KBC-Driedaagse De Panne Stage 1
A rather unimportant race so I'll keep it short. I'm continuing my good form over to this race where I hope for a top 10 or maybe better. Stage 1 has a few cobble sections which should make it interesting while stages 2 and 3 are flat but, long stages suited for sprinters with good stamina. Stage 4 is a 12 km time trial. Stage 1 and 4 are the deciding stages.
Stage 1 came down to a small sprint between our group of about 6 riders. Xavier Florencio managed to get into a break early on and remain till the end of the stage. About 30k out, I was given the go ahead by my sportif and by Ballan to attack and see if I can bridge the gap. No one followed, until later when bigger names like Boom and Barredo attacked. Ballan countered and it came down to a sprint. I lead out first with Xavier on my wheel and Ballan on Xaviers wheel and the rest of the gang following Ballan. I started the sprint but quickly faded and used wheels to finish in the fantastic place of 4th. Ballan out sprinted Boom and finished first which is awesome. We open a gap towards the end which should distance TT favorites like Grabsch and Pinotti.
KBC-Driedaagse De Panne Stage 2
Sprint finish... a long tough stage with some minimal distracting wind. The breakaway of 8 went away for almost the whole day leading to a panic driven chase but, all was well at the finish.
KBC-Driedaagse De Panne Stage 3
Another long sprint stage, albeit, much easier than yesterday. I'm definetly coming on to form and will be a key assest for Ballan in the cobbled classics! Ballan mixed himself in the sprint and came away with 4th failing to get boni seconds and extending his lead. He strengths his points lead though.
KBC-Driedaagse De Panne Stage 4
Ballan, Grabsch, Pinotti are favorites for this 12k TT. Boom has a good chance to take the win but, it's doubtful...
Grabsch set the fastest time of the day... can he make up the huge deficit needed to win? 13'17
Pinotti looked strong finishing 3rd on the day. + 11
Boom's time trial was also strong finishing 4th at 14 seconds behind Grabsch.
I started 5th in the GC today... Can I hold it??
Probably not... 23rd at 40 seconds back. Still have some room to improve in those TTs. I do however hold it and am very pleased!
Ballan would inevitably prove his worth and his fitness finishing 6 seconds behind the leader for a comfortable 2nd place and a win in the Overall and in the Points!
A pretty productive month with some fantastic results coming from the whole team. Milan - San Remo was agruably our best team effort yet taking 1st and 3rd which is awesome. Also had a great Tirreno with a 3rd overall and a handful of stage wins. Cunego is also showing some decent legs finishing 5th in Paris - Nice with some noticable lack of form. With a tough month ahead, we've definetly gained some confidence.
Team News
The team made 2 signings for the upcoming season. We picked up some fantastic young riders, a puncheur and a sprinter, both Italian. Our talent scout said that they have some good years ahead of them so we went ahead and signed them both with minimal contracts.
Rider News
I had a great month, although it was tough. My first UCI Pro-tour couldn't have gone better and I've definetly proven my worth to the team. All I can do now is look towards next month where I will be riding the cobbled classics and possibly some hilly classics if my form allows me. Mostly I'll be preparing to head off to my first Grand Tour. With my win in the Omloop and my good performance in the Tirreno, I've guaranteed a spot on the Giro squad were I will look to assist Bruseghin in getting a top 10 spot and hopefully a stage win for our Sponsers.
Well... After 5 Ronde Van Vlaanderens, including one where I won by 1 and a half minutes over Cancellara, all lost to completely random crashes, I've decided that this game is just to buggy to play. IDK what it is... Is it Vista... maybe... is it Cyanides hatred from Americans... maybe... whatever it is, it has completely murdered my will to continue this story. Maybe in the future I can bring it back when it's less buggy. I'll throw the file into my main backups folder until I can solve this problem for good... Until then thanks for the words of encourgment. Sorry
