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[CT19] Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
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| MacC |
Posted on 18-06-2020 21:24
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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On to March and to Mexico! Hola!
The Circulo de Juarez is a Sprinters' Tour so all eyes on Sam Bennett to chase stages and a high GC. There's plenty of classy competition so any result will be gladly accepted.
Stage 1 sets the scene and the scene is hot! 37 degrees in Mexico.
Glanbia rode like demons to catch the breakaway even splitting the peloton at one point but all for nothing as Bennett could only get 17th in a very fast sprint.
Stage 2, 36 degrees!
A change of tactic as Connolly attacks and successfully takes KOM points.
In the inevitable sprint Bennett does much better than day 1 taking 4th. Bennett up to 9th in GC but Connolly just misses out on KOM jersey.
Day 3, 38 degrees! Thought it was getting cooler...
Again Glanbia are key to reeling in the escapees.
Bennett gets 7th moving him just outside the top 10 in GC.
Day 4, Glanbia let others do the chasing today...
and it very nearly pays off! Bennett just pipped by a wheel by Mohs. 2nd place moving him up to 5th with only one day left.
Last day, 35 degrees but a nice wind of 25km/h
All set for the big last sprint! Unfortunately Bennett has poor positioning in the last kms and can only get 17th.
It is good enough for 8th overalll, a nice haul in a C1 race for Glanbia. |
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| MacC |
Posted on 18-06-2020 21:31
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Back to a cooler northern clime- Flanders to be precise for the Geraardsbergen-Bosberg
Hilly cobbles and Glanbia do not get on very well so this is very much a contractual obligation.
The result is as expected, only 3 Glanbia boys finish the race with William Connolly best placed 50 minutes off the pace.
Some credit toRichardson for getting into the early break.
Now, when's the next Time Trial? |
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| MacC |
Posted on 06-07-2020 19:55
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Off to America and a very large Mountain. It's the Apex Mountain Classic, a test for Glanbia's climbers and a good indicator of how we can expect to fare in the Tour of America.
William Connolly makes the breakaway but can't hold on.
In the end it's a packed finish with the top three less than a minute ahaed of the “peloton” which includes an impressive 12th place for Connor McConvey and 18th for Tyler Brandt.
A decent day out.
March ends in Africa with the Tour of Eritrea.
A flat day one means it's all about the Breakaway for Glanbia. Sean Downey does the business but unfortunately misses out on the KOM and ends up losing minutes after the group catches the escapees.
A little less flat but still flat second day. Petrie-Armstrong makes the break but is gobbled up early on. Glanbia work hard to close the gap to the group to allow Downey to jump across. We have seen this play before....but no luck today as the peloton demand a bunch sprint.
Stage 3 sees a mountain top finish. For Glanbia a breakaway remains the only real hope. Ben O'Connor makes the break but is dropped before the big climb. O'Connor is best placed in GC in 63rd place. 3 days left to snatch something out of Africa.
4: It's yesterday's stage backwards so down the mountain and over a few hills. Dare I say a breakaway day? Petrie-Armstrong, Connolly, and Van der Ploeg think so as all thrre make the break. Surprsingly it is Van der Ploeg that does the best. He hangs right to the end and rolls over in third place on the day just ahead of a small peleton.
The penultimate day is a flat day but it's soon clear the sprinters are not interested. Which is good news for Sean Downey. He is one of a five man group given a massive lead by the peleton. Unfortunately the boy in Green can only manage 4th although his breakaway antics means he's actually third on points classification.
A hilly day and a hilly finish in Eritrea. For once Glanbia miss the breakaway and have a quiet day. O'Connor's 37th place makes him best place in the GC.
2 close calls to breakaway victory gave some entertainment to a weakened Glanbia team. |
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| MacC |
Posted on 06-08-2020 19:39
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Into the mid- Spring and Glanbia's only HC race of the season- the Tour of California.
The goal is to make an impression, any impression. The Time Trial strength of the team will be tested but any Stage win will be hugely celebrated.
And so begins Day 1 – a 9.6km Prologue where Glanbia hope to make a decent show in the sun.
Michael Ford and Freddy Cruz have all eyes on them and they don't disappoint. Ford takes a podium place only 3 seconds off the winner while Cruz comes in tenth.
Onto sprinter territory on day 2 and Glanbia's Plan B- Sam Bennett.
It is not to be with Bennett only managing 13th but that was actually 9th in the bunch as a shock breakaway victory took the day and yellow.
Day 3 is hilly and so Glanbia look for Plan C- a breakaway. McConvey makes into the BOTD and wins some KOM points but is 36th on the stage.
Day 4, more hills and another breakaway- McConvey does his best but can't stay with winning group. He is 28th overall and 6th in the KOM.
Day 5 is second chance for Bennett. This time the peloton make sure the sprinters get their day and Bennett nearly pulls it off taking 3rd place.
