Thomas loves to mess up those breakaway sprints a lot, like he did this year in Dwars door Vlaanderen and Bayern Rundfahrt ( irl ). Very good attack by Geschke, great tactical move and once again Skil does great job in WT race. Keep it going
Thanks guys. The result was all luck and good timing in a strange race.
Squad:
Geniez's form is pretty good at the moment, so he'll be looking for a decent overall result, with help from Doi, Fröhlinger and Bonnin. The others have no real roles, but Kittel and Kluge might be able to do something in a mass sprint.
An Post
191. K.Heytens
192. S.Bennett
193. M.Cassidy
194. M.Debusschere
195. D.Dzervus
196. P.Ghyllebert
197. P.Lavery
198. K.Terweduwe
***** Rein Taaramae
**** Vladimir Efimkin, Johann Tschopp
*** Michael Rogers, Tom Danielson, Oliver Zaugg
** Machado, Laverde, Geniez, Sutherland
* Fothen, Jacobs, Hivert, Peterson, Deignan
22.08 - 29.08: USA Pro Cycling Challenge
Stage 1
Colorado Springs (ITT)
A normal prologue. Short, flat and fast. Even a bit easier than usual, as most of it is slightly downhill. There will be gaps, but no huge ones.
Geniez showed that he deserves the French champion jersey today with a very good ride and finished as best Skil rider. He could nothing do against the pure timetriallists though, and Sebastien Rosseler proved to be the fastest today, becoming the first ever leader of this race.
Result:
1
Sébastien Rosseler
Team RadioShack
9'44
2
Bert Grabsch
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
3
Markel Irizar
Team RadioShack
+ 2
4
Paul Voss
Endura Racing
+ 3
5
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
6
Dominique Cornu
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
+ 5
7
Paul Poux
Saur - Sojasun
+ 8
8
Jose Mendes
CCC Polsat Polkowice
+ 11
9
Rémy Cusin
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 12
10
Cyril Lemoine
Saur - Sojasun
+ 14
...
18
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
+ 18
Stage 2
Salida - Crested Butte
The first mountain stage, and possibly also the only one where there might be some gaps. The steep final climb up to Crested Butte gives a great opportunity for the overall contenders to gain a few seconds on their biggest rivals. You bet we will try.
We didn't just try, we did it with big success. A perfectly timed attack from Geniez left the others in the dust while he increased his gap all the way to the line, gaining nineteen seconds plus the time bonus on the rest of the field, enough to move into overall lead.
Result:
1
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
4h22'59
2
Serge Pauwels
Sky ProCycling
+ 19
3
Rein Taaramae
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
4
Christian Knees
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
5
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
6
Rémy Cusin
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
7
Dario Cioni
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
8
Alex Cano Ardila
Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia
s.t.
9
Philip Deignan
Team RadioShack
s.t.
10
Oliver Zaugg
Leopard Trek
s.t.
Stage 3
Gunnison - Aspen
Second mountain stage in a row, and one with some serious climbing on the route. However, the top of the hard Independence Pass comes quite far out from the finish line. A pretty big group might definitely stay together over the top, ending the stage with a "mass" sprint.
Just as said, a big group reached the finish together, and Mauro Santambrogio proved to be the fastest in it, grabbing the stage win. Geniez did try near the top of the Pass, but got caught at the bottom of the incredibly long descent, then having no power for a sprint.
Result:
1
Mauro Santambrogio
BMC Racing Team
5h14'30
2
Dominique Cornu
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
s.t.
3
Johann Tschopp
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
4
Rein Taaramae
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
5
Vladimir Efimkin
Team Type 1
s.t.
6
Alexander Efimkin
Team Type 1
s.t.
7
Luis Felipe Laverde
Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia
s.t.
8
Oliver Zaugg
Leopard Trek
s.t.
9
René Mandri
Endura Racing
s.t.
10
Jure Kocjan
Team Type 1
s.t.
...
22
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
Stage 4
Vail (ITT)
A hard mountain time trial up Vail Mountain, providing what probably is the best place to distance rivals. A bad day here can cost not just seconds, but minutes. The overall is still pretty close, so we've far from won this yet.
No doubt who was the strongest today. Rein Taaramae caught his team mate Cusin who started two minutes in front of him after just a few kilometres of the climb, telling us a bit about his performance. The young Estonian completely crushed all earlier best times, taking a huge provisional lead.
Geniez fought with every ounce of power in his body on his way to the top, but just couldn't match the insanely strong Taaaramae, losing the jersey to the Cofidis rider. Still third overall tho, also passed by Michael Rogers.
Result:
1
Rein Taaramae
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
25'26
2
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
+ 28
3
Sébastien Rosseler
Team RadioShack
+ 44
4
Jose Mendes
CCC Polsat Polkowice
s.t.
5
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
+ 56
6
Dominique Cornu
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
+ 57
7
Vladimir Efimkin
Team Type 1
+ 1'03
8
Rory Sutherland
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
s.t.
9
Bert Grabsch
HTC - Highroad
+ 1'04
10
Christian Knees
Sky ProCycling
+ 1'05
Stage 5
Avon - Steamboat Springs
Down on the easy terrain after three very hard days. The onehundred and thirtyfour flat kilometres from Avon to Steamboat Springs should provide the first mass sprint in this race. Maybe Kittel?
No mass sprint and no Kittel. The breakaway got a way too big advantage and easily held all the way to the line, where Kiwi champ Hayden Roulston made no mistake, delivering another HTC victory. The peloton came in more than four minutes later, without any serious sprint.
