A good amount of points are up for grabs in this rather special Spanish race. Unlike most others in the country, it's not one for the climbers or the puncheurs, but instead the sprinters. The course does admittedly include a lot of uphill kilometers, but mostly at low gradients and far from the finish.
Quickstep's Matteo Trentin isn't back to the defend his title, which opens the road for last year's 3rd: Michal. Actually not necessarily, as we're likely to go for Alexander instead. We'll see how they feel after the climbs, and decide after that. Clement and Pierre-Luc will try to upset the sprinters in some way.
Top favourite EBH will have a tough time, as his Sky team hasn't bothered to send him any real support. Dombrowski will have a busy race for sure.
Contenders to him are one of last year's most successful riders; Van Rensburg, an aging Bennati and perhaps also the real 2012 season's winner: Michael Matthews.
Thanks, guys. Sorry for another slightly less detailed report, as it's been a while since I rode also this race.
1.HC: Clasica de Almeria
Daniele Bennati clearly seems to be confident about today, as his Saxo-Tinkoff team manage the peloton all the way from kilometer zero. Even Alberto Contador helps out with the pacemaking as they control the day's primary breakaway including Haas (Garmin), Machado (Radioshack) and Minguez (Euskaltel).
The escape trio is caught a long way out from the finish, even before the final 20 km. There's soon more to do for Saxo though, as Pierre-Luc shoots off an attack under the 10 km to go-banner!
Surprisingly, pre-race favourite Boasson Hagen is the one who takes chase. Along with him also Vincent Jerome (Europcar) and Tomas Vaitkus (Orica), thus forming a trio between the lone leader and the peloton.
The escapees withstand the field's increasing speed for a surprisingly long time, but as we sweep around the final corner with just 3 km to go, Pierre is the only one left in front - and not by much!
The catch causes a bit of a slowdown for some reason, which allows Pierre to extend his lead a little again up to around 20s.
We also use the event to move our train up into front position, to maintain a low speed.
Into the final kilometer, Pierre still leads by a very slim margin, but the sprinters are now launching from behind.
He is shut down just 300m from the finish. Truly heartbreaking for us, while Blanco's Robert Wagner flies into the lead. Steele Von Hoff (Garmin) and a pressured Bennati look to challenge.
Bennati comes back well in the end, but it's Wagner who takes it!
FDJ's Bouhanni takes third after a flying finish, just ahead of the remaining two top 5 slots: Von Hoff and Drucker (Radioshack).
Pierre breaks down mentally after the catch and falls all the way down to 7th, turning Alex' 9th place and Michal's 10th into our best results today. With Clement in 15th as well, we leave the race with a good amount of points, even though we weren't really close to the win.
Here's an overhead look of how things look after the first two months of racing. It's a very basic summary, for reasons mentioned in the two previous reports. After this, things should go back to usual with the start of March.
Notable results
14/01
The Palm Classic
Arnaud Demare
17/01 - 22/01
Santos Tour Down Under
Sylvain Chavanel
23/01 - 29/01
Tour de San Luis
Rui Costa
05/02 - 10/02
Tour of Qatar
Adrien Petit
15/02 - 20/02
Tour of Oman
Marcus Burghardt
19/02 - 23/02
Vuelta a Andalucia
Vincenzo Nibali
For those of you wondering, The Palm Classic is a new WT race held on the palm peninsula in Dubai. It's pan flat and thus all for the sprinters. Burghardt's surprising victory in Oman was thanks to a successful break.
UCI WorldTour: Individual
1
Sylvain Chavanel
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
110
2
Arnaud Demare
FDJ
98
3
Zdenek Stybar
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
88
4
David Tanner
Blanco ProCycling
70
5
Jonathan Cantwell
Saxo - Tinkoff
64
6
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
60
7
Andrea Guardini
Astana Pro Team
59
8
Lars Boom
Blanco ProCycling
54
9
Michael Matthews
Orica - GreenEDGE
42
10
Aidis Kruopis
Orica - GreenEDGE
40
Stybar and Tanner joined Chavanel on the overall podium in Tour Down Under, while Cantwell and Guardini did the same with Demare in Dubai.
UCI WorldTour: Team
1
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
213
2
Blanco ProCycling
143
3
FDJ
105
4
Orica - GreenEDGE
103
5
Saxo - Tinkoff
64
Double win in Down Under puts OPQS at the head of state. Blanco have also started the season very well, just like they did last year.
Petit scored amazingly well with the big stage breakthrough in Qatar. Clement's second place is obviously very positive news for us. Third man on the podium, Guay, won a stage and the overall in Volta ao Algarve.
