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[PT] Gazelle 2024
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 05-02-2013 12:52
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
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I agree that Nardin has maneuvered himself into a very good position to challenge for the podium. We'll instruct the team to work for Furdi, but Nardin gets a free role and in case of a fall or puncture he should get support as well. Nardin's secondary goal is to try to win the Points classification.
Let's hope the riders continue to execute the team tactics as flawlessly as they did yesterday.
Edited by DubbelDekker on 05-02-2013 12:58
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 13-02-2013 23:46
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Race Result
[C2] Tour de Bretagne
Furdi - 72 pts
- 3d in General Classification
- 1st in Stage 4
- 1st in Youth Classification
- 3d in Points Classification
- 3d in Stage 7
Nardin - 21 pts
- 2nd in Stage 3
- 3d in Stage 2
- 15th in General Classification
- 3d in Youth Classification
Venter - 4 pts
Goddaert - 3 pts
- 3d in Mountain Classification
Sentjens - 2 pts
Vangenechten - 1 pt
Duchesne - 1pt
Total points: 105 pts
Raceday cost: 7
Points per raceday: 15 pts
This was a race of ups and downs for Team Gazelle. In the first three flat stages we saw Nardin overperform, scoring both ManGame points (points) and a nice amount of Tour de Bretagne Points (Points). We were getting optimistic.
Then came stage 4, in which everything worked out perfectly for us, resulting in leader Furdi taking our first ever win and the leader yersey with it. To make it even better, Nardin looked very sharp and put himself in a great position for both the GC as the Points Classification. We were over the moon!
But stage 5 already hinted that our support team wasn't up to the task of controlling the race in hilly terrain and we only just managed to prevent gaps. And Nardin looked like he was fading, only challenging for some intermediate sprint points and not even trying to join the final sprint, which was on perfect terrain for him.
Stage 6 confirmed all fears. It was a disastrous day in which Furdi lost his GC lead by relying on the support team too much and Nardin completely threw away all his GC and Points ambitions. We were still optimistic we could win the GC though, because Furdi is a much better cobbler than the two riders above him and this time he wouldn't stay behind while others attacked.
But stage 7 was much different than we had anticipated. The cobbles on the final five hills didn't seem to have any effect and even the hills themselves were taken by most riders with ease. What I expected would be a carnage with huge gaps, became a mass peloton sprint, with only 2 riders dropping. Furdi did come close to winning the GC thanks to a very powerful attack near the end, but sadly the peleton had just enough energy left to prevent gaps. And most bonification seconds were already snatched up by the winning breakaway of two.
We left Bretagne slightly disappointed due to the anticlimactic end. But we are happy that we got our first win and we still managed to score a very nice amount of points. So overall our first Tour was a success.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 14-02-2013 00:02
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Race Result
[C2] The Emerald Race
11th Nardin - 9 pts
12th Weening - 8 pts
19th Shaekov - 2 pts
22th Vangenechten - 1 pt
Total points: 20 pts
Raceday cost: 2
Points per raceday: 10 pts
We didn't expect much from this race. We had hoped for an attack from Weening near the end and for a decent sprint from Nardin.
What we got was a rather pointless attack from Nardin and a decent sprint from Weening. Nardin was obviously tired after attacking so he wasn't as good in the sprint as expected. But both him and Weening still grabbed some o.k. points, so our trip to Australia wasn't a total disaster.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 15-02-2013 14:36
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Race Preview
[C2] GP Postojna
Our hilly division are on their way to  Slovenia for the GP Postojna. This is the home country of lieutenant Blaž Furdi, so he will get a free role.
It is a long race that is constantly going up and down and we hope that this will make it very tough and selective. If that is indeed the case our leader Weening should have a good chance. But the field is strong and the finish rather flat, so we're not expecting a win here.