Queen Stage or Stage 6 as the race organisers have dubbed it. And there are mountains. Very disappointing to see no Glanbia riders make the break. McConvey's earlier escapades seem to have caught up with him and he drops to 39th.
Final day and a relatively short Time Trial- can Glanbia's famed Time Trialers snatch a stage?
No , they can't. Not even close. A tough week in HC racing has shown up our limitations with Freddy Cruz doing best in 45th. McConvey finishes 40th on GC.
A stage win was always a long shot at HC level but a podium each from Ford and Bennett means we weren't laughed out of the Golden State. |
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:46
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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While some of the big guns took on California Sean Downey lead the team in the Tour of the Vineyards and lead he did taking the yellow jersey in the Prologue,
Unfortunately it is only one day in Yellow as a group of sprinters took a time gap over the peloton on day 2.
Day 3 is an important GC day and leaders Tyler Brandt and Nico Roche perform well taking top 10 finishes meaning they are in the top 10 overall.
Day 4 was a sprinter's day with no interest from Glanbia. Brandt is 6th and Roche 10th overall.
No change on a sprinters' day 5.
A punchy day 6 sees a breakaway win but Glanbia's 2 top tenners stay firmly in their positions in the GC.
We end on a Time Trial- can Downey take a second stage?
Not quite but a strong 4th position. Roche's TT weakness sees him end in 18th but a solid day from Brandt sees him take an excellent 5th overall.
On to the Betonexpress GP.
It looks a bit lumpy for Sam Bennett but he bags a solid 7th place in the sprint Finish.
The Lincoln GP is a real day of duty for Glanbia. We don't do cobblestones.
Ian Richardson flies the flag getting into a breakaway. His reward is to be Glanbia's best finisher of the day even if it was 47th place.
Edited by MacC on 04-09-2020 21:30
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:46
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Windhoek in May!
2 days of Time Trialing and Glanbia's best hope of victory this Season.
Michael Ford, Feredyy Cruz and Sean Downey are here as a triple threat.
Day 1 and Ford storms into the lead. He is ten seconds clear with Cruz back in 4th place.
Can he bring it home?
The first split of the day shows Ford just about holding on but Cruz doing well...
| Rank | | Name | | Team | | Time | | 1 | | Michael Ford | | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | | 1h06'11 | | 2 | | Andreas Hofer | | DK Zalgiris | | + 4 | | 3 | | Freddy Cruz | | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | | + 6 |
The second split and all change! Ford is slipping but Cruz is roaring:
| Rank | | Name | | Team | | Time | | 1 | | Freddy Cruz | | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | | 1h29'15 | | 2 | | Andreas Hofer | | DK Zalgiris | | + 11 | | 3 | | Michael Ford | | Glanbia Foods Cycling Project | | + 18 |
Cruz finishes 6th on the day, one behind Downey but when the maths are done....
CRUZ TAKES THE VICTORY...with Ford falling back to 6th.
Glanbia's first race victory and a big tick beside the Sponsors' goal too.
Well done Freddy Cruz, you have entered the Glanbia history books.
Celebrations went on and no harm because the only race in May was the Tour du Faso a week later.
The firsy day is flat but with a long cobbled section near the end, not a good thing for Glanbia.
54th for Petrie-Armstrong is the best we can do...with 3 riders DNFing.
Ford gets into the BOTD on day 2 which should be a Sprinters' day...and the in a brilliant move William Connolly jumps acroos to join the break.
It seems Day 1's cobbles had done serious damage to the peleton as the break, with 2 Boys in Green, are allowed build an uncatchable lead,,,
And in his second move of the day Connolly jumps away in the closing Kms and stays out to win !
It means 39th overall but a great performance from one of Glanbia's hidden gems.
Day 3 and the profile looks as grey as an Autumn sky. These cobbles are going to hurt Glanbia.
They are even more brutal than imagined and only 31 riders finish the race...none of them wearing Glanbia colours.
Thank you Faso, the one stage we could compete in we stormed thanks to William Connolly.
Edited by MacC on 14-09-2020 21:50
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-12-2024 15:16
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:47
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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June will be a quiet month for Glanbia with only two races- the Tour of Vancouver and the Monterrey TTT. Given the TTT hype around the team it will be interesting to see if it can rock Monterrey but first Vancouver and a ...Time Trial...
Well, a prologue to be more precise, 6km, nearly all of it uphill.
But Glanbia’s main time Trial threats are not here which is just as well because it’s really too steep for pure specialists. Not that Stage Racer Tyler Brandt did well either, he finished 33rd.
Day 2 saw a chaotic finish with 13 riders actually finishing 48 seconds ahead of all Glanbia’s men,
Day 3 was another sprint. Glanbia gave it their all to get into a break but to no avail. With no sprinter here it is all we can do.
A giant steep as hell climb at the end will define day 4. Clarke and O’Connor got into an early break snapping up some points. It is the GC contenders who will win though with Brandt being dropped disappointingly early coming home in only 18th...meaning 19th overall.
