11 January 2007
The Vuelta of Tachira goes to it's 5th stage that will get the cyclist's stomach upside down, it starts with an about 10 downhill portion then it is flat for a good distance and there a small slope climb comes, another pronunced downhill, another small slope climb, a flat portion and then an abrupt short climb, more flat and the last km's on a easy climb.
In the experts opinion the favourites are Devolder, Serpa and Orozco.
The race started, the peleton is going down the hill and things seem to go normaly. But with 96kms till the finish 11 cyclist attack and form a breakaway, they are: McCartney, Batista, Laverde, Pinheiro, Erischkorn, Borgaini, Diaz, Sutherland, Brooks and De Sarraga, this will be an interesting race, we'll see if Devolder will let McCartney in the breakaway because he is 2nd in the GC with only 4minutes gap. With 40 kms before the arival a group of 16 cyclist joins the breakaway(including Serpa, Orozco and Devolder), let's see if the 27 riders group will win or not... But the group lasts only 6kms because the peletons caught them, now anyone could win, let's see who is the most in form rider today... There are only 9kms till the endOrozco attacks, he is followed imediatly by Devolder, later Serpa comes too. So the leadings group is formed by these 3. 4 Kms till the finish Devolder attacks but Serpa is attentive and gets in his wheel, Orozco doesn't lose ground neighder. The finish:Devolder gets in Serpa's wheel, Orozco is isolated in the right, Serpa and Orozco sprint and Devolder doesn't seem to have the power to follow them, so the winner is Serpa, 2nd Orozco and 3rd Devolder, but the Discovery cyclist remains first in GC.
We have an interview with Serpa taken as usual, by our best reporter, Lonny Banks. Q: Serpa you won the last 2 stages, they were both pretty hard, how did you manage to keep your form from yesterday?
A: Well, what can I say, i feel great and i think i'm the best climber from this tour, tomorrow i'm certain i'll win too. Q: Do you think you can get the yellow jersey?
A: That isn't easy, Devolder has a pretty big advantage because of the TTT and isn't such a bad climber but if i'll be this form the next days too i'm sure i can outrun him. Q: If you don't win the vuelta of tachira will you be dissapointed?
A: Of course not, it's the first race of the season, this is barely training for what it is to come, and i think I can do much more in the rest of the season then here.
Lonny: Ok thanks for the answers Serpa, have fun celebrating these victories!
Transmision out! Stage rankings:
1. J. Serpa 2h 54' 07''
2. V. Orozco st
3. S. Devolder st
4. J. Agudelo +1' 21''
5. P. Sletina +1' 21''
(i forgot to export ) 12 January 2007
Today is a big day, not because of the vuelta of tachira 6th stage but because of the Australian ITT National Championship, but before we get to that we'll have a covarage from the vuelta.
The 6th stage is almost perfect flat, in the middle of it it has a small hill and then in the end there is a long hill(that has small slope at start) and last 8kms are with an average slope of 8.1% so we'll see an interesting stage, the longest one(171kms).
The experts take Serpa as absolute favourite because of his recent form, and other favourites are Orozco and Devolder. With 118kms before the finish there is a breakaway with Brroks, Laverde(always present in breakaways ), De Sarraga and Australia's Road Race Champion Lapthorne. There are only 37km's left until the finish and 3kms until the looong climb start and De Sarraga is left behind by the front group, they have 3minutes in front of the peleton and about 30seconds in front of De Sarraga, meanwhile the 4 usual Discovery riders relay in the peleton. Km 18: Lapthorne is caught because he couldn't rezist to the fast pace put by the front group(Brooks and Laverde) Km 13: The peleton has caught the breakaway and is now formed of 27 cyclist(all the big names are here). With 7 km's before the end Orozco attacks and Serpa catches him up, Devolder too. The slope is 8% and it will be all the way up to the finish.
The Discovery Channel rider, Stijn Devolder attacks in the last 3kms and makes a resonable gap between Serpa and Orozco and manages to win, 2nd is Serpa and 3rd is Agudelo(he came from the back).(sorry i forgot to make a screenshot i think i slept in the finish )
And now the Australian ITT National Championship. It's a pretty simple stage, with a few positive slopes, 38kms and they are 3 big favourites(M. Rogers, B.McGee and J. Mouris).
