I have been settling in nicely here at CCC and I have been spending a lot of time with Puccio and Trentin in Gabon. It is nice to make friends so quickly. The weather in Gabon is terrible at the moment, so we are mostly spending our time inside.
Apparently the manager wants to kill us, because after the Tour of Gabon finishes, most of us have to jump on the plane immediately and go to Australia to race there. We'll have a huge jet lag, which might hurt our performance Down Under. Maybe the manager has a secret magic potion or something.
Anyway, I will definitely stay in Australia for a while, for my next race is not until March. Especially Strade Bianche is marked with a red circle on my calendar, for I believe this is the most exciting race Italy has to offer. I've ridden on the white roads a lot when I was younger, but it will be a lot more difficult in the pro peloton. The next day we are heading to Rome, for the Roma Maxima. How awesome would it be if I could race my arms in the air with the Colosseum on the background. It will probably remain a dream for a few years.
After another one month break, I'll be finishing this part of the season in The Netherlands, at the Volta Limburg Classic. I don't know much about the race, but it must be hilly.
While I am satisfied with my calendar, I am still disappointed that we did not apply for the any of the Italian World Tour races and I'll miss the cobblestones this year, but the biggest disappointment comes from not going to the Giro d'Italia. I really hoped that after last year with Team Europcar, this year I could ride the Giro, but it seems the manager has other plans. The team could have gained a lot of exposure, but it seems they rather go to some far away deserts, where nobody cares one bit about cycling.
Oh well... hopefully we can start racing in Gabon soon. Can't wait to get out of here.
We understand your feelings towards your schedule and it was a decision being made, where either path was hard to find each others strenghts and we hope we've made the right decision. The Giro is on our schedule next year and since we know how much you love cobbles, that wish might also come true, but in the end it depends on you.
Focusing more on the cobbles next year, give us a reason to focus on smaller race day ratios and give us more space to fill in the Giro, so if you decide to stay for next season, then we expect to fill this fully. Right now we want you to focus on your schedule and we'll get a chance to discuss this later in the season.
But and there is a but, you need to realize that our current Mountain squad isn't ready for a race like the Giro this year and in the end they we're our whole purpose of going there and even though Rebellin would've loved getting his last Giro, we still have a strong team for other races and if you keep on growing into a strong rider, then our team will also evolve around you aswell.
We're having a hard start and we don't want you to concern yourself with what might have been better and what will happen next season. Keep your focus and I'm sure the rest will follow.
mvhoogdalem wrote:
not going to the Giro d'Italia. I really hoped that after last year with Team Europcar, this year I could ride the Giro
probably misplaced cause we didn't resign you due to the CR limit instead of you leaving us but Europcar is doing the Giro and sending all it's Italians
mvhoogdalem wrote:
not going to the Giro d'Italia. I really hoped that after last year with Team Europcar, this year I could ride the Giro
probably misplaced cause we didn't resign you due to the CR limit instead of you leaving us but Europcar is doing the Giro and sending all it's Italians
I did not say that I left Europcar, just that Europcar had no interest in the Giro (which is logical with the TdF), so I hoped to ride the Giro with CCC.
The team has been getting some light training here in Gabon, so they can be ready for the task ahead, but also have power for San Luis or Tour Down Under after the race. The opening field at Gabon is pretty tough and I doubt we can get our goal completed, but I do have faith in my riders.
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
Leader GC:
Andre Schneider Leader sprint:
Matteo Trentin EPIC riders:
Drago di Silvestro
Andre Schneider
CCC comes to Gabon, mostly looking for the sprints. It remains to be seen how far Trentin can get, but they should be able to get away with a few top 10 finishes, maybe even some top 5's. For the GC they put their hopes on the shoulders of Schneider and he should have a good chance at a top 10 here. He will have limited support though, and he might even have to help in the sprint train.
We've been given some nice words along the way and I do belive Schneider and Trentin can hunt that stage win pretty well. We are going to have to work together to keep Trentin attractive for the sprints, so we've chose a pretty strong squad for this race and the leadout is one of the best possible in our case.
Here is a short preview of our actions throughout the first stage of Tour of Gabon:
Our loyal rider Tomasz Kiendys was eager to join the break and even though this had been assigned to Puccio, Puccio said that he was more comfortable leading out Trentin in the end. Kiendys was very anonymous and didn't do much in the break, other than taking the focus off from the team and toward our rivals.
