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Double Feature | THE END
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 14:44
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-02-2013 11:07
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Ian Butler wrote:
sutty68 - I know what you mean  for me it's so refreshing. It may sound crude but I was really getting sick of playing with Lotto there 
Seeing how you rushed through the last part of the season, that's not hard to believe Anyway, I hope you're having a better motivation of playing with Argos, the results seem to fit 
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| krisa |
Posted on 06-02-2013 11:15
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3962
Joined: 12-04-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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That guy doesn't look like Thor Hushovd but very good second place |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 06-02-2013 11:31
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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cunego59 - Yeah, sorry about that But I was afraid the story might stagger in those final races without the proper motivation. I thought it'd be best for the story to get to the new season as soon as possible. And I was right, because I'm loving it right now
krisa - Maybe he had plastic surgery, who will tell? |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 06-02-2013 11:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Ruta de San Luis - Stage 2
The second day here. It's great riding around without real pressure. However, we've set clear goals for ourselves, and we're prepared to give the maximum to achieve them.
Another flat race, most probable to end in a mass sprint.
Today we had a great day, weather-wise. At the kick-off, the sun was already shining. You can see Stijn in the Green Jersey on the left.
While we started, taking it easy, Pieter Serry jumped on his bike and rushed away, what a flying start of him!
He had discussed this yesterday at dinner. He wanted that Mountain Jersey. He had no problem taking them today, let's hope he can keep the jersey home!
How the sprint went, I'll let Stijn tell you. But I can tell you some bad news... There was a minor crash in the final turn, causing a group of 20 to finish over a minute later. Unfortunately, I was part of that group, I wasn't positioned well. So I'm afraid I can forget about winning the Tour San Luis this year. Instead, I'm riding for either a stage win (which will be very hard) or a top 10 place.
Once again, I won the fight for the wheel of Hushovd. Training with Kittel and Degenkolb, two strong sprinters, has definitely had its advantages. I've grown stronger over the winter.
The lead-out his team gave him was impressive, and the pace was high. But this really felt like my day, my legs were superb today!
The final sprint!
At first I had some troubles getting out of Hushovd's slipstream. But in the end, I found the energy necessary and I gave it another acceleration!
And it was enough, barely, but enough! It's incredible, I take my first of the season!
Wow, this is simply amazing. I had a great winter and despite my cold a week ago, I've had the perfect preparation for the season. This is already bearing its fruit. However, today I had really great legs, it won't be like this every day, but that doesn't matter now. I get my first win of the season so early!
Result
| 1 | Stijn Van Gent | Team Argos-Shimano | 3h27'35 | IanButler | | 2 | Francisco Ventoso | Movistar Team | s.t. | | | 3 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | s.t. | | | 4 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | | 5 | Juan José Haedo | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | | 6 | Andrea Guardini | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | s.t. | | | 7 | Simone Ponzi | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | | 8 | Filippo Pozzato | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | s.t. | | | 9 | Samuel Caldeira | Carmim - Prio - Tavira | s.t. | | | 10 | Elia Favilli | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | s.t. | | | (...) | | 73 | Willy Wouters | Team Argos-Shimano | + 1'33 | IanButler |
General Classification
| 1 | Stijn Van Gent | Team Argos-Shimano | 7h07'56 | IanButler | | 2 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | + 4 | | | 3 | Francisco Ventoso | Movistar Team | + 20 | | | 4 | Luke Roberts | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | | 5 | Pieter Serry | Team Argos-Shimano | + 22 | IanButler | | 6 | Juan José Haedo | Team Saxo Bank | + 24 | | | 7 | Martin Elmiger | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 26 | | | 8 | Damien Gaudin | Team Europcar | + 28 | | | 9 | Mitchell Docker | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 30 | | | 10 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 32 | | | (...) | | 72 | Willy Wouters | Team Argos-Shimano | + 2'05 | IanButler |
Points
| 1 | Stijn Van Gent | Team Argos-Shimano | 45 | IanButler | | 2 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | 41 | | | 3 | Francisco Ventoso | Movistar Team | 32 | | | 4 | Juan José Haedo | Team Saxo Bank | 28 | | | 5 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | 22 | |
Mountain Points
| 1 | Pieter Serry | Team Argos-Shimano | 6 | IanButler | | 2 | Diego Caccia | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | 4 | | | 3 | Bruno Silva | Carmim - Prio - Tavira | 2 | |
On top of it all, Stijn will ride in yellow and also holds the green and the young jersey, while Serry holds the mountain jersey!
The only unfortunate thing is Willy's loss of time in this flat stage. We'll see where he ends up, maybe Serry will go for the GC now, or maybe Stijn can do some damage control in the hilly stages and the time trial...
Until tomorrow, for a hilly finish,
Stijn & Willy |
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| krisa |
Posted on 06-02-2013 11:48
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3962
Joined: 12-04-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Victory he comes the bananas  |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 06-02-2013 12:00
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Protected Rider
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Already winning stages, Stijn didn't missed his start at Argos. This is going to be great 
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-02-2013 12:21
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Stijn has started the season in Terrfic style, long may it continue  |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 06-02-2013 16:07
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Tour de France Champion
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Yeah, great win!
And I agree, them riding in Argos shirts is refreshing
A shame that Willy lost time. Maybe he can get a Top 5/10 in the TT...
