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EA-Sony Ericsson (2011)
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 11-06-2012 20:33
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World Champion
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Really like the Graphic, and nice recaps!
It wasn't a win, but my highlight of the year was Perauds gutsy performance to get 11th in the GC after fighting for so long just to get there. In the Tour.
Edited by valverde321 on 11-06-2012 21:08
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| baia |
Posted on 11-06-2012 20:48
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5398
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Nice review
Some hard work there and very smart organisation..
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| TomC |
Posted on 11-06-2012 20:50
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Domestique
Posts: 470
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Really well done by Larsson ending the very good season for your team good luck with the next one |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 12-06-2012 22:35
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
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The bright spots of the season are always fun to look back upon and remember the good ole times. At the start of season I would have never thought we would have so many memorable moments to look back on as this season will be one I will never to forget. To start the team won eleven tours, four more then last year, along with 15 stage wins. But it just wasn't winning races and stages, it was the consistence that proved to be the difference to get the team over the hump to promote unlike in 2010. It seemed every race we had a guy that was competing for a top GC spot or battling for a stage win.
On an individual front the team leaders really steeped up like expect. The Sweden duo of Lofkvist and Larsson finished 4th and 5th in the CT standings, and really carried the team throughout the season. And you can forget the amazing start the other Swede Kessiakoff had at the start of the season by winning the Tour de San Luis. The sprinters also showed up as well with Keough, Talansky, and Phinney all grabbing stage wins, even a couple tour wins as well. And lastly was the emergence of the youth program with Jimmy Licina winning two stages through breakaways, and he surely will be a name to watch for in the future.
Competing with the top the level didn't hinder our results to much either, as the team raced in Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de France. Lofkvist placed 5th overall at T-A, and many will remember Peraud battling the whole tour to finish 11th overall, and even finishing 2nd on stage 18. We have been tested by the top teams and I'm sure both XBox-Mircosoft and Sony Ericsson will do fine in the ProTour in 2012.
And lastly would be the achievements our riders had will they raced for National and World pride. 3 National Championships were crowd in EA-Sony colours; Sweden (ITT): Gustav Erik Larsson, Ireland (RR): Daniel Martin, and USA (RR): Tejay Van Garderen. And no one will soon forget the ride Gustav Erik Larsson had September 21st at the World ITT Champiosnhips. He destroyed everyone in his path to claim his second straight rainbow jersey, and will look to put his name in the records book next year with Fabian Cancellara and Michael Rogers as most wins at this event with 3.
This will probably be noticeably shorter then the highlights section above because racing wise EA-Sony did almost everything right, no really I know I'm the manager and I'm suppose to say that but it was hard to find failed tactics throughout the season. A few noticeable "non-showings" or bad luck races are really the only failures we had this season.
Starting at Circuit Sarthe-Pays de la Loire where, if you can remember, saw the old move the finish line trick on the last stage cost Larsson 1st overall. The Amgen Tour of California was a bit disappointing with Peraud finishing outside the top 5 overall, even though we ran into some tough PT climbers. And the Tour of Oman was just a classic disappearance act from our sprinters early in the season. And that's about it, really, I'm pretty pleased with the other results. Oh and March and April weren't that kind, compared to the other months, as they were the only two months not to produce a race where we got 1st overall. Like I said, we had a pretty great season.
Too bad cycling isn't all about the racing, otherwise I could have stopped at the last paragraph. The biggest news of season came when EA pulled the plug on next season by removing there sponsorship, and ultimately splitting the team in half with Sony Ericsson and XBox-Microsoft fielding their own teams by breaking up the EA-Sony squad. And even bigger news spilled when I decided not to take up a manager position with either team because I wasn't going to pick sides with the program that I had built up. After a few weeks of looking over my options I was going to take a year from cycling before I got a call that would change my life. Just when I thought I wasn't going to have a job for 2012, a pro tour team came to me! This was just an opportunity I couldn't pass down. You will get the pleasure of meeting my new team in our next report in a few days. In the meantime, I would love to hear where you think I should land. (Even though it will have no impact on my decision as I have already signed the contact.) I hope you enjoyed, more to come. Stay Tuned.
Manager Mresuperstar Decision
Coming Soon
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| fernando97 |
Posted on 12-06-2012 22:38
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2167
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What about Garmin- Barracuda? |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 20:25
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 13-06-2012 12:31
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Just 1 guess? 
