy listened, now that's a first. Anyway, Rik came to see me few moments later. Poor guy was shaking of nerves. I told him he did this so many times before, since he was young. "Yes, but it's the real deal now. I'll be sprinting with Cavendish, Kittel, Greipel..." I sais to him: "No problem, you're quick and you have excellent placing. Just find a good wheel and I have the utmost confidence you'll be able to challenge them. You've got talent, use it!"
There, after my morning speeches, it was time for breakfast. Most of the guys were already down. It was time to discuss tactics.
TACTICS
Preparing for mission Oman. I've been preparing this for a week now. First stage is real easy, like. Goes a bit uphill but no more than 4%, so no problem for anyone. It's quite short and it'll go down fast. What we need is someone in the break, since this is televised.
Profile of Day 1
General Tactic: "99% of the time it'll come down to a mass sprint. Don't you dare do any work. We're not here with a big name so it's up to the other teams to work. Specified Tactic: David (Veilleux), Georg (Preidler) and Stijn (Steels), I want one of you in the breakaway today. Make sure it happens!
I'm not a tight-erse. I'm not a tough DS, I know what I want and I expect my boys to understand this and do it, that's all. If our team is a family, I'm the patriarch, the father. You can talk to father, tell him all your secrets, but you listen to your father.
We finished breakfast with a laugh and it was time to race!
THE RACE
As soon as the flag went down, I heard news of an escapee. I had a feeling it was one of my boys.
Too bad this is a race without communication, I wanted to know what was going on and those Oman guys really don't know how to convert information to the team cars. But 4 minutes later I was allowed to go past the peloton.
Daid (Veilleux) had broken away and already had 1'13" on the peloton. Yes! Great guy, that Canadian!
He picked up the only mountain points to be earned that guy. Tomorrow we'll be wearing that jersey, good!
Like we expected, it came down to a mass sprint. Stijn (Steels) came to get some water bottles before the preparation of the sprint and told me Rik was ready. Thing about him is; he's always nervous, but he doesn't have time to be nervous during a race, only before and after.
Three trains were set up: one for Degenkolb, one for Cavendish, one for Greipel. Rik managed to grab Degenkolb's wheel, what did I tell you about positioning? He's a genius!
Three sprint trains. Rik behind Argos'
Sprinting, Rik 3th from the left
The sprint was immensely exciting. Well, for me, for the audience it was obvious that Argos was too strong today. Rik was hanging in there amazingly well and finished at the front! I was going through the roof in the car!
Today was good. Rik finishing 6th in that field in his first professional race is really hopeful. I'm proud of the laddie, in fact, of all the laddies here. They did good. Tomorrow we'll be wearing a jersey and that'll make us extra motivated.
Tomorrow is another flat-ish stage, but there's some up and down in the finale. I'd say this is in the advantage of strong Rik. He's doing good now, time to keep this going for him.
Also see that Veilleux picked up some bonus seconds.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
sutty68 - Thank you! The big mountain stage will blow that GC apart, though
Cycleman123 - Great start for his career!
547984 - He sure did David's a sly fox
welker3257 - Thanks, it was a good day.
Small problem. Stage 2 wouldn't load even after restarting the computer so I simulated it. I'm going to a Deep Purple concert tonight so I'll report on it tomorrow morning. However, when I tried racing stage 3, it also didn't load, so I'll try that again tomorrow, too. Hope it works (computer getting old...), can't see why it shouldn't work, though
