LA TROPICALE AMISSA BONGO
DELIO FERNANDEZ - A FUTURE SUPERSTAR?
Most of you probably didn't even notice it, but there was a very promising Spaniard we bought from Caja Rural in the transfer season. Delio Fernandez is hardly known of course, but we already saw that a bright future in the world of cycling would be possible for him. Though he is 27 already we still see him as a rider who can develop further for sure. So we did not play around and signed him right away.
Now, in the first race of the season already, Delio has proven what he is capable of. With a brave attack in the chaotic starting phase of the first stage, he set himself up as part of the breakaway, which managed to go all the way to the finish line. Sadly, he lacked awareness when Hägg, the later winner, attacked - and then he missed Augustyn's move as well. Nonetheless, we are proud of him, because Delio not only managed to score a podium place, but he is therefore also a serious contender for the General Classification.
Even more strength he showed on the second stage, where Movistar split the pack under a tremendous tempo. Delio was safe in the first group, thanks to his great positioning. We also honour Matthias' effort to keep Delio near the front - and he really worked his ass off after the split. Though he was dropped then when Movistar set a horrible tempo on the last climb again, Delio gave it all to stay in contact with the front group. Finishing in 20th position in the end, he did hold on to his 3rd GC spot, which is just unbelievable.
The whole team will work for Delio in the following days to secure this good spot. On top of that, we try to set up Naveed for a good sprint finish as he showed his strength already finishing 3rd from the pack - in 40th place.
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 09-02-2015 00:06
LA TROPICALE AMISSA BONGO
DELIO FERNANDEZ TO SECOND IN GC WITH STRONG TEAMWORK
On the third stage Delio even stepped up to second place in the General Classification, because he gained time on MTN's John-Lee Augustyn. That was done with strong teamwork, so thanks to all our guys. When some big favourites attacked in the last kilometers, our guys all moved to the front - and with united forces we brought back those attackers. As always, solidarity was stronger than individualism. So Delio finished safely in the first big group, while Augustyn lost some time right before the end of the stage.
Now we are aiming to occupy the highest spot on the podium - there are still some stages left and we will work hard to win the first race of the season.
And by the way, no, we won't inform you that much about our racing throughout the season. Just when its exam time, because then we show the capitalist society how much of a f*ck we give on their education system
I landed here to continue my traning for my first race of the year, the Tour of Algarvia. I won here last year, so is very important to me to confirm. I hear my big opponent from last year, Rui Costa, will be back. I think I'm better then last year, but I'm sure he is too. After all, if you're a successful football player for many years and then you can still do cycling at top level, you're very good.
I also used element of surprise last year, the other riders didn't pay me too much attention and didn't attack me on the mountains as they should. They let me come back, so I could destroy them in time trial. I don't think they'll make same mistake this year, but immediatly put pressure on me and my team. Rui Costa don't like getting beating in own country two years in a row.
In France, my home country, Francois Hollande and his Parti Socialiste won the latest elections. Though Hollande of course is not a real socialist or communist but a left democrat, however, Champion System accepts the French Socialism light. When Coca Cola has its Coke light, why can’t they have Socialism light? But because they really hate Coca Cola for its Capitalist behavior, they will never ever allow a Socialism zero. In addition I participated in two Asian races (Tour of Qinghai Lake and Tour of Hainan) this season and I felt pretty comfortable in the Capitalist-free environment there in China.
Team connection aside, there is probably one more thing that I should mention in this introduction. If you happen to look at a result and see the name Feunard, it might not be me because I’m not the only Feunard in the pro peloton. I have two brothers that also race in the pro peloton: Aquali Feunard who is part of the fully French FDJ team and Pyroli Feunard who is one of the two French riders at CCC Polsat. We will meet each other quite a number of times during the season. So far we currently have 10 conformed meetings over the course of the season so far and this will result in a lot of activity in the Feunard games which is the competition between the three of us where if we compete against each other we count who finishes in front of the other. I’ll add some more information about this in the next update I make as it’s getting a bit long now.
It's me, Lars. I just rode my first Race in Qatar today. I am really confident that I will be able to conquer this country for Champion System. I'm talking about the GC. The race is very flat with a ITT. And this is what I'm going to try. Just stay in the pack for every stage, and try to win it in the TT. I learned this from Po-Ding Kim. I hope it will work out. I will tell you after the race, how it went. I have to go now. There is business to do.
