What a day, what a day. It's definitely a day of ups and downs, mixed emotions. Allow us to take you through this strange day...
Twenty-two KoM points to be earned, on a spectacular climb. Afterwards it's on to a sprint finish, probably.
Stijn Van Gent
Right before we started I took the snap decision to forgo the sprint finish. With the 8 KoM points I already had, I could top the classification if I went over the two KoM sprints first. I went into the attack!
I couldn't risk losing the points to someone else so it had to be a solo. It was extremely hard but I tried to keep focusing on the prize.
Once I reached the foot of the climb, I my legs turned to lead. I'm not a climber, not by far...
I gave it my everything and every fiber in my body was screaming for release. But I didn't cave, I kept going at my own pace.
I made it! Tomorrow I will wear the Mountain King Jersey, how amazing. This'll get the team a nice money bonus as well.
I immediately dropped back to the peloton to recover. I wouldn't sprint at the end but I did promise Willy to bring him up to the front at about 15km before the finish.
Willy Wouters
With Stijn's strange but brilliant plan to go for the Mountain Jersey, we had a very relaxing day in the pack. I enjoyed myself in some good company and even had a great chat with Jan Bakelants, whom I greatly admire.
Nearing the finale, Stijn brought me to the front. I can't really sprint but the wind would definitely be making its casualties and my goal was just to keep an eye on Roux, who's only 2 seconds away from my jersey and who's known for his powerful finishing sprint!
But I'm not a sprinter. I lost his wheel and I was surprised at his speed. All I did was keep thinking: "please don't finish top 3, please don't finish top 3!"
Ooooh nooooooo! Roux wins the stage and takes the jersey right off my shoulders...
The wind tore the peloton to pieces and it looked like I'd move up a few more places yet!
This day has just been so strange. First Stijn grabs the Mountain Jersey brilliantly, then I lose the Young Jersey, but because of some major wind effects I move up to an amazing, amazing third place overall! I don't know whether to be happy or sad, but I do know this can't be bad for my early career!
Here's Stijn, getting his first podium experience, two days after I got my first! He totally deserves it, and I guess we will all work to keep his jersey now.
Well, that's great!
Stijn is now officially back, doing things nobody expected, just like in the first story
The 3th place in the GC for Willy is great too.
Very nice story Ian, you are good in this, good luck with these two prospects and please, stay with it this time, because having 13 threads in story section is enough,right?
Nice job so far in Argentina, KOM for Stijn and 3rd overall for Wouter is a dream start to their careers.
Jakstar22: That might work but the team isn't strong enough for that
Jesleyh: Thanks a lot
JuanMotr: Maybe that is better, yeah! He'll have other opportunities at white jerseys.
sutty68: In the final stage, all he needs to do is stay at the front and it should be all right!
juszta: True, true
Avin Wargunnson: Firstly, thanks a lot! Secondly, you never know what'll happen but I can tell you this: I've got a real good feeling about the story. I'm getting sucked in the riders myself, something that never happened before, actually I'll do my complete best to keep this going, first goal is reach 50 pages
Thirdly, thanks, it's a great start for them. I actually feel pretty good about it since their stats aren't quite high this time, KoM and 3rd is a real good place for them with their stats in this field on hard. First time I feel good about something I do on PCM actually
Thanks a lot for following! Today is possibly my last day of taking a break, but I'll try to make time for it every day (usually I quit studying around late-afternoon anyway!). Only my internship in January will be a hard time, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Willy and Stijn will survive!
Edited by Ian Butler on 26-12-2012 09:06
Hey, Ian! Great to have you back in the story section. I really like it and I hope you can hold your motivation. Only a thing that bothers me is, why do you give Stijn good sprinting stats and Willy good TT stats? You are a good PCM player, why dont you take a challenge? With Willy being good at TT, It will be easier to win one week races. You almost won San Luis! Stijn will have a harder time against Boonen, when he will have lower sprinting stats. Because of this, you should have to attack.
I am not saying you should do it, I am only saying what is correct in my opinion.
But nonetheless, your story is great and I will still follow.
lokytrew: Well, I have my reasons. I gave Willy good TT stats because that makes him a completer GC rider, and I really like time trials. I'm looking forward to battling on the National TT and maybe one day even for the WC TT with him. Don't worry about him, he won't make tours boring by never attacking because he can time trial. Stijn has good sprinting because that's just the rider he is, however, he is a flandrien, so he does attack often. He attacked in San Luis instead of sprinting, because he's a tough-headed attacker rider first, and a sprinter second. Though I hope you'll enjoy the story anyway
The final day of our first race at the Lotto Belisol squad. It has been a great week and we've learned so much already. We're going to be sad to go home, but first things first, we both had something to defend today!
Quite a tough profile for ending in a sprint finish. Tiredness is growing in the peloton and there will be casualties.
Willy Wouters
Since Roux was wearing Westra's Points Jersey, I spend the last day in the white jersey. Stijn was leading the KoM classification with 6 points and the final 6 points could be earned quite early in the race. I wanted to do something for him so I attacked at the start!
However, I was too great a threat on the GC so I didn't stay away long. They caught me and I stayed with Stijn.
I finished well inside the peloton and return to Belgium with a smashing third place on the GC. I couldn't be happier and I never expected this result! I can't wait for the next stage race, Tirreno-Adriatico! Although the result there might just be a tad weaker...
Stijn Van Gent
Westra seemed content with the leader's jersey and the points jersey, he didn't press on for the KoM points so I took the final 6, securing my very first jersey!
Then I'll skip to right before the sprint. I found Roux' wheel, which would provide me with a great lead-out, without a doubt!
