GP de Denain Porte du Hainaut
A flat race today, with a huge ProTour representation. With a couple of poor races recently, today would, bar a huge stroke of luck, be no different. I gathered the “troops” before the race to try and raise their spirits.
“Lads, today is a big day for us. Not for the team, not for me, not for the sponsors, but for you. We're not going to win today. That much is obvious. What today is about is you getting in front of the biggest teams in world cycling, and showing just what you can do. This is the opportunity for you to make the ProTour teams sit up and notice you, for you to live your dream of racing with the best.”
“So it's not a day for the team, it's a day for you. Nobody else can do it for you. Nobody is goin to notice you if we just follow the pace, do nothing. Today is your day lads, and I expect every one of you to give it absolutely everything. Let's dream big today boys, and tomorrow you could be hitting the big time.”
An odd team speech, one which could easily backfire. But Dave reassured me.
“You've put fire into their bellies today, Allan. Absolutely spot on. You're going to see them give everything they have today, and tomorrow, and the day after! Heck, you've even put fire into this old geezer's body.”
Never one to normally doubt Dave, his glowing appraisal was slightly over the top, but it did have the desired effect for today.
How do I know this?
Because our team leader went in the break!!!
Dan parading himself in front of the ProTour guys
However, with such a strong pack, the break had no chance, despite Dan trying his hardest to hold them off. It came down to a bunch sprint, with a great day for the Brits as Roger Hammond managed to take the win, holding off Theo Bos, the rider he was leading out! Everyone but Dan finished in the pack, with Liam Holohan punching above his weight with a solid 22nd as our best finisher.
What a finish by Roger Hammond!
1. Roger Hammond Cervélo Test Team 4h34'23
2. Theo Bos Cervélo Test Team s.t.
3. Matthew Goss Team HTC – Columbia s.t.
22. Liam Holohan s.t.
So a different mood as we left today. There was some buoyancy amongst the riders, and even though I'd highlighted the need for individuals today, the team spirit looks stronger than ever.
Edited by Crommy on 01-03-2010 23:59
You're right, Hammond does seem particularly unhappy about something
Tro-Bro Léon
Our second venture onto the pavé, and this time we were to be led by Liam Holohan and Richard Handley, whilst both not particularly good riders on the cobble, they have shown some promise. Today was alla about getting more experience in: if a result came with it, great.
After the break was caught, it came down to a matter of selection as the Belgium classics focused teams upped the pace. 38Km to go, and the front group had been whittled down to 19 riders, with Liam and Richard our only representatives.
After that, the pace just kept on getting hotter and hotter as more and more riders were shred, and I told the boys to find the group they were comfortable with. Liam ended up our best finisher in 37th, a good ride by him.
Liam tries desperately to hold on
Up front though, the race got really interesting, as the front group for the sprint was between 6 riders – 4 from Landbouwkredit, and 2 from Topsport Vlaanderen. Somehow Preben van Hecke of Topsport managed to tag onto the lead out train of Lanbouwkredit, and they delievered him to victory! The L'kredit bous didn't know what hit them, they'd just gifted victory to their rivals!
1. Preveb van Hecke Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator 5h28'09
2. Frédéric Amorison Landbouwkredit s.t.
3. Bert de Waele Landbouwkredit s.t.
37. Liam Holohan + 5'52
Edited by Crommy on 02-03-2010 20:14
East Midlands CiCLE Classic
It's always good to be back home racing. Yes, the support isn't quite like the cycling heartlands of Europe, but it's home. And the fans who turn out for these events tend to be the die hards, the real cycling nuts, so it's always good to go and talk with them, great fun.
Today could go two ways. With a sizeable number of cobbles, if the pace was hot enough, we could see a greatly reduced (in numbers) fight at the finish; or, a mass bunch sprint.
Tom Barras joined 8 others in the break, and they still had 1'39 with 35km to go. However, the pack was really driving forward, but for many in the peloton, another problem existed: the wind.
I've never seen it so strong in Britain, not since the “hurricane” of 1988. Huge gusts started to make cracks appear in the peloton, until...SNAP. The bunch completely slipped at the 20km mark, with 21 riders forming the front group, including the riders from the days break, who had no chance of staying with the front group after that. Except our Tom that is.
He fought hard, but a final split of the front group on the final set of cobbles with just 4km to go was too much for him, and he finished in the 2nd group, coming 16th as An Post completed a stunning clean sweep of the podium (and fourth with Nico Eeckhout too!!!).
Complete domination!
