Thanks, once again! I'm amazed by the size of the following crowd so far!
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Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise: Preview January 27th, 2014
No matter how big the team will become, this is one race that we will never duck. In the two last editions, we've gone from 2nd to 1st with Koretzky, so I guess the next step is to combine those to into a double, right?
Anyway, the route is the same as always. Plenty of climbing, but nothing serious enough for attacks to really do any particular damage. I'm expecting another reduced mass sprint finish, à la 2012 and 2013.
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Busy handling business at the other side of the globe, Koretzky is obviously unable to defend last year's victory. Instead, that task falls mainly on Jules and García. We'll do our best to help them survive the climbs and then profit from their reasonably high sprint speed.
I'd be somewhat suprised if the victory isn't landed by Cofidis, however. They have not one, but two riders who are perfect for this parcours in the likes of Julien Simon and JJ Lobato. Fast, but also more than capable of tackling climbs like those on this course.
Two others I reckon are worth looking out for are Jens Keukeleire (Orica-Greenedge) and Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), who are also the kind of sprinters that should handle these climbs without too much difficulty.
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Santos Tour Down Under: Stage 6 January 27th, 2014
Time to celebrate! Unless Trek put together some sort of mastermind plan to have one of their riders crash in front of Koretzky with a lap to go, the overall victory is ours. Let's see if we can steal 3rd place as a bonus!
Luckily for us, Trek decided not to try crashing out Koretzky!
Instead, they did a ton of work at the front of the peloton to ensure Felline the opportunity to add a third victory to his tally. As a result, today's breakaway also failed to stay away to the finish.
Funnily enough, when the sprint finally started to come close - Felline and his Trek-buddies were nowhere to be seen! The main sprint train was instead set up by IAM, working for Matteo Pelucchi.
A brilliant Thiré positioned Siskevicius right on the Italian's wheel, while Oss, Trentin and Gavazzi were jostling each other a little further back.
Interestingly, Vicente Reynès's hard work proved to be for nothing. When he stepped up on the pedals to launch the leadout, Pelucchi completely exploded, losing his team mate's wheel and falling backwards.
This forced the other lead sprinters to take on Reynès instead, with Trentin, Oss and Gavazzi being the quickest to do so. Siskevicius had a bit more trouble making his way around Pelucchi, leaving him slightly behind - along with Hivert and Impey. Felline meanwhile finally showed up, a long way back.
Gavazzi was the quickest in the end, having waited slightly longer than Oss and Trentin by staying in the latter's wheel initially.
Siskevicius came through impressively towards the end, taking 2nd place and enough bonus seconds to regain third place overall. Impey also finished with very high speed, but just about lost out to Trentin for 3rd.
Felline will surely be very disappointed with himself and the team. All their work only resulted in a 13th place, which is obviously way below what they were hoping for. Still, no reason to complain when you already have two wins!
1
Francesco Gavazzi
Astana Pro Team
1h48'40
2
Evaldas Siskevicius
La Pomme Marseille
s.t.
3
Matteo Trentin
Omega Pharma - Quickstep Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Daryl Impey
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
5
Daniel Oss
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
Koretzky crossed the line as 21st, next to Flakemore, who spent the entire stage protecting him. Since there were no unexpected time gaps, the overall victory is secured!
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Also: this will be the last report for a week. I'm leaving on vacation early tomorrow, and obviously wont have access to my PCM computer during that time! Expect the next update next Wednesday or (more likely) Thursday.
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Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise January 27th, 2014
Much like in Down Under, the early breakaway wasn't given much room by the big teams. Sky, Belkin, Orica, Lampre and Katusha all helped out, resulting in Levarlet and the other escapees getting reeled in at the bottom of the last hill.
As soon as the catch was made, the big climbers started moving with Anton (OPQS) pulling away with Santaromita (Orica-Greenedge), Chernetskiy (Katusha), Nordhaug (Belkin) and a few others.
Expecting the same scenario as in previous years, we had Jules and García stay relaxed and wait for other teams to bring it back together. Unfortunately, the teams who might've been capable of chasing already had their designated leader up front. As you can understand, this meant that those ahead only extended their advantage all the way to the top.
By the time we realised the problem, it was already too late. A leading Nordhaug was already a long way down the descent, having pounced clear of the other escapees just after the top of the hill.
