Held as one of the very last stages before the Tour de France, the ZLM Tour often gets pretty strong startlists with mainly sprinters doing a last shape test before the Tour begins. It's also a very important race for us, since it's one of the most vital sponsor goals. Overall victory is expected.
Skil squad:
A fit Geschke will stay calm in the early stages before trying to succeed our goal on stage four to La Gileppe. Sprick and Fröhlinger will be luxury domestiques up that final hill, while Kluge and Van Hummel gets the chance to do something in the sprints.
15.06.2011 - 19.06.2011: Ster ZLM Tour
Stage 1
Alblasserdam (Prologue)
As in most other stage races, we start with a short prologue. Five fast kilometres around the town of Alblasserdam will spread the field a bit for the next stages.
After showing form in several races recently, Joost Posthuma showed that when he's in shape he is strong in the timetrials, beating his rivals by a big margin. Number one and two from the Delta Tour prologue, Van Emden and Flens rounded out the podium.
Stage 2
Eindhoven - Sittard-Geleen
Stage two is classified as a flat one, but it's a quite hard one anyway. Lots of up and downs all the stage, with the last kilometer being a really steep uphill, hitting 15% at some points.
A perfectly timed attack from Dimitri Muravyev in the final kilometres resulted in him just holding off the closing peloton in the final kilometer. Kluge had Geschke in a great position when we entered the final kilometer, but the catch of some early escapees blocked him, eventually finishing 7th.
A big early breakaway stayed away all day and reached the final kilometer together. An Post's young Belgian Maxim Debusschere surprised the others by beating much more well-known sprinters like Andreas Stauff (Quickstep) and Jens Keukeleire (Cofidis) in the sprint, winning the stage and taking the race lead. Peloton arrived just under two minutes later, with Geschke in front.
Good news for us on this stage even though the result wasn't that good, since a huge crash in the final kilometres caused many riders to lose a lot of time, including some of the favourites. Most important of all was that big pre-race favourite Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) suffered from the crash and had to abandon, while Bobbie Traksel (Landbouw) and Kristof Vandewalle (Quickstep) did the same.
Stage 4
Verviers - La Gileppe
Stage number four is another up and down day, with the finish being on top of the final hill of La Gileppe. It's the place where we hope that Geschke will be able to gain enough time to complete our sponsor goal. His shape is great and he's the strongest puncher in the race with Taaramae out. The odds are with us.
We set up a small "hill-train" for Geschke as we approached the final climb. Van Hummel and Curvers both did a great job to keep us in front all the way to the foot of the climb, where Fröhlinger would take over.
Fröhlinger attacked right at the beginning of the Gileppe climb, pulling Geschke with him together with a few others. Race leader Debusschere still in the peloton, but struggling.
Fröhlinger dug up every ounce of power from his body before he finally stepped aside, releasing Geschke. Nobody had the power to follow this attack, but an incredibly strong Anthony Geslin (FDJ) tries to do a Sastre and bridge with his own pace.
He couldn't get all the way up to Geschke though, and the German could celebrate a magnificent stage win after his powerful attack. Unfortunately the brilliant PCM gap system gave Geslin the same time, even though there was a clear gap between them. That doesn't sound so bad, but thanks to an earlier time bonification the Frenchman stays ahead of Geschke in the GC.
Bert De Waele takes the sprint for third place from a bigger group finishing over a minute behind Geschke. Fröhlinger as 4th and Curvers as 8th both finishes well too after their hard work.
Race leader Debusschere showed great fighting spirit on the final climb and managed to stay with a third group, limiting his time loss to just 1'39, which was enough for him to stay in yellow, keeping Geslin and Geschke behind him by just 10 and 12 seconds. How annoying.
Stage 5
Etten-Leur - Etten-Leur
So angry at this stage right now. Didn't work no matter what I did. Therefore it's simulated. Of course that had consequenses. Just read below.
A three man breakaway were given a way too big advantage and stayed clear all the way, with Topsport Vlaanderen's Johan Coenen outgunning Quickstep's Francesco Chicchi at the finish. Third escapee Rafal Ratajczyk (CCC) lost contact with his two companions in the final kilometres and arrived solo in third.
The pack came home over twelve minutes later, which gave Coenen more than enough time to steal the overall title out of Debusschere's hands. Geschke dropped to 5th overall, far from our sponsor goal. I hate simulating.
Damn simulated stage This great move and stage-win by Geschke should have lead to a well deserved overall podium! At least, you got this stage-win out of this race.. yeah, well, and a Top-5 in Final GC, but this one hurts more than it makes you smile, right?! Edited by tsmoha on 30-11-2011 17:05
Can just agree to what you said. Simulating sucks. Good news incoming though.
