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Modern Times, Old Roads | The End
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| FonsDeSpons |
Posted on 22-05-2014 15:59
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Stagiare
Posts: 160
Joined: 30-10-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Wait what? Matthias wins a mountain stage? damnnnnnn
he is so strong! total domination!  |
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| Martial1 |
Posted on 22-05-2014 16:25
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 388
Joined: 30-04-2014
PCM$: 200.00
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Simon Yates is the greatest lead out ever! And Matthias is so strong.  |
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| user12345 |
Posted on 22-05-2014 17:55
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Amateur
Posts: 15
Joined: 17-07-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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That's so great Mathias. Keep the pink like Voeckler yellow in 2011! |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 22-05-2014 17:56
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Woah Matthias 
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| rogvi97 |
Posted on 22-05-2014 21:41
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 933
Joined: 10-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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STOP! Don't ruin the game!  Jk, great form you're in, but maybe it's one month too late
Edited by rogvi97 on 22-05-2014 21:44
No signature available
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| jona500 |
Posted on 22-05-2014 22:10
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Junior Rider
Posts: 29
Joined: 03-06-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Orica + Giro seemed to be a good combination in real life but in PCM-life as well! Great to see those updates and even more brilliant to see Matt shining in Italy! Also looking forward to your new project for pcm2014! Couldn't possibly be better than this story, could it?
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 23-05-2014 02:38
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Team Leader
Posts: 7293
Joined: 11-04-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Matt is owning the Giro so far!! Cant wait for the next few stages!
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| Shonak |
Posted on 23-05-2014 03:00
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Forza Matt! Some pink dreams and fantastic riding in Italy there.
But on the other hand, I prefer 4 stage wins in week 1 and not finishing the Giro then finishing the giro without victories
Please don't abandon, seeing a former race leader abandon the race is just... meh.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 23-05-2014 03:49
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 530.00
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Good thing its titled `Giro dÃŒtalia: Pink pleasure"and not just `Pink Pleasure" or else one might expect to be reading something entirely different
Matts started the Giro amazingly well. Anything after this is a bonus!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 07:39
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 23-05-2014 08:34
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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FonsDeSpons - Well, not a real mountain stage but it was close
Martial1 - That's very true! Yates doing a monster job here.
user12345 - That'll be impossible when the mountains come, though
Jeselyh - He's on a roll here!
rogvi97 - Honestly, I'm not sure Being better in the cobbled classics would've been great, but he did win de Ronde and now 4 stages here, that's just great
jona500 - Orica and the Giro are definitely a great marriage! Matthias seems the perfect minister Well, you wait for the PCM14 story
Jakstar22 - He sure is! Thanks!
Shonak - I'm definitely planning to finish the race. But the final week is filled with mountains and I hope he'll survive!
valverde321 - I know, I figured it'd be a funny title  I agree, keeping the points will be very tough with Uran so close and many mountains to come. But we'll try.
I hope I can do something today, but it'll be tough! Otherwise, tomorrow! |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 23-05-2014 11:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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 Giro d'Italia - Stage 6
Another day in the leader's jersey in my first Giro. Will my dream week continue?
Profile
 This is actually the first stage where the pure sprinters can come to the surface. Our biggest enemy is Kittel, but he doesn't seem to be in top form right now.
The breakaway never got a lot of room. Many teams are disappointed at their lack of victories in this Giro so far (well, we took 4 out of the 5, so you can understand their disappointment). That resulted in quite some teams that wanted to make most of it today. We had surprisingly little work!
When the teams prepared for the sprint, I put myself at Kittel's wheel. Ewan took mine. After all the brilliant work they did for me, I decided it was time to give back to the team.
The sprint couldn't have gone better. Caleb took his second Giro stage in his career at the age of 22. I finished 2nd and take some more valuable points! Orica is dominating this Giro right now!