There are 40 riders who hope that they can win this race.
Rogers starts the race and seems to go relatively fast, but he'll have to beat Mouris that is first on every checkpoint, even the finish.
Rogers goes past the 1st checkpoint and he is only the 2nd and barely 17 cyclists crossed that point, Mouris remains 1st having a 19 second lead on the T-Mobile rider. Rogers arives only second at the finish and they are 23 riders to come.
All the riders have crossed the 1st checkpoint now an the standings there are like this:
1st: B. McGee
2nd: Lancaster+13''
3rd: Evans +22
9th: Davis +33
At the second checkpoint things have changed a bit:
1st: McGee
2nd: Mouris
3rd: Lancaster
17th: Davis +1'33''
B. McGee seems to have the race in his palm, let's see how he'll perform on the last portion.
And the winner is... Bradley McGee he is the new national TT winner of Australia. The standings at the finish are:
1. B. McGee 50'25''
2. B. Lancaster +52''
3. J. Mouris +59''
4. M. Rogers +1'18''
5. B. Day +1'22'
13. A. Davis 2'31''
As usual, Lonny Banks was there and got an interview with McGee. Q: How do you feel Brad?
A: Very good, thank you, i feel proud that i'll be wearing at least 1 year my country's jersey in timetrials. Q: Did you believe you can win with competition such as Rogers and Mouris?
A: If I didn't think i can't win this i wouldn't have come, I don't have time to lose on races i know i don't stand a chance, Rogers and Mouris are very good timetrialists and honestly I didn't expect to win with such a gap.
Lonny: Ok thanks Bradley, i'll let you go to the party, have fun and enjoy your win.
So this is the end of a cycling full day.
13 January 2007:
We all hope that it won't be an unlucky day and no ugly falls or accidents will happen. The 7th stage of the Vuelta has only 115kms distance and as ussualy it starts on a hill and we gooo down but this time there are no flat zones, only downhill and uphill. This is a stage for Devolder, Serpa or Orozco. Km 107: O'Loughlin speeds up and makes a gap between him and the peleton, in 4kms the gap gets at 1 minute and there are 9 more downhill km. With 70 kms before the finish the max gap is reached(more then 6 minutes) but the peleton starts to go faster. Meanwhile 7 other riders try to create a gap(Gonzalez, Sutherland, Piedra, Drapac, Sobrino, Broco and Aldape).
But they are caught after 2 more kms. Km 63: another group attacks, this time it's formed by former australia's tt national champion, O'Neill, Montiel, Missaglia, Bucciero and Lewis but Discovery's guys don't seem to worry a bit. Km 38: the last climb has finished and O'Loughlin has 8minutes in front of the peleton but Missaglia is right behind him and the other 3(Bucciero, Lewis and Montiel) are going faster and faster and seem to cathcup, O'Neill is the only one having problems, he is about 2minutes behind these 3. Km 19: the 5 riders now act as one whole(they are together) only poor O'Neill is behind them with 1minute and a half but he has about 5 minutes in front of the peleton. Km 16: Montiel and O'Loughlin remain behind and the other 3 have first chance in winning this, Devolder has put Cummings and McCartney to work because the other disco riders aren't in the peleton but it seems to be too late. There are 7 kms till the arival and Devolder is impacient so he decides to attack, he has no chance in winning this but he is thinking that it's better then staying in the peleton. Finish:Missaglia attacks in the last 2 kms and makes a small gap between his followers, a deserved victory. Devolder did pretty well, he came 5th with a gap of merely 3minutes and his main rival, Serpa came with more then 4 minutes.