1. Stijn Minne An Post – Sean Kelly 4h26'31
2. Kim Borry An Post – Sean Kelly s.t.
3. Maxim Debusschere An Post – Sean Kelly s.t.
16. Tom Barras + 1'06
Not entriely sure I have it/have had it, but thanks anyway
Team Raleigh April Update Posted online at teamraleigh.co.uk, direct from the laptop of DS Allan Smile!
A great month of racing for the team, April saw us taking part in some very tough one day classics. We may not have always got the results we wanted, but we most certainly got our riders attacking at every opportunity they had, as we became a regular feature in breaks.
Elsewhere in the world of cycling, we had some of the closest and most exciting April classics in recent years. Stijn Devolder somehow held off the rampaging Fabian Cancellara by just 9 seconds in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, after an audacious early attack. Filippo Pozzato took an astonishing victory in the Roubaix velodrome after an epic 8 way battle.
Jerome Pineau took a surprising Amstel Gold Race win, Joaquim Rodriguez won La Fleche Wallonne, and Kim Kirchen took the Liege – Bastogne – Liege crown.
Results:
-- Hel van Het Mergelland: Dan Fleeman 20th.
-- Albert Achterhes Profonde van Drenthe: Dan Fleeman 24th.
-- Paris – Camembert Lepetit: Dan Fleeman 21st.
-- GP de Denain Porte du Hainaut: Liam Holohan 22nd.
-- Tro Bro Léon: Liam Holohan 37th.
-- East Midlands CiCLE Classic: Tom Barras 16th.
Rankings:
Continental Individual Rankings:
1. Coen Vermeltfoort RABOBANK CT 455
2. Preben Van Hecke TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN – MERCATOR 435
3. Bobbie Traksel VACANSOLEIL PRO CYCLING TEAM 373
123. Daniel Fleeman 29
198. Tom Barras 12
279. Liam Holohan 4
Continental Team Rankings:
1. Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator 1279
2. Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 1117
3. Bbox Bouygues Telecom 1076
46. Team Raleigh 45
Physio's Report: Dr. Mike Jensen reports yet another injury free month!
Rider of the Month: Tom Barras
Tom was our strongest in the East Midlands CiCLE Classic, and put in a really determined performance that showed true character. Most riders in a break go staright out the backdoor when they're caught, but he went past his limit and still hung on in to take a fantastic top 20 finish, our best result of the month
Next Month:
May is another busy month for the team, as we race two one day classics in Scandinavia, followed by a key race for us: the 8 stage FBD Insurance Rás. There will be 10 days of racing in total.
GP Herning
A tough cobbled race, coupled with strong winds meant our riders needed to be concentrating 100% of the time. The peloton threatened to split all day, until with 30km to go, a sharp turn on cobbles saw 18 riders go clear and stay clear. Nobody from Team Raleigh though.
Nico Eeckout won the sprint from CT leader Coen Vermeltfoort, whilst Liam Holohan had a good sprint to finish 23rd. Not a great result, but it's building up experience.
101st Scandinavian Uppsala
A very flat race, Liam Holohan would be our sprinter for the day, with the rest of the team getting the final racing into their legs before the FBD Insurance Rás.
A typical day for us: break goes, break gets caught. Sprint winds up. What we didn't count on was Liam losing Dan's wheel as Dan tried to pace him up to the front, so Dan had to be our team sprinter, coming home in 17th, whilst Enrico Rossi took victory.
Danke
FBD Insurance Rás
This is a big race for us, and one where we could be knocking on the door for victory on every stage. Here's a look at our team:
Dan Fleeman: Undisputed team leader, he's got a really good chance of challenging for the top spot of the GC.
Tom Barras: Will work as a super-domestique as well as trying to slip into breaks.
James Stewart: Our sprinter for the tour, not a fantastic sprinter, but some top 10 placings ought to be his name.
Dale Appleby: Domestique.
Julian Ramler: Domestique.
Stage 1
A flat stage today, a sprint was expected, and a sprint we would get. But not before we slipped Tom Barras into the break to take bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints and to take the only climber's sprint of the day – he'd be wearing red by the end of the day.
The bunch sprint saw a fantastic result for us, as James Stewart managed to take a brilliant third behind stage winner Christian Jorgensen, and he also goes 6th in the GC, whilst Tom somehow clung onto the peloton and will go 2nd in the GC thanks to his bonus seconds.
Strong sprint by Stewart not strong enough
www.cycling24.co.uk/latest_news
Team Raleigh looking to the future
Team Raleigh have signalled their intention to build for the future of British cycling by signing young starlet Ricky Nuttell. Nuttell, 19, has been impressing in the British domestic cycling scene, and DS Allan Smile was delighted at the prospect of seeing Nuttell ride for the team next year.
