Alex Coutts 2009
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 20-02-2011 15:58
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So it was looking pretty bad. My team had ended, quite late into the season and I was looking for a team. I knew I had an offer from Scotland’s biggest team but, ultimately, they weren’t even one of the top 5 teams in the country. I would be destined to race only UK races – and no Tour of Britain.
My agent made some enquiries abroad and, with the help of Harry Lodge, we managed to wheedle out a small contract offer from an Italian team. It was then that Dan Lloyd gave me a call…
When La Mondiale collapsed, the AG2R team lost a huge part of its budget, enough to fall outside ProTour guidelines. It needed another co-sponsor and was delighted when fast-expanding British bike warehouse Wiggle stepped in. Hoping to raise its profile in Britain and especially on the continent, it was planning to create it’s own continental team, but they saw this as a bigger option. AG2R had a reduced squad at this point (mid-late November) and Wiggle’s input into how to fill it was British and Irish riders. So Geraint Thomas and Jeremy Hunt were contacted alongside Nicolas Roche,while Phil Deignan was already on the squad. As they signed them, their assistant directeur sportif tapped up Dan Lloyd to join the team, after his good results on the continent, including a win in Nokere-Koerse. They were looking for one more rider who could go well in European races and Dan piped up and recommended me! We had ridden together in Italy and Belgium before and were good friends but I didn’t know he thought that highly of me. I accepted straightaway and got the contract in the post. I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t sure if I necessarily deserved it. But I had got it. I was in the ProTour.
Edited by wackojackohighcliffe on 20-02-2011 16:23
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 20-02-2011 16:23
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I joined the rest of the squad for the team bonding camp in late December. They were a great sociable bunch and everyone seemed to fit in very quickly. We were at the Val Thorens and were allowed a bit of skiing, some time on snowmobiles and on a sled run. It was really good fun and we also met some of the sponsors including the owner of Wiggle (sadly named Harvey Jones).
We met up for a second time at our first training camp on the Canary Islands in January, including some lovely rides in the mountains where my legs felt good and I kept with the leaders. I was given my racing programme for the start of the year which included an early trip to Australia as well as some nice mountainous races. I was also promised a Grand Tour ride, probably the Giro or the Vuelta. We then returned to our seasons base in Grenoble - I'm living at our team house there - for our team presentation.
There it is, our 2009 squad (with young Frenchie Fourier cut off the bottom) - led by Velits and Efimkin, one of whom will head for the Tour and the other the Vuelta. Matty Lloyd is gunning for the Ardennes Classics while it's Jeremy Hunt who leads a highly anglicised team on the cobbles. Irishman Phil Deignan will have a crack at the Giro GC while a lot of our guys, me included, will just be looking to gain experience.
I'm heading off on Tuesday for the races Down Under but I'm not sure how regularly my racing will allow me to update this throughout the year. I'll try to keep you posted but I can't promise anything. Ciao for now. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 20-02-2011 20:32
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So far this season I’ve ridden the Tour Down Under and the Tour of California. It’s been going pretty well – I shepherded Geraint Thomas in Australia to 11th overall with 3rd place on the final stage while Peter Velits was dominant in California, taking 3 stages and the overall lead until dramatically crashing out on the final stage in the leaders jersey. Despite the disappointment, the directeurs said they were happy with my work. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 21-02-2011 11:28
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Tirreno – Adriatico
Although it’s no longer a ProTour stage race, Tirreno still has a great field this year and my first proper mountain stage of the year. Phil Deignan is here to prove his credentials for the Giro and I will be one of his helpers on the final climb of the queen stage.
The flat stages were of no real consequence and Phil was on equal terms with the favourites come the mountains. 3 climbs including a steep summit finish were the parcours for the day and come the final climb of the Passo Lanciano, I was at the front, holding Phil’s position.
Nibali had gone clear at the front while Kim Kirchen was chasing when I took Phil to the head of the peloton and he launched himself clear. Nibali won the day but Phil took some time from the bunch to finish a stellar 3rd and confirm his place as Giro leader.
I cracked in the finishing straight but managed to hold on to 38th position, 3’57 back on Nibali.