And so our reign continues! What a Giro this has been so far.
| 1 | Caleb Ewan | Orica GreenEdge | 3h11'14 | | 2 | Matthias Vleminckx | Orica GreenEdge | s.t. | | 3 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Garmin Sharp | s.t. | | 4 | Marcel Kittel | TEAM Cube | s.t. | | 5 | Rick Zabel | TEAM Cube | s.t. | | 6 | André Greipel | Lotto Belisol | s.t. | | 7 | Luka Mezgec | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 8 | Eric Young | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Gianni Meersman | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 10 | Tom Van Asbroeck | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. |
| 1 | Matthias Vleminckx | Orica GreenEdge | 22h34'37 | | 2 | Romain Bardet | Orica GreenEdge | + 1'26 | | 3 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | + 1'35 | | 4 | Jakob Fuglsang | Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 5 | Rafal Majka | Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 6 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 1'36 | | 7 | Andrew Talansky | Catalunya | + 1'44 | | 8 | Janier Acevedo | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 9 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | + 1'46 | | 10 | Vincenzo Nibali | Lampre - Merida | + 1'54 |
But all good things must come to an end. After today's stage, I felt really shitty for some reason. Not mentally, but physically. My efforts to secure the leader's jersey across the hills have caught up with me, taking its toll. Tomorrow is another ride through the hills and I have a feeling it'll be my last day in the leader's jersey.
My only hope is that I can give the jersey to Bardet and keep it in the team.
Thinking about the future
I've come at an age where certain choices have to be made, and those choices will decide the rest of my professional career. Yesterday, I've had a small but interesting talk with my manager. We will talk again after the Giro, more in detail.
In short, he's telling me to make a choice. In his opinion, it doesn't reward enough to be all around in this day and age. He finds my efforts in this Giro more than incredible and exceptional, but at my current training and weight, more efforts like this will take a toll on my body and will damage my further career, he says.
I have to make choices. What kind of rider do I want to be? I know I can one day win races like Poland, maybe even Tirreno - Adriatico, Paris - Nice, perhaps even the Ardennes Classics and the World Championships.
But do I want to risk my cobbled talent on that?
I don't know.
Until tomorrow,
Matt |
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| jona500 |
Posted on 23-05-2014 12:40
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Junior Rider
Posts: 29
Joined: 03-06-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Hmmm, dat choice :/ You could argue that you'v already won cobbled classics, then again: you could be an absolute legend on the cobbles, although winning all monuments is legendmaterial too ofcourse.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 23-05-2014 12:41
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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The Orica boys are on fire at the moment |
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 23-05-2014 13:16
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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New challenge: win all 5 monuments next year
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 23-05-2014 14:04
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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jona500 - It is a tough call. Though it's not a guarantee that he'll actually win Liège, even if he changes training...
sutty68 - That they are
Ollfardh - I can try to accept that challenge but it'll be impossible I'm not even sure Matthias will be racing in Liège if he's in top form for De Ronde and Roubaix |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 23-05-2014 14:04
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Giro d'Italia - Stage 7
We're at the 7th stage, my 6th stage in the leader's jersey. The dream goes on!
Profile
 Once again we're at a difficult task today. Keeping the jersey will be a tremendous task. Although the final hill is relatively far away from the finish. If we fail, I hope Bardet can take over.
Duval was a lone wolf today, going into a solo breakaway.
And then... Attacks came. Nibali first!
And slowly, my legs turned sour. With still 50 kilometers to go, I knew what the score was. I started preparing for the inevitable and try to enjoy my last moments in pink!
Uran took the victory of the day.
Under loud applause I crossed the finish line. Bye, bye, pink jersey! We had a great time, that's for sure.
| 1 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | 4h37'53 | | 2 | Julien Duval | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 3 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | s.t. | | 4 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 5 | Vincenzo Nibali | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 6 | Beñat Intxausti | Astana Pro Team | + 1'05 | | 7 | Damiano Caruso | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 8 | Andrew Talansky | Catalunya | s.t. | | 9 | Rafal Majka | Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 10 | Janier Acevedo | BMC Racing Team | s.t. |
You know. The mind is a curious thing. It can make your body do things you could never expect to do, like I did the past week. But once it gets broken, you fall back into a big, black hole.