Our objective for this race is one rider on the podium and another in the top 10.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 23-02-2013 01:20
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Race Result
[C2] GP Postojna
6th Furdi - 17 pts
7th Mugerli - 15 pts
10th Kriek - 10 pts
11th Daspuntsag - 9 pts
14th Minnard - 6 pts
Total points: 57 pts
Raceday cost: 2
Points per raceday: 28,5 pts
A combination of the flat finish and the major puncheurs not working together caused the GP Postojna to end in a mass sprint. Weening was pretty disappointing again, but the support team made up for that. They showed our colors at the front of the peloton all day and they (especially Mugerli) did pretty well in the sprint. Also Furdi, who got a free role, showed he has a good kick once again by finishing 6th. Overall, and especially considering points, it was not a bad day for Team Gazelle.
Edited by DubbelDekker on 23-02-2013 02:10
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 23-02-2013 01:42
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Announcement
Team Gazelle has a new jersey.
The decision to change it was made by the CEO of our main sponsor Gazelle after seeing the television coverage of the first race of our season, Clasico San Sebastian.
He reasoned that Gazelle would be fighting the teams of Rodriguez and Mehr-Wenige, Iberia and Adira, all season long. And to his dismay the jerseys of those teams looked quite similar when viewed from the front, resulting in a sea of yellow arms. (and blue backs for Gazelle and Iberia)
Here are some stills:
https://s806.beta....1.jpg.html
https://s806.beta....1.jpg.html
https://s806.beta....1.jpg.html
The team management then sent a formal request to the ManGame Cycling Association. President SportingNonsense allowed the change, but also made it very clear that this was a one time exception that could not be reversed.
The new jersey was first revealed today in the Volta a Galicia.
And as you can see here, Gazelle riders are now easily recognizable from the front. https://i1150.phot...edc3f1.jpg
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 23-02-2013 02:02
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Race Preview
[C2] Volta a Galicia
Sending Weening to this race was a gamble. We expected many climbers to compete in the clashing Tour of Middle East, the biggest C2 stage race of the year, leaving Galicia prey for a strong puncheur. But it turned out that the strongest climbers didn't want to spend that many racedays and they traveled to Spain instead. The 2013 Volta a Galicia thus has a very strong field causing us to lower our expectations.
We think Weening should be able to get a good result in stage 2. Stage 3 will then be a day of limiting the damage and hopefully grabbing a top 5 GC spot.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 25-02-2013 01:41
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Race Result
[C2] Volta a Galicia
Team Gazelle win their first Stage Race
After a slightly disappointing start of the season, Pieter Weening has grabbed a win for Gazelle today!
We entered this Volta a Galicia hoping that Pieter could do well in the first two stages and then consolidate a top 5 position in the final mountain stage. But due to a combination of luck, strong legs and sound tactics, Weening ended up winning the race.
The most important event of Stage 1 was big favorite David Arroyo hitting the tarmac and losing three minutes, thus practically ending his GC hopes.
Weening did try to attack near the end, but as expected the terrain wasn't hard enough to get away.
Stage 2 featured Weenings favorite type of terrain and he made good use of it. He controlled his nerves this time and didn't attack until the final climb. And after a few tries that got shut down, Weening and Arroyo finally put in a very strong attack that they were able to carry to the finish line. Arroyo outsprinted Weening, but thanks to their 24 second gap and some bonus seconds, the latter got the leader jersey.
The attack that put Weening in the yellow.
We were happy with Weenings position going into Stage 3 and expected that just a few elite climbers could get past him in GC. But things went better than expected! Pieter remained calm and when the decisive attack was made, he went with them. There was a lot of energy left in this group and, also partly thanks to the mild gradient, any attacks were immediately shut down by other favorites. Weening was looking strong, comfortably sitting in the front row and getting dragged up the mountain.
Things got a little tense in the end because of strong jumps by both Menchov and Rudaskov. But luckily the group had enough power left to also drag Weening into their wheels and they all finished in the same time.
Rodriguez, Carrara and Marzano slowly closing the gap to a very strong Rudaskov.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 15-03-2013 01:38
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Results |  Nokere-Koerse |  Trofej Porec |
Good performance in cobble double
Our cobble squad, consisting of Roy Sentjens and Roy Vangenechten, has brought home a nice amount of points from the concurrently ridden Nokere-Koerse and Trofej Porec.