Anton also managed to break clear and pursue Nordhaug a little further down the descent. Roughly 10 seconds separated the two with 5 km to go.
In the meantime, García was leading the peloton in a late attempt to bring Jules back in contention for a high placing. 4 km from the finish, they did at least get back in contact with the big group left behind by Nordhaug and Anton.
Those two were obviously too far ahead to catch. Initially, it looked like Anton was going to get back to Nordhaug and make it a two-way sprint for the win, but the Belkin-rider was too strong and maintained that last little bit of advantage all the way to the finish!
None of the other attackers managed to stay clear of the peloton, thanks to García's effort down from the last hill. Nerz (BMC), Chernetskiy (Katusha) and Paterski (Lampre) all profited from the slight advantage of having started from the escape group to take place 3 through 5.
Behind them came the fastest finisher, Jens Keukeleire. Had his team played the finale differently, he could easily have taken the victory.
Not the best of races for us, on the other hand. Jules sprinted well considering his starting position, but couldn't do better than 12th.
1
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
3h24'15
2
Igor Antón
Omega Pharma - Quickstep Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Dominik Nerz
BMC Racing Team
+ 41
4
Sergey Chernetskiy
Katusha Team
s.t.
5
Maciej Paterski
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
6
Jens Keukeleire
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
7
Florian Vachon
Bretagne - Séché Environnement
s.t.
8
Flavien Dassonville
BigMat - Auber 93
s.t.
9
Anthony Geslin
FDJ.fr
s.t.
10
Kenny Elissonde
FDJ.fr
s.t.
...
12
Justin Jules
La Pomme Marseille
s.t.
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Apologies for a slightly stressed report. I need to get some sleep for tomorrow, but I wanted to have this done before leaving. See you in a week!
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Aaand, I'm back from the break! Time to switch focus from real life Oman to the PCM version and its tour. Bit of a funny coincidence, really!
Marseille was indeed not the best of races. Mostly due to stupidity from me, though. Jules could easily have reached a top 5 if I had only realised that the peloton sits up when the favourites attack in PCM13. I should of course have sent up one of our domestiques to chase right away.
I was going to do a monthly summary before starting Tour of Oman, but I decided not to in the end. You'll have to settle for some more Sky doping news instead
Froome, Wiggins out for two years after requested B samples also come back positive January 30th, 2014
Much like Lance Armstrong and other recent major cheaters in the pro peloton, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins both denied everything when, three weeks ago, it was reported that the two British riders had returned positive tests at the 2013 Tour de France, which Froome won.
Both riders requested for a B sample to be tested, which was done earlier this week. Today, the results were made public by the UCI: positive again. It was also confirmed that Froome and Wiggins have both been given two-year suspensions, and that they will be stripped of all results from the start of 2012 to now.
In response to this, ASO director Christian Prudhomme was quick to announce that Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali would each be presented as overall winners of the 2012 and 2013 Tours at some point in the next few weeks. For Nibali, this is a big step into the history books - given that he joins Contador and a number of other cycling legends as a winner of all three Grand Tours.
Team Sky have also released a statement on their website, informing that David Brailsford will leave the team, due to rumours connecting him to Froome and Wiggins's activities.
Pellizotti2 wrote:
Aaand, I'm back from the break! Time to switch focus from real life Oman to the PCM version and its tour. Bit of a funny coincidence, really!
Marseille was indeed not the best of races. Mostly due to stupidity from me, though. Jules could easily have reached a top 5 if I had only realised that the peloton sits up when the favourites attack in PCM13. I should of course have sent up one of our domestiques to chase right away.
I was going to do a monthly summary before starting Tour of Oman, but I decided not to in the end. You'll have to settle for some more Sky doping news instead
Froome, Wiggins out for two years after requested B samples also come back positive January 30th, 2014
Much like Lance Armstrong and other recent major cheaters in the pro peloton, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins both denied everything when, three weeks ago, it was reported that the two British riders had returned positive tests at the 2013 Tour de France, which Froome won.
Both riders requested for a B sample to be tested, which was done earlier this week. Today, the results were made public by the UCI: positive again. It was also confirmed that Froome and Wiggins have both been given two-year suspensions, and that they will be stripped of all results from the start of 2012 to now.