Surely nobody is even a little surprised about the leading team. Even without Purito to lead the way, Katusha are too strong for the CT. We also look set for another strong season if this continues.
Two sprinters share the lead as we get a more clear idea of who've done well so far. Wagner with victories in Almeria and more notably Tour Med has been incredibly impressive so far. Best rider for us is again Clement, in 16th.
CQ Ranking: Team
1
Orica - GreenEDGE
1587
2
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
1449
3
Blanco ProCycling
1214
4
Saxo - Tinkoff
906
5
BMC Racing Team
880
GreenEDGE are just like last year doing great, with plenty of riders scoring big so far. OPQS meanwhile look set for going into the lead with rocketspeed during the upcoming classics.
An aforementioned Petit with the overall and two stage wins in Qatar, two stages in Langkawi and one in San Luis shares the lead with Haedo, who took five of his six wins in New Zealand Cycle Classic, which he dominated.
Goss (3 wins), Gerrans (2), Kruopis (2), Clarke (1) and Impey (1) have helped GreenEDGE into the lead, while Boonen (3), Cavendish (2), Chavanel (2), Stybar (1) and Vermote (1) have done the same for OPQS.
We split our squad in half for the next couple of days. The classics team lines up here to sharpen the form for upcoming races, while the other half are staying home in France for our big stage debut in Paris-Nice. With a short prologue followed by two stages that include cobbled sections, this is the perfect race to use as a final test for the classics. Depending a little on how decisive the cobbles turn out, obviously.
We're going to try to make the cobbles as hard as possible, as we don't think Alex will be a serious contender in a mass sprint with his current form. Jean-Lou and Toms are therefore co-leaders. Both should have good chances to escape near the end or even sprint well from a smaller group, so we're hopeful.
Startnumber #1, that's not a common thing for us! Admittedly not the toughest opposition ever, but still a few strong names. Stijn Devolder (Radioshack) being probably the biggest one. Gert Steegmans (Quickstep) probably wont give up defending the title easily either.
Plenty of strong sprinters as well. Alex probably wont stand a chance against Tom Veelers (Blanco), Danilo Napolitano (Accent) or even Greg Henderson (Lotto) at the moment, which means it's even more important for us to break the field on the cobbles.
Testing out some new things in this race, to see how it looks. Might change a bit in other upcoming races if I'm not happy with it. Just so you know.
2.1: Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen: Stage 1
The first hour or so didn't really provide any events nor times worth noting. We eventually got on track with our first rider however: Toms
Being not exactly the biggest fan of riding against the clock, he does a pretty good job and completes the short course with a time of 9'47 - just 14 seconds short of current leader, Radioshack's Jesse Sergent.
Not long after him comes one of today's big favourites: Swedish champion Gustav Larsson (IAM).
He unsurprisingly overtakes the lead from Sergent, but not in a particularly distinct way. New best time of 9'30, just 3 seconds better.
Next for us is Jean-Lou, who is looking for a good start to use as springboard for an attempt to make a leap up the GC on the cobbles.
He really isn't much of a timetriallist either though, and goes a little way behind the top times. As expected in other words, 10 seconds down on Larsson.
And soon we have a new leader again. Patrick Gretsch (Argos) makes the Germans proud and proves that he deserves to wear the national colours by clocking a time of 9'26.
Following him is one of today's big revelations: FDJ's youngster Johan Le Bon. With 9'29, he knocks Larsson down to third and narrows Gretsch's solid-looking lead a little bit.
Gretsch only gets the chance to enjoy the lead for a little longer, as Markel Irizar (Radioshack) impressively takes over after a few more minutes. A clear overhaul as well, cutting the best time by another 4 seconds!
Team mate Ben Hermans can't do much to change the head of things, but still goes into an unexpected fourth place, less than a second slower than Le Bon.
As we reach the line of riders with a startnumber ending with 1, there's a new change at the front. Veteran Marco Pinotti (BMC) is still holding up really well, and makes his home public proud as he storms home with 9'17.
Down to the very last riders now, with somewhat of the race's big favourite: Stijn Devolder. After a few tough years without much success, he's trying to bounce back with a fresh new start at Radioshack.
It remains to be seen how his overall ambitions turn out, but at least he's off to a good start. 9'24 puts him in provisional third place with great chances of pulling on the yellow jersey at some point.
That leaves just a few riders, including last man off the starting ramp: Alex Serebryakov. Without any good form, he can't really do much today and notes 9'47, exactly the same as Toms.
So that means Pinotti wins this opening stage and leads the race as we approach the cobbles. Dropping him wont be an easy task.
Best rider for us is Andzs in 35th, with Jean-Lou in 43rd and Toms in 74th. With JL just 16 seconds away from the podium, we're really excited about the two upcoming stages!