The next stages were absolute hell. The least tiny hill was a strain on my legs and my motivation. But I want to finish this Giro!
Giro d'Italia - Stage 8 | 1 | Adriano Malori | Team Sky | 1h17'25 | | 2 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 11 | | 3 | Victor Campenaerts | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | + 15 | | 4 | Cameron Meyer | Orica GreenEdge | + 23 | | 5 | Andrew Talansky | Catalunya | + 28 | | 6 | Jesse Sergent | BMC Racing Team | + 32 | | 7 | Peter Velits | Garmin Sharp | + 36 | | 8 | Leopold König | Catalunya | + 37 | | 9 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | + 41 | | 10 | Mikhail Ignatiev | Tinkoff - Saxo | + 42 |
Giro d'Italia - Stage 9 | 1 | Cristian Ottaviani | Cannondale | 4h16'39 | | 2 | Vincenzo Nibali | Lampre - Merida | + 9'09 | | 3 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | + 9'31 | | 4 | Rafal Majka | Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 5 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 6 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | + 10'16 | | 7 | Leopold König | Catalunya | s.t. | | 8 | Ian Boswell | Team Sky | s.t. | | 9 | Beñat Intxausti | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 10 | Julian Kern | TEAM Cube | s.t. |
Giro d'Italia - Stage 10 | 1 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | 4h30'04 | | 2 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 18 | | 3 | Romain Bardet | Orica GreenEdge | + 58 | | 4 | Vincenzo Nibali | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 5 | Rafal Majka | Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 6 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | + 1'35 | | 7 | Beñat Intxausti | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 8 | Andrew Talansky | Catalunya | s.t. | | 9 | Jakob Fuglsang | Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 10 | Janier Acevedo | BMC Racing Team | + 2'00 |
Giro d'Italia - Stage 11 | 1 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Cannondale | 4h29'18 | | 2 | Brent Bookwalter | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 3 | Enrico Battaglin | Bardiani CSF | s.t. | | 4 | Dries Devenyns | ASUS | s.t. | | 5 | Cyril Gautier | AG2R La Mondiale | + 4'57 | | 6 | Matteo Rabottini | YellowFluo | s.t. | | 7 | Mikel Nieve | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 8 | Kristof Vandewalle | Lotto Belisol | + 5'36 | | 9 | Federico Canuti | YellowFluo | s.t. | | 10 | Pieter Serry | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. |
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | 42h05'12 | | 2 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | + 22 | | 3 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | + 45 | | 4 | Vincenzo Nibali | Lampre - Merida | + 49 | | 5 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Cannondale | + 1'56 | | 6 | Rafal Majka | Tinkoff - Saxo | + 2'56 | | 7 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | + 4'51 | | 8 | Andrew Talansky | Catalunya | + 5'12 | | 9 | Beñat Intxausti | Astana Pro Team | + 5'24 | | 10 | Romain Bardet | Orica GreenEdge | + 5'40 |
| 1 | Matthias Vleminckx | Orica GreenEdge | 106 | | 2 | Rigoberto Urán | Lotto Belisol | 104 | | 3 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | 94 | | 4 | Vincenzo Nibali | Lampre - Merida | 83 | | 5 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | 61 |
That Points Jersey will be nearly impossible to defend, unfortunately. This Giro is not made for sprinters. We're half way (what, only half way? I'm dying here!) and there are only two chances left for us, sprinters.
But that doesn't mean I don't have any ambitions left. Two more stages mean two more chances at a victory. And there are two other stages I might survive the hills and fight for the glory of the day.
I'll see you later!
Matt |
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| Martial1 |
Posted on 23-05-2014 14:30
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 388
Joined: 30-04-2014
PCM$: 200.00
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Bardet still in the top ten. |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 23-05-2014 15:46
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Blink of an eye and Froomebot has taken over...  
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| VoetsT |
Posted on 23-05-2014 16:52
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 851
Joined: 29-06-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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Nice giro so far for the team
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| Schleck96 |
Posted on 23-05-2014 17:02
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1498
Joined: 10-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Froome is ready to put 10 minutes in each stage |
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