My name is Rajesh Kakhi and I'm about to begin my second season as a professional cyclist. After some negotiations I have decided to stay with my team, even though I got some nice contract offers from some world tour teams. I decided to stay with my Asian roots and stay a part of the team that wants to be the first Asian world tour team in some time. Over the offseason the team got a lot stronger and signed another outright leader in Kim Po Ding and some more strong Asian riders.
I already started my season in Down Under were two stages were already ridden and I got 5th and 6th. After the Tour Down Under I will take part at the Gp La Marseillaise, Tour of Oman, Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice and GP Indurain. At all those races I am the leader and pressure is put on me to get in a decent amount of points.
It's me, Lars, again. I failed to win the ITT in Qatar, and I couldn't hold on to a Top10 position in the GC, but I will improve during the season, I promise. Just give me a bit more time. I know, that getting beaten by an american doesn't rank very high in your list, but I will assure you, that I work on ways to never let that happen again.
-Lars GrawunderEdited by Paul23 on 28-02-2015 12:22
TOUR DOWN UNDER
KAKHI SECURING US THE FIRST HARD GOAL
Tour Down Under was an important race for us as we had a hard goal of finishing in the Top5 overall. Thus we brought Rajesh Kakhi to lead the team, which he did in spectacular manner.
Finishing near the front and cracking the Top10 several times, Rajesh laid the foundations for a good GC finish. He even won the bunch sprint in stage 3, but unfortunately a breakaway finished in front of the pack this time.
Stage 5 was the deciding one then, finishing on top of Willunga Hill. Rajesh brought his strong legs again, joining the big attacks and staying among the strongest until the very end.
Here you can see Rajesh attacking in the middle of the picture.
By finishing in the 13-man front group, Rajesh stepped up to 4th in GC. Therefore he was on the way to fulfil our goal.
On the last stage the whole team had to survive a light heart attack when the peloton split in 4 groups and Rajesh was cought in the second one with nobody to help him. While Gang Xu was still in the breakaway and Yimmi Briceno managed to stay in the first group, all the rest of the team was back in the last one, which failed to rejoin the rest.
Luckily the smaller groups all merged, so Kakhi finished near the front again. In the end, he did not lose any time and secured his great result. It's not just that Rajesh finished in 4th overall, but he also accomplished our hard goal by doing so - and won the white young rider's competition on top of that.
We have to thank the whole team for their selfless work, which made all this possible. That certainly was a superb start to our season. We look forward to the upcoming races and the battle for promotion.
I've got already a lot of race days in my legs in this early part of the season, but at none of the races I was really successful. The only exception being the Santos Tour Down Under. In 5 stages of this season opener I managed to get into the top 10, which resulted in me fulfilling our team goal of a Top 5 in GC as 4th. On top of that I won the Young Riders classification. After that it went downhill at the two classics I took part in, GP de la Marseillaise and Strade Bianche. At both races I hoped for a top 10 and at both I failed. In France I at least got close as 13th but at the finish of the Strade Bianche in Siena where a break won, I only got 42nd. Currently I'm racing in Oman and also here I'm not in a very good form. I just don't feel so well at this race in the burning heat of the desert. I hoped to show myself in the sprints, but only once managed to get a top 10 result as 6th on stage 3. One stage is still to come, let's see maybe I'll have better legs on the final day to show my Indian national jersey one more time before travelling to France where I'd like to show myself with a good result at Paris - Nice.
We had a bit of delay, but today the first stage was there. Since it was very flat, I decided not to show myself yet. My main competitor, Rui Costa, was however participating in the sprint. Good, good, waste your powers you stupid little portugesian man!
Anyway, the team did a very good job to protect me, tomorrow is the job not to get suprised and then it is the time trial. I really hope my shape will be good, I just need to follow little portugesian man tomorrow, then beat him in the time trial. Then the mountains will decide.