La Route du Sud is a 2.1 class stage race held in the Pyrenees during four days in June. Because of the place it's being held, it's often a quite hard race with a lot of mountains. This year is no different and we should see a climber walking up to the top spot of the podium at the end of it.
Skil squad:
A pretty strong lineup representing us here. Geniez will be going for the overall victory in his home country, helped out by countrymen Bonnin and Damuseau. Kittel will do what he can to top one of the flatter stages from a mass sprint. Reimer and De Kort as train boys, while the not so fit Doi and Huguet will help wherever needed.
Being the best climber and racing in his home country. That's says enough to me. Gadret will be the man to beat. Coppel, Geniez, Riblon, Casar and Kern will battle for the other podium spots, with the first two being the strongest.
16.06 - 19.06: La Route du Sud
Stage 1
Castres - Samatan Stage one stays just north of where the Pyrenean mountains begins, and also stays flat for the whole day. One of two opportunity's for the sprinters. It has to be Kittel's time soon, maybe today?
Stage 2
Saint-Gaudens - Cauterets The queen stage of this race, climbing Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet before also taking on the easier final "climb" up to Cauterets. We'll see who's in shape and who's not, and the overall might be decided today.
Geniez was feeling really well, so we set up an insane pace up the Tourmalet, blowing the field apart completely. At the top Geniez had been the only one who could Bonnin's pace. Chasing them was a group of three, containing Riblon (AG2R), Coppel (Saur) and Damuseau, who finished his work near the top.
Geniez took over from Bonnin up the last incline and quickly distanced both his team mate and the rest of the race. He reached the line solo after a tremendous ride, pulling an amazing 3'47 on Bonnin and almost five minutes on Damuseau, who dropped his two companions in the sprint. What an incredible day for us, 1-2-3!
Doi was on a great day (+5), so we decided to give him the chance to battle for a stage win by letting him go up the Balès. Topsport Vlaanderen's Pieters tried to follow at first, but soon cracked completely and fell back.
Our Japanese friend held all the way to the top of the Balès, leading a group of five by about a minute. In that group again Skil domination, with Geniez, Bonnin and Damuseau all still there together with best of the rest yesterday, Riblon and Coppel. An armchair ride for us here, thanks to Doi.
Doi pushed on like a madman in the descent, desperately trying to keep his advantage to the group led by Riblon and Coppel. He was so tired that he almost fell off his bike in the uphill sprint, but managed to stay upright and could celebrate an excellent stage win just ahead of Geniez, who released his power in the sprint after staying cool all day.
Stage 4
Izaourt - Pau We're back on the flat after two hard days in the Pyrenees. We'll now end this race with an easy day going from Izaourt to the well-known cycling city of Pau. A second chance for the sprinters after missing out on stage one.
Unfortunately for the sprinters, a breakaway once again spoiled the party for them. Bruno Silva (La - Antarte) was the smartest in the two-man sprint and won the stage easily in front of promising Latvian Toms Skuijns.
UnitedHealthcare's old man Robert Förster won the bunch sprint two minutes later, with Kittel second there and fourth on the day. Not so bad considering we also got a 1-2 overall through Geniez and Bonnin.
that Skil-domination deserves more than one banane, but it would screw this page, if I did Very well done.. great tactics in the mountains, you really blew your opponents! A couple of 1-2-3s in stages and points, KoM and so on.. and a really awesome Final GC.. simply: wow.
LBL winner Gilbert proved that he's more than a puncher by beating much more reknowned time triallists Thomas De Gendt and Sebastien Rosseler on the 42 kilometer course. An out of shape De Backer had no chance and finished on a weak time, way down the results sheet.
After lots of strong results in prologues and time trials recently, Jos Van Emden showed who's the boss, defending his real life title against a good looking Robert Gesink and Lieuwe Westra. Quite dominant win.
1
Jos Van Emden
Rabobank Cycling Team
1h05'56
2
Robert Gesink
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 25
3
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 42
4
Joost Posthuma
Leopard Trek
+ 1'04
5
Rick Flens
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 1'05
...
18
Koen De Kort
Skil - Shimano
+ 3'33
Deutsche Meisterschaft - Klingenthal
If Van Emden was superior, then Klöden was without competition. Not even Tony Martin could match Klödi here. The world champion eventually found himself in a disappointing third place, also beaten by Linus Gerdemann. Kittel rode a good time trial, but lacks a bit of strength to the best. No complaints though, 4th place is an excellent result.