Result:
1
Hayden Roulston
HTC - Highroad
3h15'21
2
Martin Pedersen
Leopard Trek
s.t.
3
Murilo Fischer
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
4
Evan Oliphant
Endura Racing
s.t.
5
Jonathan Patrick McCarty
Team SpiderTech powered by C10
s.t.
6
Mariusz Witecki
CCC Polsat Polkowice
s.t.
7
Björn Thurau
Team NSP
s.t.
8
Laurens De Vreese
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
s.t.
9
Darijus Dzervus
An Post - Sean Kelly
s.t.
10
Camilo Suárez
Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia
s.t.
...
15
Kevin Lacombe
Team SpiderTech powered by C10
+ 4'10
Stage 6
Steamboat Springs - Breckenridge
The penultimate stage, and the last mountain stage. According to me, it's a huge exaggeration to call it a mountain stage, but according to the game, it is. Anyway, it's quite unlikely that the final very slight uphill will create any gaps.
What a shame. After being in solo breakaway all day, Yuki Doi got caught by the late stage escapee trio of Tschopp (BMC), Laverde (Colombia) and Rutkiewicz (CCC) with just three kilometres to go after running out of green bar. So unfair.
Without green bar, Doi couldn't even follow the three and they moved on with Rutkiewicz outgunning his two companions in the final for the stage win. Doi was so tired he even got caught and passed by Taaramae, who won the sprint for fourth place, Geniez was just behind the Estonian, but didn't pass his team mate Doi.
Even more annoyingly than losing the stage win, Laverde and Tschopp both moved up a lot in the overall, pushing Geniez down to fifth.
Result:
1
Tomasz Marczynski
CCC Polsat Polkowice
4h20'38
2
Johann Tschopp
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
3
Luis Felipe Laverde
Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia
s.t.
4
Rein Taaramae
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 1'43
5
Yukihiro Doi
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
6
Alexandre Geniez
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
7
Vladimir Efimkin
Team Type 1
s.t.
8
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
9
Dario Cioni
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
10
Jonathan Hivert
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
Stage 7
Golden - Denver
As in pretty much all stage races, the final stage is a flat one for celebration. The sprinters are probably really looking for a mass sprint here after missing out in Steamboat Springs.
But of course, the breakaway made it again. This time Caleb Fairly surprisingly outsprinted his normally faster companion Martin Pedersen for the stage win. This also proved to be a lucky day for us, as a crash in the final kilometres caught race leader Taaramae, second placed Laverde and third placed Michael Rogers, who all three lost time on Geniez. Therefore he moved up to second overall, only beaten by Johann Tschopp.
I wouldn't call it a 'fantastic' day the last one, after all moving up in the GC because of horrible luck of the others isn't quite nice imo. Taaramae proved to be the strongest rider of the race (not by miles, but still the strongest), so finishing 12th must be dissapointing. But luck is part of cycling, and so it isn't a non-deserved 2nd place for Geniez either, especially seeing how much he fought on the other stages. Also nice stage win and pity Doi's attempt on stage 6 didn't turn out in another win.
And a nice podium by Fischer on stage 5. Pity he didn't win, but at least a bit of his jersey appears on the SS
It all came down to a sprint from a twelve man group, where Cristiano Salerno proved himself the strongest by far, cracking the others big time in the uphill sprint. Geschke didn't have the legs to even try to respond, but still finished on a nice 6th place, picking up even more points.
Result:
1
Cristiano Salerno
Liquigas - Cannondale
6h19'36
2
Francesco Gavazzi
Lampre - ISD
+ 11
3
Oscar Gatto
Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli
s.t.
4
Constantino Zaballa
Miche - Guerciotti
s.t.
5
Kevin De Weert
Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
7
Luca Ascani
D'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo
s.t.
8
Daniele Callegarin
Team Type 1
s.t.
9
Danilo Hondo
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
10
Nico Sijmens
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
28.08: GP Ouest France - Plouay
A serious dèjá-vu yesterday in the finale, where Cristiano Salerno almost repeated his victory on the same climb 24 hours ago. This time however, he got overhauled by Sylvain Chavanel and had to settle for a second place. Geschke once again did well, improving his position from yesterday by one place, easily completing our sponsor goal.
What is your plan with this? Will you continue when 2012 dbs come out, will you convert it, or will you start a new story altogether? I'm quite enjoying this, but I know the fact Skil has changed quite a lot will be a motivating factor.
The most important thing is that we get the pleasure of reading your stories though
What is your plan with this? Will you continue when 2012 dbs come out, will you convert it, or will you start a new story altogether? I'm quite enjoying this, but I know the fact Skil has changed quite a lot will be a motivating factor.
The most important thing is that we get the pleasure of reading your stories though
Great results in two classics, especially in Ouest, where the starlist is usually a very good one, 5th is awesome place, don't know what to expect more ( "could be better" ) with those types of riders
Well done
valverde321 I actaully thought Pelli would just continue normally, people convert stories whenever new PCM comes out ( e.g like many story writers did from PCM 10 to 11 e.g Roturn, Cunego etc. ). But whenever new DB comes out I don't think there's need to convert, as sometimes the PCM trasnfers might make the game more enjoyable.
Great performances by Geschke especially in GP Ouest France, as Alakagom pointed out, where the startlist was much tougher. Nicely done by reaching the sponsor goal
@Alakagom: well Roturn did convert his story last year when the 11's DB came out. He changed team names and jerseys, but not the riders (if I remember correctly). However I hope this story continues like it is, let PCM11 handle the job of new sponsors
). Very good attack by Geschke, great tactical move and once again Skil does great job in WT race. Keep it going 