The only thing left to decide the overall was a time-trial. Phil’s lacklustre skills against the clock were shown up as he dropped to 6th while I lost two places to end the race with a respectable 40th place on general classification. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 21-02-2011 19:15
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Girvan Three-Day
I’m writing this from back in my home country of Scotland. I was invited by the organisers to race the Girvan Three-Day and, despite the brilliant time I’m having with AG2R, it’s always great to be home. However racing alone was never gonna be easy and I did look out of place in my kit at the start line (although it was nice to receive attention as the foreign pro).
The first day was the same as it ever was and I stayed in the bunch, keeping an eye on the attacks. Thankfully nothing happened and I was only down on the sprinters.
Stage 3 on the Saturday was harder than the previous year but the run-in was flat and I didn’t think I could stay away. One member of the break [Santos] did though and took the win by 40 seconds to take the yellow jersey.
The final stage was again the toughest and I was in the thick of the action from the started. I ended up in a load of aborted breaks and finally got fed up and tried to go solo. At this point, the British peloton turned on me and chased me down hard.
So I bided my time, waited until the breakaway was safely back in the fold and, on one of the final little rises, I took off, breaking clear of the bunch. I pushed it hard and held the gap until the line, taking my first win in AG2R colours.
My 20 second gap wasn’t enough for a GC win as I ended second [behind Santos]. However, a very successful return home, something I would like to repeat during the year. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 22-02-2011 15:06
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Just a quick update to say that I got my second win of the year (well kinda) as the team won the TTT in the Settimana Ciclista Internazionale. An out-of-form Alexander Efimkin was pleased to take 7th on GC and I ended 62th, after losing a lot of time on the final stage helping our Russian leader (who’s a real nice guy, if a little quiet). It’s been a hectic couple of weeks with only 3 days not racing, so I’m going to take a short break and get some more base training in. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 22-02-2011 19:54
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Another short piece of news – after Nicolas Roche’s crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, I’ve been drafted into the Amstel Gold Race team for tomorrow and the rest of the Ardennes Classics. We’ll be looking to continue our run of good results after Jeremy Hunt came 13th in RVV, 9th in G-W and 16th in P-R. As a result I’ve been thrown into 3 one-day races to gain some form. They went well and the Tour du Finistere yielded a top 10 for me after I got into the break. Amstel Gold is gonna be the biggest classic I’ve ever raced and I cannot wait. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 22-02-2011 22:14
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Amstel Gold Race
The first of the three Ardennes Classics takes a circuitous route around the Dutch region of Maastricht. It is a tough bitch of a race that ends on the steep boozy slopes of the Cauberg after 250km of up and down racing.
My job was to look after leader Matty Lloyd as far as I could along the course. He wanted to stay near the front so I held him there, meaning that everyone so often I had to poke my head out into the wind.
I managed to protect him and hold his/my/our position until 50km (that’s 200km at the front) where I cracked completely and dropped back through and out of the group. With 40km left, I dismounted and stepped into the broomwagon, not before swapping my empty bottle for a sandwich from a spectator.
Up front, Matt was doing really well and getting in amongst the moves, although he missed the winning break of 5. It was world champion, Rinaldo Nocentini, who broke his jersey’s curse in breaking free from that group and holding on, just, up the Cauberg to win the day.
Matthew beat the rest of his group to get into the top 10, a great result for him.
Rank Name Team Time
1 Rinaldo Nocentini Rabobank 7h07'22
2 Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC s.t.
3 Kim Kirchen Team High Road + 10
4 Damiano Cunego Lampre + 31
5 Joaquim RodrÃguez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
6 Fabian Wegmann Gerolsteiner + 39
7 Jelle Vanendert Française des Jeux + 47
8 Yuri Trofimov Bouygues Télécom + 1'07
9 Matthew Lloyd AG2R - Wiggle + 1'54
10 Leonardo Bertagnolli Liquigas s.t. |
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Smowz |
Posted on 22-02-2011 22:29
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wacko - popping in to say I am following this highly original story.
The one rider ones are something I hope we see make a come back once the pcm 2011 database comes along!
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-12-2024 01:32
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olabj |
Posted on 22-02-2011 22:50
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Smowz wrote:
wacko - popping in to say I am following this highly original story.
The one rider ones are something I hope we see make a come back once the pcm 2011 database comes along!