14 January 2007:
Whooh, yesterday ended well with no injuries or falls by noone and I'm relieved now, and today we have a circuit race, 12laps that are in total 115kms, this looks more like a hilly classic then a tour stage, up, down, up, down, it's a very intersting stage and we have to anounce the favourites, the experts say that despite the fact that it's hilly it will be a mass sprint, we'll see that later on, so the favourites are bonomi, loddo and vaitkus. At the start line: it's raining very hard here and the road is wet so we might see some falls... Km 107: there is a breakaway with De Mateo and McCartney and they seem they'll be working together this stage, I have no doubt Devolder sent his man there so that he can go up the rankings(until the 2nd place), but we'll see what will happen. Km 70: there is a fall in the peleton, furtanelty only a rider(Vitoria) and he didn't get injured. Km 54: the gap is getting smaller, it was about 6 minutes in a time and now it's only of 3 minutes, De Mateo is getting worried so he speeds-up. Km 38: McCartney thinks he can take this all by his own and attacks, he's making easily distance infront of De Mateo. Km 21: De Mateo is caught and McCartney has only a minute in front of the peleton, things don't look so good for the Discovery rider. Km 16: The american rider is finally caught by the peleton and will stand no chance in the final sprint. Km 9: Devolder surprisinly attacks, noone knows why, total confusion in the peleton, he has no chance of winning. With 5km before the end: 13 riders fell(between them McCartney who got injured ) giving devolder an extra chance of winning this stage. Finish: Devolder wins the stage, Bonomi comes second and third one is Colli, Vaitkus is the fifth.
Lonny Banks is at the finish taking an interview with Stijn Devolder. Q: Why did you attack Stijn?
A: I saw that the group was disorganized and i felt strong in that moment, my decision was a good one. Q: I personally didn't think that you'll do such a good tour, you have a big advantage in front of your rivals, how is that?
A: I have to thank the team for that, without the team time trial i wouldn't have been so high and such in a position to be able to win the vuelta but anyway i feel in form. Q: What will you do in tomorrow's rest day?
A: I'll keep my fingers crossed for Allan Davis, I hope he'll win the Australian Road Race.
Ok, thank you Stijn for your answers, have a good day tomorrow and we'll see you in action again the day after tomorrow.
That was all for today, Lonny Banks, out!
Have fun reading!
or you could just race without having to bother with screens, then at the end of the race, choose "view race replay" and calmly take whichever screens you like from the replay.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
We now have an interview with today's winner. Lonny Banks: How are you filling Allan?
Allan Davis: Fine Lonny, I feel wonderful, I'm happy because of today's win, when I saw that noone manages to breakaway i thaught it will be a mass sprint, if it would have been that way i had smaller chances of succeding because i didn't have any teammates and i had to pick the right wheel to get in. LB: Discovery seems to be going well, Devolder is the first in the Vuelta al Tachira, you are Australia's Road Champion, whats the secret?
AD: The season has just started, we didn't have any competition yet, we'll see how we'll do in the big tours but anyway I'm very confident of this years season because we have a good atmoshpere in the team.
LB: Thank you Allan, good job on winning here and good luck as the season goes further on. Lonny Banks out!
I hope you enjoy it even if it has no screenshots.
16 January 2007
Today in the Vuelta the profile is pretty hard, it has a lot of climbs that aren't easy, the favourites are as usually, Devolder, Serpa and Missaglia. Km 146: There is a breakaway with 6 riders(Diaz, Batista, Laverde, Munro, Cardoso and De Mateo), I wonder how they didn't get tired of evading. Km 65:The gap reachers 13minutes as the climbs starts. The Discovery riders don't seem worried and chit-chat with other cyclists from the peleton. With 24 kms until the end the peleton breaks in more parts, in the front of it are 7 riders with Devolder and Cummings(both from Discovery) and without Serpa, only Orozco , Cummings seem to work at maximum for Devolder. Km 12: Devolder and Cummings get away from the rest, Devolder doesn't seem to work, he really is the leader. Finish: Laverde wins, The Discovery riders get to the finish with 10 minutes delay, Orozco with 11 minutes, Missaglia with 12 and Serpa with 13.
I didn't quite make the teams yet, it depends on their form, all that i can say that i got the leader+sprinter for every grand tour.
Edit: now I've completly saw what you've writen, there are 5 more stages, so the overall victory isn't mine yet. Edited by lance_armstrong on 29-06-2007 15:28
)
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), De Sarraga and Australia's Road Race Champion Lapthorne.
) giving devolder an extra chance of winning this stage.
