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From zero to Giro - The CCC Polsat Polkowice story
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 08-05-2013 16:15
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Neo-Pro
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Last day in Portugal was a 25 km long ITT down south from Lagoa to Portimao.
Due to length of the stage it was crucial for final classification (unfortunately for me, as my leader - Pierre Rolland isn't very good time trialist). He finished 35th, with 2 min loss. That moved him from 2nd place to 6th.
Castroviejo, one of the race leaders, finished 19th in GC. He got 8th time of the day, but that was only enough to move him 4 places up.
Kwiatkowski also did pretty well, and finished top 10 - 9th place
It came as surprise that Valery Burlakov finished 15th, as he's not a time trial specialist.
But it was Alex Rasmussen's star which shoned most, as he got 3rd time of the day, losing only with Bob Jungles and Alberto Contador.
It has to be said that Alberto Contador did pretty well, as after a fall on stage 2, and losing over 2 min there, he still managed to finish 9th in GC.
Race leader - Mikel Guibelalde lost his yellow jersey, and was dropped to 3rd.
Tour was won by time trial winner - Ben Jungles, with domestic Rui Costa 2nd.
In points ranking - Boeckmans lost green jersey just by 4 points, due to great performance from Contador. However I managed to keep the Polka dot, and shirt for the best team.
Volta ao Algarve (2.1)
Overall: 6th Rolland
Points: 2nd Boeckmans
Mountain: 1st Barton
Young: N/C
Team: 1st
I would judge this tour as pretty average for my team, but it wasn't very important one.
In a meantime I offered a new 3-year contract worth €7.000 to Ricky McArther, as he could be good protecting rider for my climbers one day, plus he will get few white jerseys I guess.
Edited by wroblitz on 08-05-2013 16:23
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| Selwink |
Posted on 08-05-2013 16:16
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
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Still not bad with Rolland
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 08-05-2013 16:17
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Nice TT fro Rasmussen 
Liking the TT pic  |
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| JSF |
Posted on 08-05-2013 19:02
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Junior Rider
Posts: 43
Joined: 13-07-2012
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I hope that Ricky will sign the contract. In my opinion he can even win some Grand Tour one day |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 08-05-2013 19:17
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Neo-Pro
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Selwink - he can do better. Just wasn't his tour really (no proper mountain stages).
Sutty - thanks. Did my best to make it special (but for some reason Alex is missing some shadow , what makes this picture bit unreal).
JSF - that's what I thought at some stage, but I'm affraid he won't exceed 80 in MO, and without that it will be hard to win any of the grand tours, but I'm sure he will get a good few white jerseys, plus he's still a decent tour cyclist.
Edited by wroblitz on 08-05-2013 19:17
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 00:10
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| JSF |
Posted on 08-05-2013 19:32
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Junior Rider
Posts: 43
Joined: 13-07-2012
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So at least a podium
I follow also dienblad´s Petronas story and Barredo finished 3rd in Vuelta with 75 MO. Of course, it depands on rivals but ride Vuelta with McArther in maximum shape all three weeks... |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 09-05-2013 04:45
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JSF - Not sure if he could get the podium eighter, as I have better climbers, so he would be rather used as protecting rider, not race leader. As I said, it all depends how we will progress, and we'll definitely see it, as he just signed that deal.
Four days later my team was already in Malaysia for this year's Le Tour de Langkawi (2.HC).
Only 5-6 riders could be registered for this race, so here are my chosen ones:
Coca-Cola
Chris Barton 
Kris Boeckmans 
Jonathan Castroviejo 
Michal Kwiatkowski 
Alex Rasmussen 
Pierre Rolland 
I decided to give Burlakov a break, especially that this tour interferes with Paris-Nice, where my sponsor wants a stage win, and I guess Valery is a man for it. Anyway, I would withdraw few riders at the end of this tour.
It started with a 20 km long time trial, something my team is quite good at.
But I was still surprised to see 3 if my riders (Rasmussen, Castroviejo, Kwiatkowski) in top 3 leaders for the race. They didn't disappoint and I started Malay tour with a nice triple.
Alex Rasmussen overtaking in Malaysia.
My race leader - Pierre Rolland also did very well, finishing 8th, which might be crucial for GC.
That great performance also put my team in front with nearly 3 min lead, so very good start in Malaysia.
Edited by wroblitz on 09-05-2013 04:51
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 09-05-2013 08:53
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Tour de France Champion
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Excellent start there! With Rolland and Boeckmans, this should be a big success  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 09-05-2013 09:26
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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Nice time trialling from the guys |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 09-05-2013 19:00
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Posts: 289
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After great time trial things went flat, and I was looking for equally good result from Boeckmans, and first mountain points for Barton.
It was quite unusual stage when it comes to breakaways. With only 109 riders in the peloton, all of them were chased very hard (including 2 with Barton in it), and after 60 km there was no breakaways, and nobody seemed to be bothered with taking another try. Just before the mountain premium Lima attacked, and he was followed by Barton. They managed to reach the mountain first just few seconds ahead of the peloton.
After intermediate sprints it was one big mass again, peloton was going really slow, and nobody wanted to attack or even take over the peloton.
Finally when peloton accelerated, massive crash occured, and two of my riders (Castroviejo and Barton) were victims of it.
That costed them 4'15" as they finished 92nd and 93rd.
In the beginning it was hard to get to the front of the peloton, but finally my train managed to do it's job. Rasmussen did pretty well as a lead-out, and race favourite - Kris Boeckmans get my team another win.
Edited by wroblitz on 09-05-2013 19:05
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 09-05-2013 21:45
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Tour de France Champion
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Boeckmans is a great addition to the team, what a season start |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 09-05-2013 22:44
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Tour de France Champion
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Nice win for Boeckmans |
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 10-05-2013 06:04
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It was a rest day for Barton, as there was no categorized climbs. My main concern was to catch the breakaway before the finish line, and give Boeckmans another chance to win. I didn't really have to do much, as there was another team that took over the peloton. 9 km before the finish line 4-man breakaway group was absorbed. My train did even better than on last stage, and Belgian add another win to his collection.
Rasmussen also did pretty well, finishing on the podium. Basically it was Coca-Cola vs CSF Inox - Domina Vecanze fight, and if that was speedway it would end up with 4:2 win for Coca-Cola.
It looks like Rasmussen gonna keep the yellow jersey for another 2 days, then hopefully it will go to Rolland. It has to be said, that due to interference with Paris-Nice there's none decent sprinters in Malaysia... don't know about the climbers yet.
Edited by wroblitz on 10-05-2013 06:09
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 10-05-2013 06:40
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Team Leader
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another good win. Nice job
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-05-2013 09:10
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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The team's too strong here  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 10-05-2013 12:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Boeckmans is obviously loving it in Malaysia |
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| krisa |
Posted on 10-05-2013 12:48
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3962
Joined: 12-04-2011
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Good for Kris
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 10-05-2013 13:36
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
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Kris is doing great now
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| wroblitz |
Posted on 10-05-2013 15:32
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 289
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Another flat stage with no mountain premiums.
Same tactic, same outcome, only this time it was closer finish. I also tried an attack on final two hills with Rolland, but it was mainly to motivate peloton to speed up and catch remaining breakaway rider. Boeckmans won it again just ahead of Tom Veelers and Joeri Stallaert.
Edited by wroblitz on 10-05-2013 15:32
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-05-2013 16:41
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Boeckmans  What kind of doping do you give him? |
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