The Belgian race had a very strong start list, with Maes, Steegmans and Thomas all there. But the breakaway did a great job, allowing a very strong Patrik Moren to take the win for Vattenfall. Roy Sentjens couldn't get past most of the breakaway and finished 10th. We had hoped for a better result, but given the circumstances it wasn't that bad.
Points
10th Sentjens - 10 pts
22th Goddaert - 1 pt
Naturally this meant that the competition in Trofej Porec was a lot less strong, resulting in our Vangenechten being named as one of the top three favorites together with Coyot and Ostergaard.
It was an exciting race in which the teams of the favorites had to work very hard to control the attackers and each other (especially Ostergaard). Our team did well in that regard while Vangenechten could save his energy. And when finally the decisive attack got away he was there! Some good tactics for sure.
Sadly Vangenechten did make a small error in the finale, causing him to lose contact with the others for a short while. But an impressive show of force saw him fly back into second place behind top favorite Coyot! Great job by Jonas! And to make the day even better, Thiago Duarte Nardin managed a second place in the peloton sprint to finish 7th.
Points
2nd Vangenechten - 32 pts
7th Nardin - 15 pts
16th Kriek - 4 pts
25th Daspuntsag - 1 pt
Vangenechten flying
Edited by DubbelDekker on 02-04-2013 23:06
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 17:41
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 02-04-2013 23:04
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Result |  Windhoek ITT |
Westra and Goddaert meet expectations in Namibian Time-Trial classic
Lieuwe Westra and Kristof Goddaert have both finished in the top 5 of the Windhoek ITT. The most prestigious Time-Trial in the C2 category was won by massive favorite Michael Ford.
Lieuwe Westra
Ford's manager tsmoha also saw Miles Olman comfortably take second place and his final rider claimed the 7th spot. The PCT manager clearly made a brilliant move by sending those riders to this C2 event.
It did mean that we couldn't afford to under perform, because the amount of points up for grabs was limited. But luckily Westra and Goddaert only let CT Time-Trial king Rick Flens beat them, resulting in a good haul of points for Team Gazelle.
Points
4th Westra - 23 pts
5th Goddaert - 20 pts
Kristof Goddaert
Edited by DubbelDekker on 02-04-2013 23:42
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 02-04-2013 23:41
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Result |  Kwita Izina |
Furdi and Daspuntsag take surprise top 10 in mountainous Tour
Kwita Izina started with a tough mountain stage. And with some of the best CT climbers on the startlist, we didn't have high hopes for this race. But to everyone's surprise only a group of three early attackers (Eibegger, Jumabekov, Calzati) managed to escape the grasp of the peloton. Now there were only a flat and a hilly stage remaining and some of our riders were still close to the top of the GC.
Stage 2 was won by Die Berg sprinter Emanuele Rizza.
The hilly stage 3 saw a lot of attacks and our team was very active with Kriek, Daspuntsag and Furdi joining attacks left and right. When the dust clouds eventually settled the Mongolian and Slovenian impressively found themselves in a select group of 16 that was going to determine the winner.
Furdi (white jersey) and Daspuntsag sprinting for the win
Our riders opened the sprint, but sadly they couldn't hold their position and were overtaken. Still Furdi finished 4th and Daspuntsag 8th. This stage performance got rewarded with a 7th and 8th final GC position respectively. Also, we totally dominated the youth ranking with 1st and 2nd. Deserved winner was Markus Eibegger, with Jumabekov a strong second.
We had never expected to come home from Rwanda with 61 points, so this race was definitely a great success for Team Gazelle.
Points
Furdi - 31 pts
- 7th in General Classification
- 1st in Youth Classification
Daspuntsag - 22 pts
- 8th in General Classification
- 2nd in Youth Classification
Kriek - 5 pts
Vangenechten - 1 pt
Shaekov - 1 pt
Venter - 1 pt
Edited by DubbelDekker on 02-04-2013 23:42
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 04-04-2013 02:23
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Result | | IWT Oetingen |
Tactical surprise victory for cobble lieutenant Vangenechten
We were quite sure that our first One Day Race victory would be a hilly one.