There were some trouble in getting away for Tomasz and after catching points he dropped back. This mean't that Trentin was our main focus for the rest of the stage.
Heimdall Hägg won the stage and Trentin was blocked from making any impact in the sprint of the pack.
Tour of Gabon was our first race of the season and we also had our first goal in this race! We were active every day and new standards were set to the definition of an average result in a race.
To sum up we participated in 5 breaks and at two stages we attacked in the final kilometres, sadly Golas wasn't present to do this, so we had to use our leader Andre Schneider to do this with Salvatore Puccio. Personally I'm very proud of these moves, but fact is that the team couldn't support Trentin in the sprints and all our riders were not usefull in that aspect.
Drago's role was to set the pace for Matteo, but he simply didn't have the energy in this race and his finishing result showed why we couldn't have a leading role in this race. We don't blame any of our riders and the end result was all about luck, which didn't favour us at all in the end.
Highlights
Schneider attacked on the last kilometres
But went to early and lost time to those who attacked after his attack
Salvatore Puccio attacking with the pack being really slow[/small
[small]Salvatore was really unlucky and lost position to 3 sprinters on the line
When it truly mattered, Jaroslaw Marycz was empty and his sprinting skills didn't matter
It should've been the other man in orange, but sadly it wasn't
I did not like Gabon before the race started, and I certainly do not like it any better now. The weather here changes so many times a day, which is terrible if you have to ride a bike for a few hours. At least some of my team-mates were feeling a little better, resulting in a few top 10 finishes. I mainly saw the back of the peloton. Hopefully I do not have to go back here next year.
Anyway, I am in the hotel now with the rest of the team, waiting for our flight to Australia in the morning. We might not even get there in time, especially if the flight is delayed. I have been told the weather there is a lot nicer, so I am hopeful that I can show myself on the roads there, either in the breakaway or at the front of the peloton, working for Trentin and Schneider.
The day started with Drago di Silvestro trying to get into the break, but the break wasn't given a chance.
We didn't give up and our main reason for being here, is getting an stage win from the break and we did manage to send Pyroli Feunard away.
Pyroli was aiming for the polka dots and he was very successfull, when you take into consideration that Bettiol was with him.
Pyroli was suddenly alone with 10 km's left and even though the gap was little, we wanted him to preserve the lead and his remaining energy.
Pyroli's day ends with 5 km's left, but he surely caused some havoc among the sprinters and it has cost their leadouts great and vital energy. Pyroli wins the KoM jersey and secures 6th place in the GC.
We just finished our second stage race of the season and this one of the big category, we had an hard goal here with a stage win and while being one of the hardest given to any team this season part, we were closer than we could've hoped for and in the end we had a better result than many of the WT teams. We now bring you some highlights and the orange colour was shown almost every day.
Feunard was in the break of the day and he was going to show a great result from himself in his first stage for us.
Feunard took initiative and he was aware of our goal, but in the end we had to stay satisfied with a KoM jersey.
Kristoff (KAT) took the win and the GC on stage 2. We were silent and Trentin was never going to participate in the sprint.
We were unlucky and didn't get in Break of the Day and this might've been our biggest chance to win a stage from the break, but we were never in it.
Feunard was on a quest and it was for the retrieval of the KoM jersey
Feunard couldn't keep up with Parisien's acceleration and was eventually dropped, but the KoM jersey was his once again.
Salvatore Puccio thought that Pyrloi shouldn't carry the burden alone and pressure on the young french fighter, was eased on a little. The italian never got any result from the stage though.
Feunard was in the break today to secure the KoM jersey and the french fighter was very upset by his former performance.
We've send Davide Rebellin to lead our team here in Algarve and we're finally back on european soil! The goal is to get some nice Top 10's from the sprints and in the end a Top 20 from Rebellin should do for our expectations. However expectations doesn't always end like they're supposed to and we hope to get a good result from here.
We expect to have the San Luis reports up soon and then we will introduce our monthly newsletter containing all the info of the first month.
There is no other way to put it for myself, I just didn't have the form to do anything in the Tour Down Under. I was hoping after my track training that I would have more zip on the flat but my first world tour challenge has proven to be a very tough proposition. The race was made worth while though however with Pyroli Feunard, he said he was going to go for the KOM so we decided we would let him have his chance on day 1 and take the jersey in the end so fair play to him, I hope I can find my legs soon as well as Pyroli has this week. We were also hoping Trentin could contest the sprints but the line-up was unbelievable, I'll be amazed if these guys are still going in September, we will see!