It's total chaos here, nobody knows what is happening in this race. Apparently, the race organisation messed up the bonification seconds and miscalculated the rankings. Next the time trial results seem to be wrong as well, they said I lost 35 seconds to Rui Costa and even 10 some swedish guy I never heard of. These results can't be right, so either the portugese guys are cheating, either they just don't know what's happeing anymore. Looking at the chaos, it's probably the second one. I will give you more information when we get there, but for now I am furious with what is happening. In my country, people would get shot for less, what a disgrace!!
note from translator: due to some difficulties and permissions elsewhere I’ve been unable to properly translate it earlier, apologies to Voltali and everybody waiting on this piece
Tour of Qatar
I’ve just returned from Qatar and I thought, before I start preparing for my next race (returning to Tour of Langkawi), why not make a short written piece summarizing my race there. It was quite obvious at the start who the leader of the race was: Lars Grawunder, with Marco Pinotti as road captain for the neo pro. I was kinda throw into the deep as I was the only competent sprinter in the race squad. At the first stage I immediately proved why that probably was the best decision of the management as to be able to contest the sprint; you need to be in the first group. Which I wasn’t, not even the 2nd group but the 3rd group in the first stage. At least the leaders where in the first group so wasn’t too bad from the team’s perspective.
the second stage was a lot better for me: I managed to avoid the splits this time and contested the sprint this time and with 21st place I not only managed to post my best finish of the team but also my best finish since I started racing for Accent Jobs (now Wanty) last year. Still not amazing but for now I’m content with that. Grawunder and Pinotti were also in the first group so all is good.
It's time trial time in Qatar!
That’s what the news said on the front page and that’s all that needs to be said about that day. Actually that’s all that needs to be said about the rest of the race. Stages 4, 5 and 6 were all terrible for me, continuously failing to finish within the first group, Once finishing 20 minutes behind the first group
Not happy about the race, only one the second day I was able to show what I can do in the sprints and even though that was my best finish ever, I'm not really happy about it right now.
Feunard Games
despite me being the current Feunard Games champion, I'm currently trailing behind Aquali from FDJ.fr being 5-2 down after the 6 Qatar stages and GC. only won stage 2 and 3. still nothing is lost as there still many races left to race. next meeting is against Pyroli Feunard (CCC-Polsat) at the Tour of Langkawi. lots of flat stages so plenty of oppertunities to sprint and get points for the Feunard Games
Hello Algarvia. Po-ding is stuck here. People want to restart the race. Nobody know what happening, not even Dr. Fu. I hope my manager solves this situation fast, as I need to start training for the Continental Championships.
In the mean time, I heard team not doing so well. Paris is Nice was really bad, Kakhi seems to have lost his good form. I hope we recover soon, this team should be in the World Tour, so we need points!
It is a true shame. The race I loved so much last year, has become very hatefull to me. So we restered, two more flat stages, ok, I can live with that. Even though they are really testing my recovery, which isn't as good as Rui Costa's. But on day 3, we were supposed to have a time trial. I was ready with my time trial bike and suddenly the organistaion decided we would have the mountain stage today. I was totaly suprised, while other riders were smiling, including Rui Costa, on his normal bike!
So I'm sad to say, this race has become corrupted. I lost about a minute on the stage winner, yes you guessed it, Rui Costa. Even worse, the team's podium goal is endangered. I know I can't get back enough time on Rui Costa, but I need to gain a lot of time on some other riders as well. The pressure is on already in my first racedays.
Hello and goodbye Algarvia. I loved you last year, but today I am leaving you forever. It was obvious from the start your local hero Rui Costa had to win. I was sabotages from the start. The restart, the stage switching, you even not let me ride TT in my national jersey. For shame!
Eventually I finished 3rd, after losing the time trial to unknown rider Amador, also Movistar. It is enough for the sponsor goal, but I think not me, not manager can be happy about what happened here.
As this was my only race, I can now focus on the Continental Championships. I hope to defend my time trial title, with fair results this time. The road race is a bit too flat for me, so will be helping team mate Kakhi. See you in Canadia!
Hey guys.
It's your manager, I'm sorry you haven't heard from me in a while now. I'm flattered about your blogs, especially Po-ding is really keeping our followers up to date.
Of course that third place was not fully satisfying, though you don't have to bother too much about it as we all know it was only due to these filthy Capitalist pigs sabotaging your bike.
You probably wonder why there has not been any note from me. Here is why: I'm - how could I possible say it? - I'm working on some sort of option to make us race in WT next year for sure (in case people deny us points in order to help other teams up). Of course that's all pretty official and legal.
