Bonjour All
I am Erik Boushe, 18 year old French Sprinter. I have goals for the future which I want to work towards but at moment I will develop into a good rider.
I signed for Bardiani for the rest of season, I do not know what plans they have for me but I no care, I am just happy to have a team and chance to ride as professional.
Sorry for me poor english, I struggle while at school but cycling has put me on right track.
Hello there Erik.
You're very welcome here, and we are all exceptionally happy that you have signed. All we ask is your best and that you post in here from time to time. We are currently reworking the schedules to fit you in, so any I put on where you want to rider would be appreciated.
Plans for the season....
Well, as a young, developing sprinter we see you as a lead out man, mainly for Fabian and Sacha, our star sprinters. You may get a few chances to sprint for yourself though, so don't worry about that. We don't know where you'll go yet, that's up to you!
Don't worry abot poor English. At an all Italian team you won't need it much, but you need Italian!!! Well, we hope you pick things up quickly, but a few of our lads speak French so I'm sure they can help you out!
This race was one of our major goals for this part of the season. As a sprinting team we were desperate to show we could hold our own against the top guys in a pure sprint. A pan flat race, and all our hopes were pinned on Brookes for the win, or, more realistically, a top 5.
The race was confusing, especially for us. Crosswinds, attacks and crashes littered the entire race, never mind the pouring rain. Well, that's what racing's like this time of year .
We still are unsure of the events of the race, but we presume that Bardiani were involved in a mass crash, some km from the finish. Thankfully Fabian survived, but we were left with < 3 riders in the front group. Without any form of leadout he was forced to hop between wheels. Thankfully for us, he's pretty good.
In a tight sprint, with Kittel, Greipel and Cavendish fighting it out, Brookes was without support. He ended up 6th. This is annoying, as we come in only 1 place behind our goal. However, in these circumstances it is an incredible achievement, and we hope to build on it for the Giro. We also underestimated the field, which was very strong.
We are satisfied with this race, but we hope to make up for it in our biggest goal, the Giro d'Italia.
Today we started off the second race of this season section. The Tour of Turkey. For this long race we came with another strong train. It may not be Brookes and O'Callaghan, but it is still a fearsome duo. Our main men are Bousche and Modolo, and they sure showed themselves on this first stage!
The race was chaotic, lots of attacks, riders eager for that chance to seize a jersey. The final km were a bit less hectic. 2 trains dominated, Belkin and Europcar. We split our men, Modolo with Belkin, Bousche with Europcar. The Belkin train melted away, but Modolo was not to be beaten. He switched wheels, profiting from those going early. Once launching, he closed in with every metre, but the line came too quickly and Coqaurd took it.
Even so, 2nd is a brilliant result in a tough field. Maybe with more luck Sacha could win next time. One day we hope to be able to put up a strong train ourselves, but for now we will have to be content with wheel sucking. We must also not forget a Mr Bousche. In his first big chance with the team, he excelled, only just missing out on the top 10.
I went to Turkey with my team. The team leader is Sacha Modolo who is very strong Italian sprinter. My job is to lead him to victory and also try sprint for my own place.
After a boring stage I was not alert as Modolo went onto some other rider wheel. I was left a bit behind (at the bottom of the screen).
Modolo did very good without my help and finished 2nd behind Europcar rider.
I made decision to sprint for myself and I finished in a decent 12th. It was my first ever race. There is even photo of me at finish line.
Just confirmation of my result:
12
Erik Bousche
Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox
s.t.
I hope I did not disappoint too much and will try to deliver Modolo to 1st in next stage.
Sorry for the wait, but in the meantime, Bardiani have been doing GREAT.
Just after that last report, our man De Isso took things to a new extreme in Turkey. He made a bold, attacking move on stage 3, and better yet, held it to the finish. This fulfils our sponsor objective and gives us an impressive stage win to add to our growing team palmares. With this daring attack already giving us a win, the pressure was off to enjoy the final stages.
In fact, the very next stage, on stage 4 Modolo was our new star. He sprinted his heart out yet again, and achieved all we could have hoped for. Unfortunately he was just beaten on the line, but another podium is brilliant. Unfortunately the rest of the race was pretty average for us, but 3 podiums is something a continental pro outfit can only dream of.
Meanwhile, Trentino was, and still is going on, and it was no less great for the team. Mucelli was Bardiani's hero for the first two stages. He attacked from the start. Even as chasers came back at him, he still worked hard on the front. Favourites like Izagerre joined on, but he held tight, even sharing the work. On the final run in, he gave it his all, but the nasty wheel snatching, evil, scheming, dirty Eusktatel rider beat him to it. Even so he held on through the TTT to second in GC.
Stage 3 was the end of our dreams in Italy though. We headed into the mountains,but we lack the calibre to challenge the leaders. Pirazzi gave everything to be up there, but he was dropped by the main group. He and Mucelli (hero of Italy) sadly dropped out of the top ten, possibly for good. We also lost our team ranking status. Even if we come out of Trentino empty handed, we've done our best, and put on a show.