I'll post the decision later tonight.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 13-06-2012 18:20
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
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I think I have tortured everyone long enough, as I'm finally ready to reveal which team I will be managing for the 2012 season. But before I do I would like to thank EA-Sony Ericsson one last time for the opportunity they have gave me over the past two season. This will be my last day as manager for the team, and I don't want to leave on bad terms. I truly enjoyed my time here and will never forget how much fun this team was to be a part of.
That being said, as the team moves on as do I. At first it looked like I wasn't going to have a job next season after a few weeks went by without any interest. But just as I was about to take a year off, I got the call. I would have been happy if it was just a minor CT team that needed some rebuilding, but it was the exact opposite and I was shocked. At first I thought they had dialed the wrong number, but after a few minutes on the phone I could tell they were serious about give me their managerial job. And by the time I had finished the phone call, I had landed my dream job!
And now, I would like to present myself as the new manager of ...
Spoiler
The top flight American cycling giant Garmin-Barracuda will be my new home for next season. I will be taking over for Jonathan Vaughters, as he needed to take a year off from cycling. And it is certain that Vaughters could easily take his job back if my first season with the team is a disaster. So the pressure is on to preform. Being an American it's honor to manage, arguably, the best American squad in cycling. A Dream Come True.
If you still can't get enough of EA-Sony Ericsson, don't worry. You will still have the ability to follow and support both Sony Ericsson and XBox-Microsoft through their own team threads throughout the entire 2012 season. It will keep you up to date and hopefully can fill the void of not seeing me manage the team. And if you didn't like my new team then go root on Sony Ericsson and/or Xbox-Microsoft. It should be great season, I can't wait.
2011 Award Show
The Last Season Review - Coming Soon
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| fernando97 |
Posted on 13-06-2012 18:22
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2167
Joined: 01-01-2012
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Yessss, I got it!!!!! |
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| fcancellara |
Posted on 13-06-2012 18:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5194
Joined: 18-08-2011
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Would have loved to see you at EA for another season, but Garmin is nice too
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 13-06-2012 22:55
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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You should have Great success with Garmin so i wish you Good Luck |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 13-06-2012 23:12
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
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Garmin
You wont have any trouble finding your way round the PT now.....
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 14-06-2012 15:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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After a hard fought season the only thing we have left to do is present
and reward the outstanding achievements that were accomplished
over the last ten months. We will start at the top,
as I would like to give you your 2011 Pro Tour Champions ...
Leopard-Trek is the best team in the peloton for the second straight year
if you count Saxo Bank winning the title the last year.
Lead by the Schleck brothers, who collected 46% of their 1406 points,
Leopard can leave the cycling on the highest terms.
With the team dissolving and combinating with RadioShack for next season,
the will be one last celebration of the team.
Final Pro Tour standing can be found below.
Spoiler | 1 | Leopard Trek | 1404 | | 2 | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 1222 | | 3 | Katusha | 1199 | | 4 | Garmin-Cervelo | 1172 | | 5 | Saxo Bank | 947 | | 6 | RadioShack | 817 | | 7 | Lampre-ISD | 773 | | 8 | Quick-Step | 769 | | 9 | Sky | 739 | | 10 | Liquigas-Cannondale | 662 | | 11 | Vacansoleil | 645 | | 12 | Omega Pharma | 591 | | 13 | Astana | 574 | | 14 | Rabobank | 507 | | 15 | HTC-Highroad | 485 | | 16 | Movistar | 484 | | 17 | AG2R | 201 | | 18 | Skil-Shimano | 45 |
From the PT to the CT, the battle to be the best in the lower division really wasn't a contest at all. EA-Sony Ericsson rode away right from the start of the season and never looked back. Lead by the Swedish duo of Larsson and Lofkvist, they beat 2nd place Landbouwkrediet by over a 1,000 points.
Full CT Standings Found Below.
Spoiler | 1 | EA-Sony Ericsson | 4150 | | 2 | Landbouwkrediet | 3086 | | 3 | Team Type 1 | 2948 | | 4 | BMC | 2774 | | 5 | Cofidis | 2435 | | 6 | Acqua & Sapone | 2433 | | 7 | FDJ | 2406 | | 8 | Miche-Guerciotti | 2392 | | 9 | Caja Rural | 2183 | | 10 | Saur-Sojasun | 2177 | | 11 | Androni Giocattoli | 1850 | | 12 | Europcar | 1816 | | 13 | Team NetApp | 1645 | | 14 | CCC Polsat Polkowice | 1529 | | 15 | Geox-TMC | 1439 | | 16 | Colnago-CSF Inox | 1348 | | 17 | Topsport Vlaanderen | 1334 | | 18 | Farnese Vini | 1305 | | 19 | Veranda's Willems | 1124 | | 20 | D'Angelo & Antenucci | 801 | | 21 | Christina Watches | 741 | | 22 | UnitedHealthCare | 727 | | 23 | SpiderTech | 701 | | 24 | Endura | 679 | | 25 | Bretagne-Schuller | 669 | | 26 | Robobank CT | 667 | | 27 | Andalucia Caja | 646 | | ~ | Colombia es Pasion | 623 | | 29 | Team NSP | 623 | | 30 | Bank BGZ | 543 |
The make up of the Pro Tour always goes through major changes from year to year with promotion and regulation along with sponsor changes.