+1 really like your story wacko
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valverde321 |
Posted on 22-02-2011 23:09
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Smowz wrote:
wacko - popping in to say I am following this highly original story.
The one rider ones are something I hope we see make a come back once the pcm 2011 database comes along!
Funny you mention that......
And great work Wacko. Keep this up.
Edited by valverde321 on 22-02-2011 23:13
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 22-02-2011 23:17
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cheers. always nice to have some support. should have a few more reports up tomorrow and still trying to keep the results relatively realistic while keeping my own interest. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 23-02-2011 14:04
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Fleche Wallone (now with more extensive views of our jersey)
This is a bit shorter and revolves around the town of Huy with it’s famous climb of the Mur de Huy. Matty Lloyd is our leader once again and I was to protect him from the start.
It was a surprisingly active start and following 2 failed breakaways, a large one stuck, that included big names such as Vladimir Karpets, Michael Rogers and Kanstantsin Siutsou.
I was our first rider at the front of our clutch of riders, sheltering Lloydy again.
Suddenly with 70 or so kilometres left and the race hotting up, he fell as a Liquigas rider blew and sat up straight down the middle of the peloton.
Tanel Kangert, Sylvain Calzati and I dropped back to help him while our plans changed up front to centre around Danny Lloyd and Christophe Laurent.
I did the best I could but with 37km to go I had nothing left and I climbed into the back of the team car. It didn’t matter much as it had become all too apparent that they were not going to catch the peloton, yet alone the winners and 5km later, they joined me in the back seat.
It was Damiano Cunego who timed his sprint up the Mur to perfection, beating Kim Kirchen to the win.
The rest of the team adjusted brilliantly and Dan managed a sensational 8th to underline his amazing start in the ProTour, backed up by Christophe Laurent in 10th and our other two in the top 20.
1 Damiano Cunego Lampre 5h34'01
2 Kim Kirchen Team High Road + 4
3 Leonardo Bertagnolli Liquigas + 1'18
4 Yuri Trofimov Bouygues Télécom + 1'22
5 Jelle Vanendert Française des Jeux + 1'28
6 Pierre Rolland Crédit Agricole + 1'42
7 Fabian Wegmann Gerolsteiner s.t.
8 Daniel Lloyd AG2R - Wiggle + 1'50
9 Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC s.t.
10 Christophe Laurent AG2R - Wiggle + 1'56
11 Manuele Mori Saunier Duval - Scott + 2'06
12 Sylvain Chavanel Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 2'08
13 Joaquim RodrÃguez Caisse d'Epargne + 2'16
14 Mario Aerts Silence - Lotto + 2'18
15 Rinaldo Nocentini Rabobank + 2'24
16 Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux + 3'07
17 Dries Devenyns AG2R - Wiggle + 3'18
18 Karsten Kroon Team CSC + 3'29
19 Hubert Dupont AG2R - Wiggle + 4'30
20 Tony Martin Team High Road + 5'16
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 23-02-2011 15:32
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Liege – Bastogne – Liege
La Doyenne, the most famous of all the Ardennes Classics, runs a 271km course that ends on a hilltop finish in Ans. Matthew wanted to reassert himself as team leader and, despite the fact that neither Dan nor Christophe wanted to topple him, he felt that he had to do it by performing today.
I was not on a great day but thankfully, in some ways, the big group split went with 70km to go and I was left to sit in the group as Sylvain Calzati took over. I had done my job for Matt and was able to have a crack at finishing one of these races.
The favourites went away with 30km left and Matt left the peloton on the penultimate climb, attacking over the top of the Cote de Saint Nicolas.
But it was not going to be enough to catch the flying Joaquim Rodriguez, free of doped-up former leader Alejandro Valverde and enjoying his best result ever.
Matt managed to confirm his undisputed position as leader by taking a fine 8th, possibly our best result of the season so far, while Christophe won the bunch sprint for 9th, Dan in 11th and Hubert Dupont in 13th.
I was astonished to finish 51st on the day, a result I’m really proud of.