“He's a fantastic prospect, a really exciting rider. He slots in nicely with our philosophy of building a strong British team, and is a strong classics rider.”
Nuttell was equally delighted to be working with such a famous name as Smile, who has been prominent in every step of signing the youngster.
“Allan is an incredible manager, I still remember watching him take Dario Cataldo to stardom in the Giro four years ago – what a ride! He's been absolutely brilliant about the signing, and I couldn't imagine starting my career anywhere else.”
Emphatic words, and a signal of intent by the British team.
Stage 2
We have a problem for this stage. With 3 kom sprints, Tom could really grab a stranglehold on the climber's jersey. Unfortunately, as he is 2nd in the GC, there's no way the pack is letting him go.
We therefore sent Dale Appleby in today's break to try and take the climber's sprint, but unfortunately, the hills were too steep for Dale and so Tom would lose the jersey by the end of the day.
The stage packed a hard uphill sprint, too much for James to be competitive, so he took 12th behind winner and new leader Aurelien Passeron. Tom drops to 3rd overall.
Stage 3
187km with 2 tough hills at the end, today was the first foray into GC territory, so the whole team would be working for Dan.
Apart from Dale, who swept up the first 2 climber's points to lead the climber's rankings.
The final hill, 23km from the line, and averaging at 6% would be where the fireworks went off as the pack went into the bottom of it rapidly, just 20 seconds behind the BOTD.
Cue 8 riders to attack and go clear, with Aurelien Passeron taking a 20 second lead over 7 other riders, including Dan Fleeman. Dan then pushed onwards to try and chase down the gap solo, and was looking good.
The gap was closing – 20 seconds, fifteen, ten, eight...suddenly it started growing again – Dan had pushed himself too hard, and was blowing up!
Taylor Phinney then went solo past him, but lost in the 2 way sprint. Meanwhile Dan somehow managed to stay with the next group of 5, to lose 33 seconds to Passeron, who's looking very impressive.
The chase is on!
In the GC, Dan is 53 seconds behind Passeron, whilst Dale hold the climbers jersey.
Edited by Crommy on 31-03-2010 15:29
Stage 4
A much lumpier course today, today could be the real GC decider, so Dan was looking to be up there by the end of the race.
Dale joined the breakaway in order to soak up those climber points, and would join 4 others, who were interested in a stage win, not the mountain points, leaving Dale to all but secure the climber's jersey.
30km to go, and with the breakaway just a minute up the road and many in the peloton starting to suffer, the yellow jersey decided to attack, with Taylor Phinney and Dan glued to his wheel.
The next 15km were just a blitz of constant attacks, with no rhythm being set, until the 15km mark was reached and a group of 15 settled down and would contest the sprint.
No prizes for guessing who won, with Passeron taking more bonus seconds. Phinney was second, and Dan showed his strength by taking third, moving up to 4th overall.
Stage 5
A flat stage, Dale joined the break despite holding a 37 point lead in the red jersey – and he sprinted for those climber's points too!
Apart from that, break was caught, bunch sprint ensued, Dan did great to take 5th and hop up a position in the rankings, but it was Italian Walter Proch who took the stage.
Stage 6
Another flat stage, it was the turn of Tom Barras to get some TV time for us. But the pack were having none of it, and it would come down to a sprint. And what a sprint it was. I told the boys before the stage that we had to get some bonus seconds, and today we needed to drag him up to the front for the sprint. Boy did those boys perform. The Raleigh train was strong enough to get Dan a fantastic second behind Morten Hoberg! That's 6 more seconds less to try and make up if Dan goes for the GC win.
BUT wait – Dan had actually moved up to second overall, after Taylor Phinney lost nearly a minute after a pack split in the final few kilometres – what a huge stroke of luck. The Trek – Livestrong team were absolutely furious with the race officials, but the decision stood!
Stage 7
154 km, and absolutely pancake flat, a routine day.
Or so we thought. With the break caught, and 4km to go, the pack was winding up for the sprint, when suddenly, a crash! 2 riders down, both from the same team. And it's the yellow jersey!
Our sprint was again fantastic, the team pumped as I relayed info on the crash. Dan was actually leading out James, but he actually managed to hold him off, but was just pipped on the line by Oscar Grau of Burgos.
However, our attention was fixed on the clock, and we watched with bated breath at the finish line – the seconds ticked by, until...
Dan takes the lead!
We'd done it! Nobody really likes to win this way (it turns out Passeron was taken out by his own teammate!), we're in the lead, with a solid 50 seconds in front of new second place Belka.