Anyway, there is going to be a rather big update which will sum up some previous events, but at the moment I have to work on that other stuff. So I'm not entirely sure when I'll be back.
You're doing good, comrades. Keep it up (you might also improve)!
Those were some hard races during the last week. First of, I saved Po-Ding in the Volta ao Algarve, while a Captitalistic pig tried to shoot him. I managed to dive between, causing me to crash. As every communistic man would, i finished the race.
After this I went on to win my first race. Kind of. I won the Youth Classification in De Panne, by 1 second. But since I'm not a cobbler, I'm very proud about this achievement.
I hope to deliver some good results in the Continental Championships.
-Lars Grawunder
Palmares:
De Panne:
- Youth Classification
Edited by Paul23 on 21-04-2015 18:30
Hello again.
I have just finished what for me was the biggest race of the season. Indonesian riders don't really have a home tour that I could visit with Champion Systems, which is why for me, it doesn't get much bigger than this. I am very grateful to the team that they entrusted me with this race, especially considering they were expected to perform well. It means a great deal that they trusted me to lead our team in one of their biggest goals.
Stages 1 + 2, being a bunch sprints, meant very little to me. It was not until stage 3 I got my first sight of the mountains. Unfortunately the stage was not challenging enough for me to attack, and I had to settle for staying in the front group and biding my time.
The next challenge for the pure climbers was stage 5. It was much more selective, but disappointingly I could not take advantage. Early on I was blocked and fell back to a small group. I was unable to rejoin and finished the stage well behind, having lost almost 10 minutes on the stage winner. This was disappointing as it ended my challenge for a good position. In my biggest race I wanted to do more, and it was very annoying that I had let the team down.
Stage 6 was also flat. However, it wasn't also bad, because I got to celebrate with Matthias Friedemann after his stage win. Unfortunately the rest of the race was uneventful, both for me as an individual, and for the team. In the end there were not enough mountain stages to compensate for the mistake I made on stage 5. I finished 40th in GC, 12:17 down.
The Tour of Langkawai was a massive disappointment for me. It is the closest I will get to a home race, and I couldn't deliver any sort of meaningful result. What makes things even worse is that the team trusted me with this race. They could have sent one of their main mountain leaders, but instead they believed in me. I let them down badly and for that I can only be sorry. I will always regret that moment when I was caught behind on stage 5 as it was the only real mountain stage of the race. If I had just done well there I could be celebrating with the team but instead I let everyone down.
we still believe in you and probably it was just too early for you to lead the team. We will give you all the time you need to develop into the rider you want to be. Don't be too hard with yourself - of course it is sad not to make your own goals, but we are still proud of you as you're always giving your best and sacrifice yourself for the team.
Hello guys.
I am talking to you all from sunny Argentina, where I have just finished racing in the Tour de San Luis. For me, this race was a bit of a warm up for my big goals for this season part, in Langkawai and the Criterium International. I was helping out Janier Acevedo here, who is our number one GC rider. Big things were expected of him, but for me, it was my first race on the team, and I just wanted to get settled in to professional cycling again.
The first two stages were flat, so for me they were quite uneventful. For me, they were so unimportant I did not even really bother to finish in the peleton. It didn't matter much, if being so far down in the GC meant I could help Janier more, or even get in the breakaway, that was definitely a risk I was happy to take.
In the mountain stages I was ordered to protect Janier. Unfortunately he wasn't at his best for stage 3, 5 or 6, and did not manage to crack the top 10 on either occasion. This was disappointing, but the stages did not really suit him, and a top quality field meant he could not achieve a big result. It also meant I could not attack, but that was not really an issue, as I wasn't feeling much stronger than Janier. The time trial on stage 4 was also disappointing for me, but I did not underperform as there were many strong time trial riders there.
Overall, San Luis was not a good race for me or the team. The course was not selective enough for the pure climbers like Janier to take control of the race. Even on the mountain stages the early season rustiness got to us, and we couldn't deliver a good performance. I personally am disappointed in myself. My job was to help Janier do well in GC, but on the mountain stages I could barely fend for myself, never mind working for him. I will certainly need to pick up the pace if I want to do well in the late season.
Rajesh Kakhi to lead the team, which he did in spectacular manner.
Feunard Games 