Malori showed once again that he is the best timetriallists in Italy at the moment. Quinziato challenged him a little bit, but wasn't really close at any time. De Marchi on third was a big surprise. Maybe a guy to watch in the future. Giro second and third, Nibali and Basso disappointed and finished 7th and 23rd respectively losing one and three minutes. Even Cunego was faster than them.
1
Adriano Malori
Lampre - ISD
56'49
2
Manuel Quinziato
BMC Racing Team
+ 24
3
Alessandro De Marchi
Androni Giocattoli - Trecolli
+ 38
4
Manuele Boaro
SaxoBank - SunGard
+ 54
5
Enrico Gasparotto
Pro Team Astana
+ 56
American championships - Seattle
Garmin dominated the race completely, with Zabriskie and VandeVelde battling for the win and Danielson securing third place a bit behind them. With probably the best American timetriallist Levi Leipheimer skipping the race, Zabriskie wasn't any surprising winner.
Radioshack almost as superior here as Garmin was in the American race. Paulinho's experience proved to be decisive as he pushed down his young team mates Machado and Oliveira from the national crown. Lots of big talents here, especially Oliveira and Costa.
A close win for Menchov after an exciting battle with Artem Ovechkin. For once not a Katusha rider winning, that doesn't happen very often. Ignatiev a bit disappointing here, had expected him to fight for the win.
1
Denis Menchov
Geox - TMC
50'06
2
Artem Ovechkin
Katusha Team
+ 6
3
Vladimir Karpets
Katusha Team
+ 37
4
Mikhail Ignatiev
Katusha Team
+ 1'17
5
Evgeni Petrov
Pro Team Astana
+ 1'57
Chempionat Ukrainy - Kiev
No surprise here, Popovych and Grivko are a step above the other Ukrainians. Popo was the stronger of them this time, after showing great form by winning Suisse prologue.
1
Yaroslav Popovych
Team Radioshack
51'36
2
Andrey Grivko
Pro Team Astana
+ 46
3
Denis Kostyuk
Lampre - ISD
+ 1'07
4
Vitaliy Popkov
ISD Continental Cycling Team
+ 1'20
5
Vitali Kondrut
Lampre - ISD
+ 2'00
Danmarksmesterskabet - Nyborg
Another superior winner here in the shape of Alex Rasmussen. Fuglsang challenged in the beginning, but couldn't match Rasmussen in the end. Some disappointments here in Nicki Sörensen and Lars Bak, who both were far from where we're used to see them.
Kreuziger an expected winner here, but more challenged than I had thought from Rabon. Also nice to see Stybar doing well.
1
Roman Kreuziger
Pro Team Astana
57'56
2
Frantisek Rabon
HTC - Highroad
+ 10
3
Josef Hosek
PSK Whirlpool - Author
+ 30
4
Stanislav Kozúbek
PSK Whirlpool - Author
+ 1'28
5
Zdenek Stybar
Quickstep Cycling Team
+ 1'46
Mistrzostwa Polski - Zlotoryja
Kwiatkowski has been in great form the last weeks, so no big surprise here. I had expected Niemiec to be a closer rival though. Quite weak ride from him not winning this.
1
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team Radioshack
48'35
2
Przemyslaw Niemiec
Lampre - ISD
+ 26
3
Lukasz Bodnar
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 42
4
Maciej Bodnar
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 1'08
5
Radoslaw Romanik
Team Bank BGZ
+ 1'43
Schweizer Meisterschaft - Kirchdorf
Who had expected anything else? Easy win for Spartacus. Also, Evans' domestiques looks to be in shape here with the Tour starting soon.
1
Fabian Cancellara
Leopard Trek
57'15
2
Marcel Wyss
Geox - TMC
+ 56
3
Martin Kohler
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'27
4
Steve Morabito
BMC Racing Team
+ 2'02
5
Michael Schär
BMC Racing Team
+ 2'05
British championships - Stamfordham
Wow, that's called Sky domination. Wiggins a cut above the rest. David Millar disappointed big time and finished 9th, losing five minutes on Wiggins.
1
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
1h01'36
2
Chris Froome
Sky ProCycling
+ 1'27
3
Geraint Thomas
Sky ProCycling
+ 2'14
4
Stephen Cummings
Sky ProCycling
+ 3'15
5
Alex Dowsett
Sky ProCycling
+ 3'19
Norsk mesterskap - Skien
Edvald Boasson Hagen has had a disastrous season so far, but he's able to defend his time trial title against a very surprising Alexander Kristoff. Hushovd looks to have a bit to improve for the Tour.
that Skil-domination deserves more than one banane, but it would screw this page, if I did 