Our cobble squad are usually semi-dangerous outsiders in the C2 cobble races, but because of the superior strength of Maes, Steegmans and Thomas the chances of them actually winning are fairly slim.
Therefore we were pleasantly surprised to see Jonas Vangenechten take this years edition of IWT Oetingen!
Vangenechten attacks
With nearly 100 km remaining a bunch of decent cobblers went after the early break and by the 80km mark this resulted in a 5 man group, including Vangenechten (72 FL/74 COB), Sparling (69/74) and Striska (71/71), with 3'20 on the peloton. Those are not riders you want to gift a gap. And the fact that Boeing, BNCR, Gazelle and Ekspa were all represented made it an even more dangerous break.
It was now up to Allianz and Die Berg to organize a chase. But Die Berg didn't want to help the top favorite and it soon became clear that Allianz were unable to close this gap alone. With 50km remaining it had grown to 3'40 and with 32km remaining it was even 3'55!
The 5
This forced top favorite Maes to all-out attack with 29km to go. But he got instantly shadowed by Steegmans and Thomas, who both had a man up front. And when Die Berg leader Ostergaard attacked to join them, he only got joined by Coyot (who now had Maes up front) and strong Boeing helper Grashev. So poor Niki sat up and waited for the peloton. He would never make it to the big three.
The 5 man group kept the pace high and with 14 km to go they still had 2 minutes on Maes. But 6 km later it was only 1'20, so Vangenechten decided it was time for an attack. This was too much for Van den Eynde and Esquivel, but Sparling and Striska matched his pace. Not much later Striska even left the other two behind!
Meanwhile a tired Maes started worrying about Steegmans' fast sprint and wheelsucker Thomas' fresh legs. As a result their pace suffered and with 3,5km remaining it was clear that the three up front would produce the winner.
Vangenechten chasing Striska
Striska gets brought back and on the final cobble sector, with 1.7km to go Vangenechten opens up the sprint. A spent Striska immediately has to let go, but Sparling holds on and gets a perfect leadout. But his legs are empty and Jonas Vangenechten takes it all the way to the finish line!
Great home-country win for Vangenechten!
Points
1st Vangenechten - 45 pts
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| CountArach |
Posted on 04-04-2013 02:29
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8290
Joined: 14-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Congratulations, a great result for your team.
I like the PPRD tracker that you're keeping in your results post.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 04-04-2013 02:33
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Thanks Count 
About the tracker; feel free to do the same. Would be interesting.
Good luck in E3!
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 16-05-2013 00:41
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Result | | E3 Prijs |
Gazelle cobblers not up to HC level
Belgian HC race E3 Prijs was a great spectacle in which our cobblers sadly only played a small part. We were glad to see Roy Sentjens go with the big guns, but eventually he completely ran our of steam and had to settle for a 19th place. Jonas Vangenechten was apparently still recovering from his great solo victory in Oetingen, because he got left behind quite early in the race. Clearly this is a level we can't compete at yet. We hope to be much stronger next year.
| Points | | 19th Sentjens - 7 pts |
Edited by DubbelDekker on 16-05-2013 01:16
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 16-05-2013 01:16
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Result |  GP Miguel Indurain |
Strong Weening blunders under the kite
C2 hilly races are the discipline in which our team has to excel. So far they have been going quite well, but there's usually one problem: Weening not using his huge strength to full effect due to tactical mistakes. GP Miguel Indurain was no different.
The race was exciting with lots of different attacks and when the dust settled, Weening found himself in a leading group of four. His chances looked great, especially with Purito missing from the group. But while entering the last kilometer the tall Frisian zoned out for a while and allowed the other three to open up a pretty significant gap to him. Beginner mistake! He then produced a mighty sprint to come back and grab third place. Not a bad result, but such a shame that he threw away his chances of winning like that.
Weening thinking about the meaning of life while the rest sprints off.
