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From zero to Giro - The CCC Polsat Polkowice story
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 03-05-2013 23:05
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1-2-Brilliant  |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 04-05-2013 07:28
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It was very windy during stage 5 from Camel Race Track to Al Khor Corniche (up to 50). This stage also ended up with a mass sprint finish after a 5-man breakaway was caught just few km before the finish. Only this time it went bit different. There were two trains - mine and mixed. Mixed one was led by Matti Breschel followed by Farrar and Kittel, so it was a very strong one.
Train battle - Burlakov & Boeckmans vs Kittel & Farrar.
It looks like combining forces against Coca-Cola was good thing to do, as Kittel led by Farrar won this stage easily. Vanmarcke, who was behind Kittel came 2nd, and Burlakov managed to pass Farrar and secure 3rd place.
However it's been done too late, as with only stage to go, and potential Kittel win, and Burlakov finishing outside of top 3, he'll be still 1 second short. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-05-2013 09:16
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Burlakov did the best he could here this stage! |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 04-05-2013 13:40
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Nice to see Valery keep the lead  |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 04-05-2013 16:42
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So, last day in Qatar.
Obviously my main goal was a mass sprint finish, so I controled the peloton pace for the most of the race. Breakaway was caught 8000 m before finish line in Doha Corniche.
Coca-Cola getting ready for the last sprint.
This time I also extended my train with Kwiatkowski and Olszewski. Kittel stuck in peloton again, but he finally managed to catch up with my train. However he stayed aside, getting all the air in the face.
That couldn't lead to any good. Coca-Cola snatched yet another double, and Kittel came 3rd, with Kwiatkowski and Rasmussen coming after him.
Tour of Qatar (2.1)
Overall: 1st Burlakov, 3rd Boeckmans
Points: 1st Burlakov, 3rd Boeckmans
Mountain: N/A
Young: 1st Olszewski
Team: 2nd
Very successful tour for the team. Great perfomrance from Burlakov (3 wins), and Boeckmans, who managed to finish 3rd in overall. Smart move from Olszewski that helped this 23-year old Pole get his first youngster jersey ever, also 6th in GQ which is pretty amazing. The only dissatisfaction comes from not winning team ranking (just 3 seconds short), but as they say "you can have everything in life you want".
Edited by wroblitz on 04-05-2013 16:44
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 04-05-2013 23:45
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What a Great time the team had in Qatar |
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 04-05-2013 23:47
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Valery is a monster! 
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| Pinktay3 |
Posted on 05-05-2013 02:14
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Great win for the team |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 05-05-2013 07:21
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Few days later my team registered in Portugal for Volta ao Algarve (2.1).
With mainly hilly stages I built my team among time trialists and climbers, hoping for a good result from Pierre Rolland. Here's the full startlist.
Coca-Cola
Chris Barton 
Kris Boeckmans 
Valery Burlakov 
Jonathan Castroviejo 
Michal Kwiatkowski 
Jonathan Monsalve 
Alex Rasmussen 
Pierre Rolland 
As always I went for KoM points. This time it was Barton's task, but he didn't do very well, getting only 3 points, as he came 2nd on one of the categorized climbs.
Race itself wasn't very lucky for me, as after attack on last 6 km, Pierre Rolland was caught by the peloton, and he ended up only 14th. Race was won by Lars Boom, followed by Alberto Contador.
The good thing is Roland got the same time, and with 2 hilly stages to go he still has a chance for a good place in GQ... however it won't be easy with opponents like Boom, Contador and Costa.
Edited by wroblitz on 05-05-2013 07:23
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 05-05-2013 10:07
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Not a bad start in Portugal |
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 06-05-2013 11:10
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Not bad at all |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 04:25
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 06-05-2013 11:14
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Pierre can do something big here! |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 06-05-2013 15:42
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It was raining on 2 day of Volta ao Algarve.
There was a 5-man breakaway group which that went through both intermediate sprints. After that I increased the pace of the peloton with Kwiatkowski, and added Chris Barton to it. I have to say that despite Barton being the freshest rider in E1 it was very good and very close battle for the mountain points. My rider managed to win the first one just by a whisker, and lost the second one by a tiny bit. That gave him 10 points, and for now he's leading with 14.
He tried few attacks later on, as breakaway was going pretty slow, but he was chased down all the time.
7 km before the finish line they were eventually caught, and 1 km later a massive crash occured, with many race leaders going down including Contador, Pozzovivo, Boom, Cunego and Burlakov.
It was very good news for Rolland, as many of his main rivals lost their chances for good place in GQ. He attacked on final kilometers, but then peloton started it's battle. So it was Rolland vs peloton on final meters of day 2.
I still had Boeckmans in peloton, so I made 2-man train and prepared for a final sprint, as at this stage it looked like they gonna swallow Pierre Rolland. But, with great form on this day (+5) he lasted to the very end, and got first win in Portugal.
Boeckmans also did very good job, and came 3rd (if finish lane was few meters further, he would have finish 2nd).
Contador lost over 2 min, Pozzovivo - 3, and Poels withdrew.
In team ranking Coca-Cola is winning by massive 5 min, so with only 3 stages to go things are looking good for me.
Edited by wroblitz on 06-05-2013 15:46
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-05-2013 22:55
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Yay Rolland |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 07-05-2013 07:59
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Stage 3 was very interesting one. Instead of launching Barton I went for quite close intermediate sprints with Burlakov, and I have to say it was quite stupid thing to do, as with only one flat stage he wasn't even close to top 10 in points ranking. However, with other riders not bothered with sprints, he easily won both of them.
I wouldn't think that so early breakaway will last for the whole race... but it did. Obviously with such a weak climber as Burlakov I didn't have any chances in mountains, and that resulted with losing KoM jersey by Barton, and with only 1 categorized climb to go, I need at least 3 points to get it back.
With only 35 km to go, 4'30" loss to the breakaway, and very slow pace from the peloton I decided to attack with Monsalve and Kwiatkowski. Polishman took all the wind while my climber was preparing for the final attack. Then with 10 km to go attacks from the race leaders started. Kreuziger was first to do it, then Contador. Finally on last 5 km - Rolland showed what he's made of. However it was too late to take the win away from the breakaway. Stage was won by Russian Alexander Khatuntsev - same man, who took away KoM jersey from me.
Burlakov came 13th, Rolland 16th, Monsalve 17th, and Kwiatkowski 21st. Mikel Guibelalde came 9th, 22" before Rolland, and he's new yellow jersey holder. With over 20 km long ITT things doesn't look well for my climber - I would say top 10.
Edited by wroblitz on 07-05-2013 08:01
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 07-05-2013 09:05
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Top 10 wouldn't be bad, but I expected more. But Rolland and TT...  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-05-2013 12:27
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It was good whilst it lasted
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 07-05-2013 17:31
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Stage 4 was made for Burlakov, and that was the only reason why he and Boeckmans were registered for this race.
And I had a special task for this stage - get at least 2 mountain points (3rd place) with Chris Barton, so he can retrieve the KoM jersey. Despite one of the breakaways with Barton being caught it went well, and he did his job snatching 6 points on the only categorized climb.
So KoM jersey went where it belongs.
Breakaway was caught 7 km from the finish line, but Burlakov was bit exhausted after few climbs, and it was Boeckmans, who despite being just a lead-out man for my Latin gigant, did much better, winning after very close finish. Burlakov came only 10th.
Edited by wroblitz on 07-05-2013 17:31
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 07-05-2013 17:46
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Yes, Boeckmans did it, great job |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-05-2013 18:51
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That was a great sprint from Boeckmans |
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