In response to this, ASO director Christian Prudhomme was quick to announce that Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali would each be presented as overall winners of the 2012 and 2013 Tours at some point in the next few weeks. For Nibali, this is a big step into the history books - given that he joins Contador and a number of other cycling legends as a winner of all three Grand Tours.
Team Sky have also released a statement on their website, informing that David Brailsford will leave the team, due to rumours connecting him to Froome and Wiggins's activities.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Don't worry. Wiggins is likely to retire, and Froome will be returning clean!
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Tour of Oman February 11th-16th, 2014
In its fourth year running, this race more popular than ever. One of the main reasons for that is Jabal Al Akhdhar, the Green Mountain. The climb was added in 2011 after a somewhat disappointing inaugural edition. That change has turned this into a great place for riders targeting Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico to gain some good race days and also test the legs on some challenging terrain.
Despite interest from many strong climbers, the overall doesn't necessarily have to end up in their favour, however. BMC's Marcus Burghardt stole the GC win from them with a successful breakaway last year, so we can't even rule out the average climbers from overall contention.
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Our charge for a good placement in the overall will be led by Kangert, who is mainly trying to build form for the upcoming Paris-Nice. With assistance from Taaramae and Rossetto, I personally believe that he could do quite well. The sprints will be tougher, since one of Martinez's two main helpers García was forced out of the race with sickness yesterday. Jules will have a lot to do.
BMC have given priority to races elsewhere, so Burghardt wont be given the chance to defend his victory. Bib #1 has instead been given to one of the more popular riders present, Fab Cancellara. This is only his first race of the season though, so we might see him taking it easy in the gruppetto with his team mate Andy Schleck.
With those two unlikely to bring home any results, Trek should instead put their hope in Giacomo Nizzolo, who is one of the best sprinters in the race. André Greipel will probably dominate on the flat however - coming straight from overall victory and four stage wins in Qatar. Farrar, Goss and Coquard are other good bets for the sprints.
The overall is in fact far less predictable. With the exception of TDU-protagonist Simon Spilak, all the notable climbers present are starting their season here. It will be very interesting to see if Spilak's slight headstart will be enough for him to take on the likes of Mollema, Pozzovivo, Martin, etc...
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 07-11-2013 16:21
Today is probably the most obvious stage for the sprinters, so we should have several teams working to ensure a mass sprint finish for their leaders. There's at least no wind today, luckily!
Despite the amazingly talented Caleb Ewan's presence in the day's long breakaway, they weren't able to stay away to the finish. Together with his companions, Alexandre Pichot and Adrien Petit, he is brought back with a little over 8 km to go.
With the escapees back in the peloton, Orica-GreenEdge storm to the front for Matthew Goss. Lotto and Lampre also have a number of riders in advanced positions, looking to support Greipel and Modolo, respectively.
Surprisingly, Lotto's normally dominant train can't compete with GreenEdge and Lampre when the speed is escalated further! Greipel still manages to find a great position, right behind Goss, by himself.
Same can't be said about Martinez, unfortunately. After having been part of the line of other sprinters who chose to follow Lotto earlier, he struggled to find a new wheel and sits a long way back with 4 km to the finish.
Moving closer to the finale, Lampre also start to lose ground to GreenEdge, with Cimolai unable to match the speed when Impey launches the final leadout for Goss.
Greipel has fallen back a few wheels, and now also has Nizzolo, Coquard and Markus ahead of him. Martinez has meanwhile made his way back towards the front, albeit after a massive effort.
It's an absolutely fantastic leadout from Impey, who allows Goss to stay protected all the way until the Aussie makes his own move with 600m to go.
Alongside him, the other sprinters also open. An unlucky Greipel is forced to strike from far behind, after getting stuck behind a slowing Kruopis.
Like many times before, Goss struggles to deliver after a tremendous leadout and quickly gets overtaken by both Nizzolo and Coquard. Greipel is coming from behind with the highest speed, however...
Too late from the Gorilla - Nizzolo wins the stage!
Coquard gets 2nd ahead of a frustrated Greipel. Goss and Modolo both miss the bonus seconds altogether, a disappointment for their teams.
Martinez had no legs left for the sprint due to his poor position earlier. 11th place was the best he could achieve today. It can only get better!
Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise: Preview
Santos Tour Down Under: Stage 6
.. ultra mega amazing start of the season.. 
Tour of Oman