Stage / GC
1
Marco Pinotti
BMC Racing Team
9'17
2
Markel Irizar
Radioshack - Trek
+ 5
3
Stijn Devolder
Radioshack - Trek
+ 7
4
Patrick Gretsch
Team Argos - Shimano
+ 9
5
Johan Le Bon
FDJ
+ 12
6
Ben Hermans
Radioshack - Trek
s.t.
7
Gustav Erik Larsson
IAM Cycling
+ 13
8
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Manuel Quinziato
BMC Racing Team
+ 15
10
Gaetan Bille
Lotto-Belisol Team
s.t.
2.1: Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen: Stage 2
In the early stages of the day, we see not one, but two breakaway groups forming. The first one including Sutherland (Saxo), Schets (An Post), Zepuntkte (Rabo Development), Breyne (Crelan), Venter (MTN) and Teuns (Ventilair) and the later one including Lopez (Sky), Delfosse (Wallonie), Bole (Vacansoleil), Boeve (De Rijke) and McEvoy (NetApp).
After being separated by around a minute and a half for several kilometers, the groups finally melt into one with 120 km remaining.
Due to yesterday's relatively small gaps, we make sure not to allow the escape group too much ground. Eventually the gap is also reduced, with Alex paying his team mates in advance for the help he'll get later in the season.
The gap isn't coming down quickly enough for some though, as seen by Vicente Reynes (Lotto) and Koen De Kort (Argos) setting off after the break with 45 km left to run.
Vini Fantini's Oscar Gatto also jumps across, and the trio catches up with the leading group with two laps or 35 km to the finish. The main group is some 1'30 behind.
With no other teams willing to help us out in the hunt, JL takes matter into our control and attacks on the penultimate cobbled section: 25 km from the end.
The peloton quickly speeds up to shut him down, but it just continues to go the other way, and JL connects with the leading group after just 7 km.
The first group's lead of 1'30 remains more or less unchanged as we go out on the final lap - meaning that we have 15 riders fighting for the stage win today.
The zappy Bole gets really eager as we get close to the end, and can't resist launching when the lead group reaches the 3 km mark. Normally a little too early, but he does open a gap over Breyne, who is closely followed by JL.
Bole realises his mistake as he starts to lose speed under the kite with Breyne coming back at him. JL now makes the jump out of the slipstream, and the kick opens a few metres of advantage!
The others have nothing left to respond with, so he just motors away in the uphill finale to win the stage by a long way! Surprising that not even the other late attackers had anything to challenge with in the end.
A new time is registered for Bole, who takes a strong second place. The situation in the group remains largely unchanged overall, except for the fact that Sutherland nips past Breyne to take third in the end. This whole group, except for a dropped Lopez, is clocked at 20s back.
The next to reach the finish is Toms, who slipped away on the final cobbled section and fended off the chasing peloton in the final kilometers. He loses 1'39, while a reduced peloton finishes 2'14 down.
And best of all today: JL propels into yellow with the dominant finish! The only real threat for tomorrow's stage is Bole, who is just 19s down and thus within time bonus territory. We'll have to do everything to make sure that he wont win the stage tomorrow, and also not let anyone get away!
Stage
1
Jean-Lou Paiani
La Pomme - Bouygues
4h16'30
2
Grega Bole
Vacansoleil - DCM
+ 20
3
Rory Sutherland
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
s.t.
4
Jonathan Breyne
Team Crelan
s.t.
5
Oscar Gatto
Vini Fantini - Selle Italia
s.t.
6
Steve Schets
An Post - Chainreaction
s.t.
7
Ruben Zepuntke
Rabobank Development Team
s.t.
8
Jonathon McEvoy
Team NetApp - Endura
s.t.
9
Vicente Reynès
Lotto-Belisol Team
s.t.
10
Dylan Teuns
Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team
s.t.
GC
1
Jean-Lou Paiani
La Pomme - Bouygues
4h25'50
2
Grega Bole
Vacansoleil - DCM
+ 19
3
Rory Sutherland
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
+ 24
4
Steve Schets
An Post - Chainreaction
+ 32
5
Jonathan Breyne
Team Crelan
+ 35
2.1: Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen: Stage 3
The day's long breakaway is again rather large, but luckily for us it's still reasonably easy to control due to every rider present being over 3 minutes back in the GC.
And just like yesterday, we're the ones starting up the chase. Alex increases the pace as we hit the Kemmelberg around midway through the stage, and the field really stretches out on the small roads.
Only 60 riders stay in contact after the a dangerous, but quick descent. Among those missing are 7th overall Zepuntke and 15th Boeve.