So to clear things up here is a quick overview of the 2012 PT peloton.
| Astana | Lampre-ISD | Robobank | | Euskaltel-Euskadi | Liquigas-Cannondale | Saxo Bank | | Garmin-Barracuda | Lotto Belisol | Sky ProCycling | | GreenEdge | Movistar | Sony Ericsson | | Katusha | Omega Pharma | Vacansoleil | | Landbouwkrediet | RadioShack-Nissan | Xbox-Mircosoft |
-------------------------------------------------------
Victory count is always interesting to look at, and this year is no different
with 3 riders will share this award with 12 wins each to their names -
Alessandro Petacchi, Fabian Cancellara, Alberto Contador
Team wins was just as close with Garmin-Cervelo beating out
Lampre-ISD by just a single a victory. Their new manager
will hopefully continue their winning ways into the 2012 season.
Sure victories are great but the really measuring stick in cycling are the ranking points. Here are your best PT and CT cyclist of the year.
Samuel Sanchez (PT) and Jure Kocjan (CT)
Spoiler Pro Tour
| 1 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 818 | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 695 | | 3 | Joaquim Rodriguez | Katusha | 593 | | 4 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 486 | | 5 | Tom Boonen | Quick-Step | 451 | | 6 | Fabian Cancellara | Leopard Trek | 398 | | 7 | Thor Hushovd | Garmin-Cervelo | 386 | | 8 | Philippe Gilbert | Omega Pharma | 369 | | 9 | Vincenzo Nibali | Liquigas | 363 | | 10 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin-Cervelo | 292 |
Continental Tour
| 1 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 | 702 | | 2 | Bert De Waele | Landbouwkrediet | 634 | | 3 | Daniele Callegarin | Team Type 1 | 567 | | 4 | Gustav Erik Larsson | EA-Sony Ericsson | 560 | | 5 | Stefano Garzelli | Acqua & Sapone | 538 | | 6 | Thomas Lofkvist | EA-Sony Ericsson | 478 | | 7 | Staf Scheirlincx | Veranda's Willems | 442 | | 8 | Daryl Impey | Team NetApp | 416 | | 9 | Bobbie Traksel | Landbouwkrediet | 415 | | ~ | Davide Rebellin | Miche-Guerciotti | 415 |
Spoiler Samuel Sanchez
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Thank You for joining us, that will conclude your 2011 Awards.
Goodnight
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 14-06-2012 15:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Season 2 is in the books! 
Again, Thank You for all the support, it really means to the world to me.
I never would have thought when I started this story
that it would have got this far (I still don't believe it).
I never saw myself as a story writer but after reading all your
kind words after each report makes me glad that I started.
Although this story may not be the most popular on the site,
it was truly amazing to write and report.
I hope you will join me for next season as I move forward with
Garmin-Barracuda, Sony Ericsson, and XBox-Microsoft.
EA-Sony Ericsson Will Never Be Forgotten
It's Been Fun, Manager Mresuperstar
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 14-06-2012 22:29
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Absolutely Brilliant review, really liked it a lot |
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| fcancellara |
Posted on 14-06-2012 22:36
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5194
Joined: 18-08-2011
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Great review! 
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| baggieboys32 |
Posted on 14-06-2012 23:25
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Sprinter
Posts: 1981
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awesome review, good luck in the next chapter of your story!
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 01-07-2012 03:16
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Here is a Little Teaser
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 02-07-2012 02:13
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Wait judging by your signature teaser, three teams... ummm. This looks good.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 02-07-2012 02:44
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8058
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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@baseballlover312 and others:
Information has already been revealed about the "3 Teams"
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 02-07-2012 18:10
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Mresuperstar wrote:
@baseballlover312 and others:
Information has already been revealed about the "3 Teams"
Yeah, but, how is it going to work is the part I didn't understand.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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