Edited by Jesleyh on 06-02-2013 16:14
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 06-02-2013 17:23
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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krisa - Thanks a lot
PCM rulezz - He sure didn't. The proper motivation is everything in cycling
sutty68 - Thanks, I hope he will continue this all through the year
Jesleyh - Glad you agree! Indeed, Stijn's win is overshadowing Willy's bad luck a bit. But it's "only" San Luis, the season is long...
I'll try to do the next stage this evening, because I'm bloody motivated to race more in that Argos shirt with the two young promising Belgians
Thanks for all the support so far, really!! |
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| Schleck96 |
Posted on 06-02-2013 17:53
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Stijn already showing who's boss! We hope it stays this way until October |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 06-02-2013 18:04
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Classics Specialist
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Nice win for Stijn...
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 06-02-2013 18:13
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Team Leader
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Wonderful win!
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 06-02-2013 18:44
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Schleck96 - Hope so, too
dienblad - Thanks a lot. Not as big as Wilco in your story, but that's only a matter of time
Atlantius - Thanks!
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 06-02-2013 18:44
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Ruta de San Luis - Stage 3
The third stage. Stijn is expected to lose his leader's jersey today. Let's see if that happens.
Serry took his chance and is now stronger in his Mountain Jersey.
More importantly for me was riding around in that leader's jersey. It's simply amazing and I'm going to miss it a lot! However, nobody was able to break away near the end and it looked like it was going to be a sprint. I had great legs once again and I was still at the front, going into the final kilometer!
Unfortunately, there was some minor time difference, I'm now fifth on the GC, still not bad. The time trial and hilly stage that follow will drop me down even further.
Today I tried my best. First, with 15km left to go, I dared in an attack. Hoogerland followed.
Pozzato joined us for a while, but we got caught by the peloton. Some others tried, but no one got away.
I was still very up at the front when the sprint started, but because of the attack earlier, I didn't have the punch to really finish it off.
Evans shows a great shape and takes the win, along with the leader's jersey. I finish on a fourth place, which is pretty good. My shape is not that great yet, but I'll be alright for Tirreno - Adriatico, that's for sure!
I move up to the top 40, maybe the time trial and final hilly stage can bump me into the top 10, let's hope so.
Result
| 1 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | 4h08'00 | | | 2 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | + 22 | | | 3 | Domenico Pozzovivo | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | | 4 | Willy Wouters | Team Argos-Shimano | s.t. | IanButler | | 5 | Alessandro Ballan | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | | 6 | Filippo Pozzato | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | s.t. | | | 7 | Fabian Cancellara | Radioshack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | | 8 | Eros Capecchi | Colnago - CSF Inox | s.t. | | | 9 | Jan Bakelants | Radioshack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | | 10 | Alexandre Vinokourov | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | | (...) | | 24 | Stijn Van Gent | Team Argos-Shimano | + 49 | IanButler |
General Classification
| 1 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | 11h16'08 | | | 2 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | + 2 | | | 3 | Domenico Pozzovivo | BMC Racing Team | + 34 | | | 4 | Filippo Pozzato | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | + 36 | | | 5 | Stijn Van Gent | Team Argos-Shimano | + 37 | IanButler | | 6 | Fabian Cancellara | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 42 | | | 7 | Sebastian Langeveld | Orica-GreenEDGE | s.t. | | | 8 | Alessandro Ballan | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | | 9 | Blel Kadri | Team Europcar | s.t. | | | 10 | Alexandre Vinokourov | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | | (...) | | 36 | Willy Wouters | Team Argos-Shimano | + 2'11 | IanButler |
Points
| 1 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | 61 | | | 2 | Stijn Van Gent | Team Argos-Shimano | 45 | IanButler | | 3 | Francisco Ventoso | Movistar Team | 34 | | | 4 | Filippo Pozzato | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | 33 | | | 5 | Juan José Haedo | Team Saxo Bank | 28 | |
Mountain Points
| 1 | Pieter Serry | Team Argos-Shimano | 22 | IanButler | | 2 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | 16 | | | 3 | Thor Hushovd | Katusha Team | 12 | | | 4 | Andrea Piechele | Colnago - CSF Inox | 12 | | | 5 | Jérémie Galland | Ag2r La Mondiale | 12 | |
So the time trial will change things up some more. However, Stijn might just have lost the points jersey here.
On another note: Movistar will not prolong its sponsorship. We're curious who'll step up and take over!
Until tomorrow!
Stijn & Willy
Edited by Ian Butler on 06-02-2013 18:46
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 06-02-2013 18:51
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Nice try, better luck next time
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 06-02-2013 21:22
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8389
Joined: 08-09-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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Good ride from your riders! |
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| pcm2009fan |
Posted on 06-02-2013 21:37
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It's refreshing to see Stijn and Willy in their new kit. Very happy to see Stijn already winning a sprint finish |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-02-2013 23:22
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Nice to see Willy having a go
But a shame that Stijn lost his leader jersey  |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 07-02-2013 04:56
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Going well. Sting still 5th overall.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 07-02-2013 09:32
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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PCM rulezz - Thanks, BMC was just too keen to keep everything together for Evans.
FreitasPCM - Thanks!
pcm2009fan - I really enjoy the new kit myself, so refreshing and the first victory is just a great bonus and a nice way to start the season.
sutty68 - Yeah, he did the best he could, though. (with a +5 daily form, even) 
Jakstar22 - Thanks I expect Stijn to drop out of the top 10 soon, though. Let's hope he can someone hang on!
I should be able to do a report today. But first things first, so now I'm going back to my books |
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