6th placed Venter is also unhitched as we crank it up even more on the next cobbled section. Niyonshuti and Augustyn both immediately drop back with their team mate, but none of them finds a way back into the group.
Vini Fantini and Lotto take over most of the pacemaking in the final 50 km, but it once again doesn't seem like quite enough to catch the breakaway.
This leaves us no choice but to go for yesterday's tactic. With 20 km (2'00) to go, Andzs makes a big push at the front to drag JL clear of the rest.
Before anyone manages to react, they've built up an advantage of 40s.
Meanwhile at the back of the group, some riders can't handle the slippery road. 4th overall Schets and 13th McEvoy are two of those on the deck.
The break aren't able to keep JL behind, and he just flies past them over the final cobbled section. The favourite group is really speeding up however, and just half a minute back on him.
Not at all far left to go, and Toms is marking danger man Bole to prevent him from stealing the race lead on this final day. JL is still ahead, tho.
It's only a temporary thing, as it turns out. He is gobbled up like nothing as the sprint is opened with Bole and Gatto leading the troops back to the front. As the catch is made, Toms shoots into the lead to make sure that Bole doesn't win the stage and the 20 bonus seconds.
Much like yesterday, the others have nothing to say and it's two in a row for us! Talk about nice way to take a first win as a professional!
It's an incredibly close photofinish in the distant behind, but the pictures show that Toms actually saves us from losing the GC - because it's Bole who is second. If it wasn't for the young Latvian a few metres in front, he would've taken over the yellow jersey thanks to the bonifications.
Stage
1
Toms Skujins
La Pomme - Bouygues
4h28'12
2
Grega Bole
Vacansoleil - DCM
s.t.
3
Koen De Kort
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
4
Markel Irizar
Radioshack - Trek
s.t.
5
Oscar Gatto
Vini Fantini - Selle Italia
s.t.
6
Rory Sutherland
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
s.t.
7
Jean-Lou Paiani
La Pomme - Bouygues
s.t.
8
Johan Le Bon
FDJ
s.t.
9
Ben Hermans
Radioshack - Trek
s.t.
10
Vicente Reynès
Lotto-Belisol Team
s.t.
Instead, it's Jean-Lou who takes the overall! After watching him bridge across to the 14-man group all by himself on stage 1, it's hard to deny that he's not a deserving winner. The rest of the overall top 10 changes quite a lot on the other hand, due to crashes and riders getting dropped in the end. Good news for us, as Toms enters the lower end of the top 10.
Fantastic race for the team, very nice I also like that you have implemented a new WT race. But I have to say that I'm not too fond of those blueish screens it's a bit like they all look the same on first sight. But it's just my personal taste
@ cunego - You'll be happy to know that I wont keep using that saturation, then. Looks far too dark when the weather is bad.
WT: Paris - Nice: Preview
For the first time in the team's history, we're taking part in a race of the highest category. There's obviously no better place to do so than in the race that ends in our home region. This will be a great test for our riders to see if they're ready to take the step up in a season or two.
As the real 2013 route hasn't been released yet to my knowledge, this variant will take it's place. After a short prologue and two relatively easy stages, we get to the very tough queen stage to Saint-Étienne. The main difficulty will obviously be the 13.5 km Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, which summits just a little bit away from the finish.
Following that big day is a transition stage, before we return to the difficult terrain again. Stage 7 with the steep Col du Corobin near the end is probably the last chance to open big gaps, as the climbing on the last two stages isn't nearly that tough.
Kwiatek has gradually improved his form for this race ever since we received the wildcard. It's his first big target this season, so we're hoping for either a stage win or an okay GC result if everything goes well.
Clement and Pierre have also been looking forward to this opportunity, but they're happy to step into the domestique lead to help Kwiatek. As usual, they'll also try to surprise in the finale on various stages.
The only place where we don't expect much is the sprints. Evaldas still has a little way to top form, so he should really struggle in the star-studded field you'll find below. Gatis will help him do as well as possible, though.
Things look set for a first duel between Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Garmin), which will then continue as we reach the Ardennes Classics. Neither have really done anything big so far in the season, but both seemed to be improving in the recent Tour of Oman.
There are also a few of the big climbers, even though most seem to be favouring Tirreno. Robert Gesink (Blanco), Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Igor Anton (Euskaltel) perhaps being the best ones. Maybe also Andy Schleck (Radioshack), although that doesn't seem too likely outside July.
Plenty of great sprinters as well. Last year's two most victorious riders; Andre Greipel (Lotto) and Tom Boonen (OPQS) are both present, as well as German champion John Degenkolb (Argos) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky).
1.HC: Clasica de Almeria
2.1: Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen: Preview
WT: Paris - Nice: Preview