Heading back to the European continent for GP Marseilles was a long long flight, luckily I had plenty of rom-coms to watch on the way. Although it's fair to say we showed in person but we were never in the race, a pretty outstanding win from the break makes it all so disappointing for us, 9/10 we would have had a man up there, hopefully it'll be me soon.
You'll next see me out in the CCC jersey in Malaysia, Tour of Langkawi, it'll be a long ten days and will test my recovery for the first time in my career, I'm there was Pyroli once again, must stop those triplets stealing the limelight .
Todays stage was a visit to "The Green Mountain" and believe us when we say that it wasn't! Our goal was a Top 10 from Nokkvason.
Golas was in todays break and though the terrain didn't suit him, he was eager to try anyway.
Szmyd was helper for Nokkvason today, but was looking for an escape route for our icelandic leader.
Everyone of the favorites are attacking, but Nokkvason is one of the last to join them.
He never got into the big favorite group, but managed to get 11th of the stage, which is a solid result considering how it all worked out.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Christophe Riblon
AG2R La Mondiale
3h21'34
2
Nikola Langov
Team Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 1'12
3
Jose Alarcon
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
s.t.
11
Johann Nokkvason
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 3'10
27
Sylwester Szmyd
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 6'15
31
Thomas Damuseau
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 6'39
37
Michal Golas
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 7'00
48
Marek Rutkiewicz
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 7'15
77
Maciej Paterski
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 9'24
86
Jacek Morajko
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 10'43
118
Pyroli Feunard
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
Stage 5
Todays stage would be deciding the GC and the break had a good chance of causing some havoc for the Top 10 guys and the narrow roads in the start would be essential.
Thomas Damuseau was in todays break and though he should've been in yesterdays break, Golas would've had been a more fitting pick.
Johann Nokkvason was a victim of BMC's hard tactics in the narrow climbs in the start and wasn't in todays favorite group and Damuseau are our only hope to keep our goal alive.
Damuseau opens the sprint for the stage win in the break and he has Natnael Berhane at his side.
Berhane and Damuseau is equal till the end, but there can only be one winner.
Berhane (MTN) takes their first stage win, instead of giving us our first stage win of the season and we must deem ourselves an second 2nd place.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Natnael Berhane
MTN - Qhubeka
3h41'32
2
Thomas Damuseau
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
3
Iván Velasco
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
42
Sylwester Szmyd
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
+ 9'47
48
Johann Nokkvason
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
59
Marek Rutkiewicz
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
66
Michal Golas
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
68
Jacek Morajko
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
90
Maciej Paterski
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
93
Pyroli Feunard
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
s.t.
Summary
Tour of Oman has been a mixed feeling getting two 2nd places and I feel that if a Top 10 and two stage wins have been very close and are really unhappy none of these chances was taken. Solid team performance getting only 24 points, though we kinda deserve getting more and that stage win is still really far away!
The team has two goals in these races and while both will be hard to achieve, we have the confidence in giving it a go! The Langkawi roster is for the breakaways, sprints and the GC, so if we can get results in every category, then we would also call this a great achievement.
The lineup is rumoured to be really tough, since many teams got a goal here and we hope to give a good show here. Albert Llanet will use this race as a warmup for Catalunya and he is eager to get a Top 10 from here too.
Tour of Langkawi
Nat.
Last Name
First Name
Role
Llanet
Albert
Captain
Damuseau
Thomas
Lieutenant
Feunard
Pyroli
Lieutenant
Sinkeldam
Ramon
Sprinter
Marycz
Jaroslaw
Leadout
Matysiak
Bartlomiej
Leadout
Puccio
Salvatore
Helper
Miles
Nattrapon
Helper
Team Goal : Top 10 GC
Personal Goal : Stage Win
Roma Maxima
Nat.
Last Name
First Name
Role
Rebellin
Davide
Captain
Trentin
Matteo
Sprinter
di Silvestro
Drago
Leadout
Puccio
Salvatore
Leadout
Marycz
Jaroslaw
Leadout
Nowak
Mateusz
Helper
Paterski
Maciej
Helper
Morajko
Jacek
Helper
Team Goal : Podium
Personal Goal : Top 10
The goals we've been given is ridicolous and a podium at Roma Maxima was given, as we wanted to do great here and get some easier countered goals, this didn't happen and now we must do our best to accomplish getting our first goal here.