Lieutenant Furdi wasn't paying attention and attacked far too late causing him to end up in the peloton. Luckily his sprint was strong and he could salvage an eleventh place.
| Points | | 3d Weening - 26 pts | | 11th Furdi - 9 pts |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 16-05-2013 02:10
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race Results |  Volta ao Alentejo |  Tro-Bro Léon |  Glava Tour |
Disappointing April month for Team Gazelle
We only entered three races in April and in neither of them the team managed to live up to expectation, resulting in an overall depressing month.
First up was Portuguese sprinting tour Volta ao Alentejo. We knew it was going to be hard for us to achieve success here. But the terrain had its fair share of hills near the finish lines, opening up possibilities for Furdi and Nardin. Also, we hoped to see our riders in some long breakaways. But despite the team manager going mental in his car, our riders did absolutely nothing for four days straight.
Then came Tro Bro Léon a.k.a. the 'Hell of the West', which is actually not that much of a hell because it has only a few cobble sections. Vangenechten was once again napping in the peloton while Sentjens had to battle it out at the front all alone. He did ok, but in the end only came in 9th. In a C2 race like this our two cobblers should do better. But let's blame the lack of cobbles.
| Points | | 9th Sentjens - 11 pts |
We traveled to Norway looking to end this bleak month in a positive way. With Weening, Furdi and Nardin there and two hilly stages on the route we were considered favorites for the win. The plan was to keep everything together in the first three flat stages, massacre the competition in stage 4 and consolidate in stage 5.
Part one of the plan succeeded, but stage 4 was a major let down. The puncheurs didn't manage to create a gap, resulting in a 37 man group finishing in the same time. Goodbye GC hopes.
Stage 5 was the same story, but there it was expected.
Thankfully Weening and Nardin did manage to score some o.k. points by getting decent stage results in stage 4 and 5 respectively. This helped them up the long list of "same time" riders in GC, enabling me to at least end this report in a positive way.
| Points | | Nardin - 26 pts | | 7th in General Classification | | 2nd in Youth Classification | | Weening - 13 pts | | 10th in General Classification | | Mugerli - 3 pts | | Furdi - 1 pt | | Venter - 1 pt |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 22-02-2014 00:23
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Season recap
2013
A season in pictures
Sadly I stopped updating my HQ after a few months, but I feel I should at least post something for the closing of the season. First I was planning to finish the PpRD tracker I've been updating for about two thirds of the year and post that. But it would actually be quite boring. So I've decided to do a visual recap of 2013 based on the victories the team achieved. Cheers!
Volta a Galicia by  Pieter Weening
This stage 2 attack was an important step to winning the GC
IWT Oetingen by Jonas Vangenechten
He surprised the favourites with a long-range attack
 Tour de Kumano by Lieuwe Westra
The team did a good job controlling this tour for Westra and he won the GC
 Tour of Southland by  Thiago Duarte Nardin
The crucial stage 6 attack that gave TDN the GC win
Ronde van België by Lieuwe Westra
The team is strong and manages to grab 1st, 2nd and 4th in the final GC
 Giro del Capo by Pieter Weening
In an eventful last stage Weening goes with the right break and wins GC
 Tour de Beauce by Lieuwe Westra
A strong second place in the stage 4 TT was key to GC victory
 Tour de Korea - stage 4 by Thiago Duarte Nardin
Nardin, our only rider in a huge break, flies past the rest and wins
 FBD Éire Tour by Marco Minnard
Our TTT squad has no problem controlling the last stage; Minnard wins GC
 Geelong Tour by Lieuwe Westra
A decent stage 4 TT is enough for Westra to take home the yellow
 Tre Valli Varesine by Blaž Furdi
Furdi has a great day; he is aggressive, clever and explosive
Tour do Rio - stage 5 by Thiago Duarte Nardin
Nardin had to take at least one stage in his home race; he delivered
 Zuri Metzgete by Pieter Weening
Hilly leaders Weening and Furdi close the season in style
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 24-02-2014 15:06
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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The 2013 season has been archived and the opening posts were swept clean. The HQ is now ready for 2014.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 11-03-2014 23:19
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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EDIT: outdated. See this post for the new version.
Edited by DubbelDekker on 12-03-2014 15:23
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Vadim Shaekhov