Edited by The Hobbit on 07-04-2014 08:23
Last time we were shouting from the rooftops about our great recent performances, including 3 Turkey podiums. Well, we're gonna need a bigger rooftop, because we've only gone and gotten ourselves another one! It was on stage 5, the flatter stage, that Modolo rewarded us with his 3rd second place! It seems the man will never see the top step, but he's still developing, and we have no doubts he will eventually be on top of the world.
We were in chaos heading into the sprint as a team. Modolo took the initiative and latched onto the Saxo train, on Bennati's wheel. Thankfully, their leadout proved the strongest. It soon became a two horse race, between Sacha and Bennati. It was ever so tight, swapping positions faster than you could say... Anything really...
In the end though, Sacha just didn't have enough steam to go the long way round. Bennati did his team proud and won a stage that was made for him. Modolo was gutted, but as a team, we are ever so proud. Unfortunately, on stage 5 De Isso lost his lead, but he has done the impossible in having it so long. Our team can come out of this race proud.
Stage 7 was a minor setback for the mighty Bardiani squad. We set up the same as we did last time we got a podium, by sitting in on Bennati's train. Unfortunately, today was not so much of a success. Again, it was the most dominant of the sprint trains. However, it seems the other teams had caught up on that too.
No one worked on the front, so Saxo failed, just, to catch the breakaway. Bennati was not fast enough to catch the winner. But what happened to Modolo I hear you not asking. Ah well, when Bennati launched, naturally his lead out peeled off, a certain leadout (who we won't name and shame) happened to be directly in the way of Sacha. His recovery was strong enough for 9th, but not strong enough, full stop.
Thankfully the points race is still very much alive. Sacha lies in second, behind Calzone but ahead of Bennati. With one day left really he has to win to stand a chance, but we are proud of him no matter what.
Despite the drama of the first stage, Trentino has been a pretty disappointing race for an Italian team. Mucelli's dramatic podium is our only result, and we have failed in the mountains, (pretty bad for a race mostly in the mountains). On the final stage Pirazzi only managed 63rd, and comes in 59th in GC. We are disappointed, but hope to learn from our mistakes for the Giro.
The Giro d'Italia is the biggest race on the calendar, especially for a team like us. As an Italian outfit, this is a race we have to do well in. As such we have brought with us the best possible squad to win. We have a few angles we can look to surprise from, and hopefully we will manage to emerge victorious.
The Squad
Brookes
O'Callaghan
Pirazzi
Battaglin
Colbrelli
Barbin
Baggio
Delle Stelle
Coledan
The Strategy
Obviously a team such as ours has little hopes of carrying away the Maglia Rosa, that is for the WT teams. However, our sponsors have set us some pretty lofty ambitions, which will test our team. We need a few stage wins and the king of the mountains jersey. This will be hard, but don't worry, we have a plan.
The easy part will be the stage wins. As you may know, we have a top sprinter in our team in Fabian Brookes. Unlike some of the other sprinters, this is his most important race, so he'll peak for the flat, sprint stages. If he doesn't quite manage a win, then there is always breakaways. Our team contains some strong riders, and great breakaway artists, so hopefully we'll get lucky.
Since we lack a world class climber, it seems our only shot at the KOM jersey is the breaks too. That's why we have a certain mr Pirazzi in our team. He's a decent climber, and a real fighter, so the breaks are his domain. He'll try and snap up maximum points at the top of the climbs, and it's a long shot, but hopefully, he'll make it to Milan in a beautiful jersey.
Ah, the Giro has started already. And you know what that means, it means it's time for Bardiani to begin our campaign for the loftiest season goals known to man! We look forward to the rest of the race with anticipation, and if everything goes to plan, it will be a Giro to remember.
It's only stage 1, and already we were showing the Bardiani colours. Our very own Tom O'Callaghan launched himself into the breakaway, hoping to kick off our Giro in style. He was in a small 3 man break, but they were well organised, challenging the big boys behind.
Tom won the first KOM, which was incredible news, especially as KOM is one of our main objectives. As a sprinter, these small hills were nothing to dampen his incredible burst of speed. He was second at the next KOM, but it was enough, just about, to ensure an incredible achievement. We'd secured the KOM jersey for the next day, hopefully someone will also secure it after the race is over!
Unfortunately, the breakaway was wrapped up before the finale, so all our hopes were pinned on Fabian. Unfortunately, the run in was very cramped and chaotic. Fabian couldn't get his way to the front to sprint. In the end he was a disappointing 12th, but our hopes are that in the coming stages, less riders will be up their to block him, and hopefully he'll grab us a win or two.
Ah, well, our team does not really do well in any Team Time Trial, or anything that could vaguely be classified as a time trial. We lack anyone who specialises, or is vaguely good at time trials, so when the whole team is riding one, we aren't that great. We did ok. If, by ok, you mean last. Well, it could have been worse, maybe, sort of, ok not really, but hey. Onto stage 3.
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