Stage 8
The last stage, and somehow we'd managed to take the race lead, completely through luck, but we'd take it. Getting Dan safely through the day would be a huge boost for the team, and really grow our stature – this is a really big race for us to win.
Four riders went into the breakaway, with the closest being 3 minutes down in the GC – not dangerous, obviously.
Obviously not – 100km to go, and they had a 10 minute lead – and we had to start pulling, so Dale spent the next 40kms on the front, pulling the gap down to 6 minutes – still just manageable. Tom Barras then took over, - still no help from other teams. 30km later, and the gap was still over 4 minutes – and wasn't looking like going down.
The team gives it everything at the front
Cue the whole team killing themselves for Dan, and a very worrying last 30km for us.
Thanks to the awesome work of the team though, we managed to claw back enough time until we were within seconds of the lone rider who won solo from today's break, Davide Frattini.
Big sigh of relief. We'd done it. Dan was the only team member in the peloton at the end, but that's all we needed.
So this ends a fantastic Rás for us – yes we profited from some huge work, but I still think Dan deserved that yellow jersey, and Dale worked phenomenally hard all week to take the climber's jersey by a huge 38 point margin.
Final GC
1. Daniel Fleeman TEAM RALEIGH 30h47'38
2. Mathias Belka LKT TEAM BRANDENBURG + 50”
3. Taylor Phinney TREK – LIVESTRONG + 1'01
4. Oscar Grau BURGOS MONUMENTAL – CASTILLA Y LEON + 1'16
5. Aurélien Passeron MERDIANA KAMEN TEAM + 1'29 Climber: Dale Appleby Sprinter: Aurélien Passeron U25: Mathias Belka Team: Burgos Monumental – Castilla y Leon
Team Raleigh May Update Posted online at teamraleigh.co.uk, direct from the laptop of DS Allan Smile!
An absolutely brilliant month for the team, Dan Fleeman took the biggest win of our sesson so far by winning the FBD Insurance Rás. But credit has to go to the whole team, who worked so hard on the last stage for him to keep his jersey by chasing down the break. Dale Appleby must also get a mention for his superb win in the climber's classification, winning by a huge margin by putting the effort in by getting in breaks almost daily!
Elsewhere, the month was dominated by the Giro d'Italia, which was won by Ivan Basso in a surprisingly weak field. He won by 2 minutes over Marzio Bruseghin then Yaroslav Popovych.
Results:
-- GP Herning: Liam Holohan 23rd
-- 101st Scandinavian Uppsala: Dan Fleeman 17th
-- FBD Insurance Rás: Dan Fleeman 1st in GC, Dale Appleby 1st in Mountain Classification
Rankings:
Continental Individual Rankings:
1. Coen Vermeltfoort RABOBANK CT 689
2. Bobbie Traksel VACANSOLEIL PRO CYCLING TEAM 624
3. Kenny van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO 506
78. Daniel Fleeman 85
280. Tom Barras 12
369. Liam Holohan 4
374. James Stewart 4
Continental Team Rankings:
1. Skil – Shimano 1739
2. Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator 1482
3. Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 1427
45. Team Raleigh 105
Physio's Report: Dr. Mike Jensen reports yet another injury free month!
Rider of the Month: Dan Fleeman
No surprises for guessing who was the rider of the month. Dan took a huge win in Ireland, showing grit, character and consistency to take hom the yellow jersey. Yes, he had some luck to climb up to the top step, but that's cycling for you.
Next Month:
June will be a less busy month for the team, as we wind down for a few months so we can return for the Tour of Britain in top shape. The team will be trying to conquer the mountains in the 4 stage Route du Sud, followed by a return to home soil with the Wales Open Criterium followed by the all important British Road Race Championships. We hope to see you there!
Until next month!
Allan Smile
---
June will be a quiet month for me personally in terms of racing. I'll not be going to the Route du Sud, so Dave will be managing the team there. What I will be focusing on is talking to Alan Finden-Crofts, the owner of the team, and talking about transfers and the direction the team wants to take into next season.
Amd I've been thinking hard for quite awhile about the direction the team needs to take, and I've come to the conclusion we need to be more ambitious. Yes, the original plan was to go slowly, to build up slowly as a team in finding young British talent and producing 'greats'. But that's just not going to work. As soon as we produce someone who's any good, Team Sky will just steal him from us.
No, what we need to do is form a team that rivals Sky in terms of talent, of prestige. Then we can go through with out policy of developing the best in British talent. I hate to have to admit it, but the Sky model will work. Ours won't. The only problem is convincing the owners that this is the right way to do things, and also depends on them having the cash to go through with it. We'll see.