And then, ouch. I got a push because someone misjudged the turn. A fall at more than 60km/h, and it hurt.
Willy was just able to dodge me, but others weren't. I have to tell you, it doesn't feel good when someone rides over you at over 60km/h.
People had to react quickly and more casualties were only seconds away.
Florencio won the chaotic sprint, while Willy finished 17th, keeping his podium place!
I crossed the finish 2 minutes later, being happy to be able to still ride fairly well. Nothing could ruin this day for me, this is my first jersey ever!
Out of all jerseys there are, the KoM jersey is the last one I'd ever expect of getting, but I did it. I'm very happy with my performance and just the entire team here. We had a great time and are looking forward to going home and presenting the management with our results!
Result
1
Xavier Florencio
Katusha Team
4h18'07
2
Arthur Vichot
FDJ-BigMat
s.t.
3
Anthony Roux
FDJ-BigMat
s.t.
4
Denis Kostyuk
Lampre-ISD
s.t.
5
Elia Favilli
Farnese Vini Selle Italia
s.t.
6
Jimmy Engoulvent
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
7
Giacomo Nizzolo
Radioshack Nissan Trek
s.t.
8
Baptiste Planckaert
Landbouwkrediet-Euphony
s.t.
9
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
s.t.
10
Mikhail Ignatiev
Katusha Team
s.t.
General Classification
1
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
26h12'59
2
Anthony Roux
FDJ-BigMat
+ 1'15
3
Willy Wouters
Lotto Belisol
+ 1'41
IanButler
4
Sandy Casar
FDJ-BigMat
+ 2'30
5
Marzio Bruseghin
Movistar Team
+ 3'33
6
Marco Pinotti
BMC Racing Team
+ 3'35
7
Xavier Florencio
Katusha Team
+ 3'56
8
Mathias Frank
BMC Racing Team
+ 4'01
9
Mikhail Ignatiev
Katusha Team
+ 4'12
10
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
s.t.
(...)
48
Stijn Van Gent
Lotto Belisol
+ 13'38
IanButler
Points
1
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
85
2
Anthony Roux
FDJ-BigMat
60
3
Xavier Florencio
Katusha Team
52
4
Fabio Felline
Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela
47
5
Arthur Vichot
FDJ-BigMat
47
KoM
1
Stijn Van Gent
Lotto Belisol
36
IanButler
2
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
24
3
Steven Van Vooren
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
22
Young Rider: Anthony Roux Team Classification: Vacansoleil
We now say goodbye, at least for some weeks. We'll see you back here for the start of the Belgian cycling season, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad! See you then, and thanks a lot for being here with us,
Stijn & Willy
Here it is, the first televised cycling event of the year in Belgium. It's a very important date for the team, for the sponsors and especially for us. Our first race for Lotto Belisol in our home country, and it even takes place in our very own region.
Almost 200km long, this profile will be quite demanding, and the competition will be fierce. The cobbles only increase as we move back to Gent. Our prediction: a sprint between several riders.
Willy Wouters
Since today is all about showing colors, I decided to go in the offense, get Lotto seen on national television.
It took a while to breakaway but eventually we formed a four-man breakaway. I made the split! This was so exciting.
I got a bit bummed when I saw that Ladagnous found his way to our group, too, a bit later. He's an excellent cobble rider and that made me vulnerable.
After some cobbled streets, he had managed to shake off the entire group but me. I was hanging on by some miracle!
With 40km left to go, I was still hanging on - barely. Ratings were now already up to 650 000. With a population of only about 10 million Belgians, this is really awesome.
Only kilometers later, those 650 000 watched me slip away. However, I kept going at a fairly strong pace and I tried keeping him in my sight.
With only 20km left to go, 825 000 Belgians saw the peloton embracing me. It's been a great day. Very tough and fatiguing, but great. I showed the team's and my colors, and I had a great time riding through my area with all these people cheering me on. For me, today was a success, even though I only finished 63th.
Stijn Van Gent
Today was incredible important for me. If I could prove myself today, I was almost certain to get a spot on the Ronde Van Vlaanderen team in April!
Thanks to Willy, breaking away, we had no chasing to do, which meant we were able to spare ourselves for later. I tried to have a little chat with world champion Mark Cavendish, but he seemed preoccupied. Probably thinking about Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne tomorrow!
Right before Willy was caught, 20km to the finish, Roelandts, Bak and myself were still right in front, paying close attention.
Everything changed when Cancellara attacked, he ripped the entire race open and blew everything to pieces. Now it was a matter of getting in the right group!
Roelandts, not the most experienced rider out there, surprised the entire nation by showing an iron will, hanging on to Boonen, Cancellara and Ballan. They tried shaking him but he kept on their tails, albeit constantly 30m behind.
Unfortunately, I don't have Roelandts' strength (yet). While he reforms up front with a group of 13, I'm part of the chasing group. It seems desperate but we still believed we could catch them.
Roelandts started his sprint!
He kept on surprising everyone by going strong, only two to pass now!
But it wasn't meant to be! Roelandts finished second, the win going to Boonen. It was close, but he didn't make it. However, it's still a very great result for his first race as a leader. He'll be there for the Ronde, no doubt!
In the chasing group, I join the sprint for the 14th place. With all the hard work still in my legs, I manage a 21th place. Not bad for a debut in Belgium, I'd say! This gives me confidence and it was just the result I needed to prove I can be a big part of the RvV squad!
I'm happy, today: the team really showed what we're all about, I made my debut in a more than decent way, Willy got himself noticed on national television. What a great day!
Tomorrow: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne!
Stijn & Willy