Day 5 is back down to Earth, maybe a day for a breakaway as others recover? Felix English hopes so as jumps into a break. It becomes clear that English was right, this will be a breakaway day....
He is one of six. English sprints early and hard..and then implodes managing only 5th. Disappointing.
Day 6 is a mountain of a stage. Brandt will be trying to move into top 15 or even 10...
McConvey and O’Connor make it into the big break. Most of that break finishes ahead of the peloton with Mc Convey taking 8th place. Another slow day for Brandt- he falls to 20th but McConvey’s bravery is rewarded with 16th overall.
Finally, a Team Time Trial. Glanbia is built for these but most of the team TT leaders are absent. It’s not a long TTT and Glanbia are a respectable 5th place at the split, and that is where we finish losing 11 seconds.
It does mean McConvey climbs to 15th. An unspectacular race for Glanbia.
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Monterrey, time to see if Glanbia’s Time Trail threat is just Continental bluster or actual competitive steel.
The route is a little bumpier than we’d like...
At the first point Glanbia go through...dead last! Disaster.
We never recover finishing only 12th out of 15. Post mortem time, management is just glad this wasn’t a Season Goal. Lawson Craddock lost three minutes on his team mates. Sums up the day and month.
Edited by MacC on 23-09-2020 12:55
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:47
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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July, summertime! Except we’re in Argentina so it’s wintertime for the Tour de San Luis.
It begins with a Prologue with both Seán Downey and Lawson Craddock mentioned as favourites.
Disappointingly they can only manage 11th and 13th.
Day 2 and Sam Bennett sits atop the list of favourites for the expected sprint. He fails to even make the top 3. A split in the peloton sees both Downey and Craddock move into the top 10.
A very steep Stage 3 will be a challenge. Downey drops out of contention and Craddock heads home the second group losing 41 seconds, dropping to 13th in GC.
Day 4, more hills, maybe a good breakaway can bring some glory. Turns out to be a sprint finish albeit won by punchers.
Day 5’s Time Trials is a big chance for Craddock to gain back some time and for Downey to go for a stage. It’s only tenth for Craddock but that’s good enough for 4th overall. Downey managed only 13th.
Day 6 will be a test to see of Craddock can hold on to his strong position on the hilly finish. He does ok after a few shaky moments taking 7th ion the day and holding on to 4th place.
A few more hills to survive for Lawson...it’s day 7. He loses some more time but no change to 4ith overall.
The final day will hopefully be uneventful for Craddock and a successful one for Bennett.
Well Craddock does it holding on to an excellent 4th place but Bennett only gets 3rd.
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While Craddock did a great job in San Luis, the main Time Trial threats of Glanbia took on the C1 competition in the Celtic Chrono.
It’s a two leg event and after Leg 1, Michael Ford is 9th and Aggrey Sebright 8th. Would be a solid performance if they could hold on.
The second leg is tough but they hold on to their top 10s. Ford is 9th, Sebright 10th. The Glanbia Time Trial tradition is honoured.
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And that tradition could add to its prestige at the Vilnius GP, a Team Time Trial...
Glanbia are big favourites, hoping for our second ever race win.
In the dying kilometres it falls apart as the team splits....it costs us dearly as we lose out by 9 seconds! 2nd place is a good result but this was one we could and should have won
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Off to North Carolina to cheer up our American market with a hilly classic. It’s a C1 race so we’ll take anything.
Mark Griffith slips into the break but soon slips out of it. It is swallowed up anyway and Lawson Craddock is the best boy in green in 43rd place.
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The USA Pro Cycling Challenge will hopefully offer a more suitable chance to impress the Yanks with Sam Bennett delivering.....
It’s a strong sprinter field though....but not too strong as Bennett takes Stage 1 and Yellow!
Another spring on day 2. Bennett is 4th but he holds on to yellow by one second.
Day 3 is flat with a slight uphill which may hamper Bennett... it does hurt , he can only manage 8th but still leads the GC. Unfortunately Prologue hero Ford lost time before the crucial final TT.
It’s only 5.4km but it’s a big ask for Bennett to hold on...can he?
No, he has a nightmare day dropping all the way to 14th overall....what is just as bad is Ford losing out on the stage by milliseconds....
A stage win, 3 days in Yellow and podium places galore makes for happy Americans and happy Glanbia. Could have been so much more though....
Bennett's last day flop cost us one of our Season Goals too.
Overall though a satisfactory all-round July with success and good performances in most terrains.
Edited by MacC on 12-10-2020 22:07
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:49
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Reserve- August |
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:49
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Reserve- September |
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:50
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Reserve- October |
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:50
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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National Championships/ WC |
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:50
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Season Review 1 |
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| MacC |
Posted on 03-09-2020 08:50
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Sprinter
Posts: 1599
Joined: 15-07-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Season Review 2 |
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