Trentin isn't strong enough to do everything on his own and Rebellin's experience is our best bet for a win, but the competition will be hard and it will be hard to get this goal done.
It has been an eventful start for CCC in Malaysia. We've contested the sprints, go on the attack and have fought up hill. Unfortunately the first win of the season for the team in orange is still up for grabs. Damuseau, are general classification leader went second on the first up hill finish of the season, really unlucky for him as that's his second podium this year. However, he may win the overall yet, who knows?
Sinkledam has been mixing it up in the sprints and I have done my best to try and get him in the best place possible for contention. Two 6th places are respectable for him but we are hoping he can crack the top 5 or a podium.
I myself have put in an attack on stage two but the peloton wanted to stay in control all the way for the sprinters and I wasn't able to get away. I did however take the intermediate sprint, that will be nice bonus money for everyone.
All this action but we aren't even at the half way stage yet so hopefully I will be able to report brighter news in six days time.
It has been a while since I wrote an update, but I have found some time today. The first race after La Tropicale Amissa Bongo was the Tour Down Under. However, with the long flight and no time to recover, I would have preferred to stay in the hotel instead of racing.
On the first stage I tried to go in the breakaway, but immediately felt my legs were not good, so I was glad the peloton did not let us go. In the end I finished almost last of the peloton. Stage 2 was a hilly stage and I finished in the back of a dropped group. The atmosphere in the hotel was not great either, because we were not getting great results and Feunard lost the KoM jersey.
Stage 3 was a disaster for our team. Our whole team got dropped on Mount Corkscrew or whatever that damn hill is called. Not a good day for us. At the finish line I saw that Villella won the stage. He is a good friend and a great guy, so I am happy that he already got a victory in his first pro season.
I felt a bit better on stage 4, like the rest of our team. We even managed to all stay in the peloton, which was quite an achievement for us... Feunard got in the break again to go after the mountain jersey. He managed to get it back. He is one of the guys that has not raced in Gabon, so obviously his legs are much better than ours.
Stage 5 was the one I dreaded the most. With my bad legs, twice over Old Willunga Hill. I almost stayed in my bed, but Puccio wouldn't let me quit the race. Something about valuable lessons and experience. Luckily for me the peloton decided not to go fast uphill and I managed to stay in the peloton in the end. At least the back of the peloton is a good place for chatting with other riders.
Stage 6 should have been an easy stage, but the wind did not agree. Our whole team got dropped again, except for Feunard, who got in the break to secure the KoM jersey. At least we leave here with a prize. I hope the manager notices that we need rest between races and not a plane flight.
I'll be staying here for a few days to get my energy back, before travelling to Italy to prepare for Strade Bianche and Roma Maxima.
Our team just finished the last stage of the malaysian stage race called Tour de Langkawi and we were a part of the 5 teams with most points from this 10 stage long race, but the guys delivered their best here and I'm proud of their performace, where we ended on 2nd place in the final Standings, which is fantastic considering all our rivals were against us!
We had an newsletter reading for posting, but ended up getting it all lost, nonetheless we can announce that Rider of the Month goes to Pyroli Feunard, which made his debut for us in Tour Down Under and in his first appearance he took the final KoM jersey after some succesfull breakaways. Pyroli has shown mature professionalism in his time here and we hope he will continue this spree!
After 10 stages in the South East of Asian the team came away with a second in general classification. It was a really brave effort from Damuseau but on stage five he didn't quite have the legs but great work by Llanet was able to save his podium place.
With that we also managed to finish inside the top 10 of six stages which is a good showing for the CCC jersey. Unfortunately Sinkledam didn't have the speed to contest for a stage win in a very congested and talented sprint field.
My own personal performance was quite but I did what I could for Sinkledam in the sprints, I do feel there is still more to come with my form and with discussions with our team manager I know I have a real solid schedule coming up so a lot to look forward to in the future.
just a small reminder to all the team's custom riders, that I've changed the races we're gonna apply for in the next season part, hence you will get a new schedule and that the changes was made to get max possible points with our current squad.
We now have 20 riders with 62 race days and this is a big vital point for our team getting the best position possible. However this might change if we get an application declined and if that happens we will seek an race to replace that one, but let's cross fingers for that everything works out.
I will send the new schedule to you at a point, where I have the time
Tour of Gabon
Natt Miles