1 Joaquim RodrÃguez Caisse d'Epargne 7h19'17
2 Kim Kirchen Team High Road + 32
3 Yuri Trofimov Bouygues Télécom s.t.
4 Damiano Cunego Lampre + 56
5 Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux + 1'04
6 Manuele Mori Saunier Duval - Scott + 1'48
7 Fabian Wegmann Gerolsteiner + 3'44
8 Matthew Lloyd AG2R - Wiggle + 5'30
9 Christophe Laurent AG2R - Wiggle + 5'52
10 Jelle Vanendert Française des Jeux s.t.
11 Daniel Lloyd AG2R - Wiggle s.t.
12 Jens Voigt Team CSC s.t.
13 Hubert Dupont AG2R - Wiggle s.t.
14 Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC s.t.
15 Rinaldo Nocentini Rabobank s.t.
16 Stijn Vandenbergh Liquigas s.t.
17 Karsten Kroon Team CSC s.t.
18 Staf Scheirlinckx Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
19 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas s.t.
20 Niki Terpstra Team Milram s.t.
21 Jérôme Pineau Bouygues Télécom s.t.
22 Maxime Monfort Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
23 Tony Martin Team High Road s.t.
24 Christophe Brandt Silence - Lotto s.t.
25 Sylvain Chavanel Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
26 Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto s.t.
27 Beñat Intxausti Bouygues Télécom s.t.
28 Leonardo Bertagnolli Liquigas s.t.
29 Mario Aerts Silence - Lotto s.t.
30 Benoit Vaugrenard Française des Jeux s.t.
31 Dries Devenyns AG2R - Wiggle s.t.
32 John Gadret Rabobank s.t.
33 Matteo Carrara Team High Road s.t.
34 Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux s.t.
35 Bram Tankink Rabobank s.t.
36 Martin Elmiger Team Milram s.t.
37 Carlos Sastre Team CSC s.t.
38 Nicki Sörensen Team CSC s.t.
39 Juanma Gárate Quick•Step s.t.
40 Bauke Mollema Rabobank s.t.
41 Frederik Willems Skil - Shimano s.t.
42 Sylvain Calzati AG2R - Wiggle s.t.
43 Alexander Efimkin Quick•Step s.t.
44 Christian Knees Team Milram s.t.
45 Rein Taaramäe Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
46 Pierrick Fédrigo Bouygues Télécom s.t.
47 Eros Capecchi Team High Road s.t.
48 Simon Spilak Lampre s.t.
49 Nick Nuyens Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
50 Kjell Carlström Liquigas s.t.
51 Alex Coutts AG2R - Wiggle s.t.
52 Nico Sijmens Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t.
53 Yoann Le Boulanger Française des Jeux s.t.
54 Kevin Seeldraeyers Quick•Step s.t.
55 Tom Stubbe Team CSC s.t.
56 Theo Eltink Rabobank s.t.
57 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
58 Maxim Iglinskiy Crédit Agricole s.t.
59 Jurgen Van den Broeck Quick•Step s.t.
60 Linus Gerdemann Team High Road s.t. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 25-02-2011 21:56
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Tour of Wessex
When Pendragon Sports announced in October that they had received police approval to stage the Tour of Wessex 3-day cyclosportive as a professional race I was happy that the British scene was burgeoning but when they subsequently presented the parcours it was the final stage’s summit finish on top of Dunkery Beacon that got me excited. The first summit finish I can remember and I really wanted to be a part of it. So Dan Lloyd and I headed back to England following a good classics run with an agreement: he would help me out at the Tour of Wessex while I would back him up at England’s Tour of Flanders, the Lincoln GP.
The ‘Wessex’ revolved around the town of Somerton, only differing from the sportive in that stages 2 + 3 finished away from the town.
Stage 1 was exactly as the cyclo, looping around Somerset to finish back in Somerton’s Market Street. There were a couple of good climbs but it came down to a sprint, where a Giant Asia rider [Stefan Loffler] just pipped Graham Briggs to the line.
The second stage headed out into Dorset and was looking likely to end in a bunch dash regardless of the climbs around Lulworth Cove and up Bulbarrow Hill. However, the breakaway just managed to hold off the peloton, in spite of Dan’s hard work, two guys taking a 20 second gap to the finish in Yeovil.
It was the final stage that headed into Exmoor and peaked on top of Dunkery Beacon that I’d set my sights on. It was bound to split up the bunch and I wanted to take an historic win. (the picture may show the finish as at the bottom of the hill, it is at the absolute top).
It was nice to be the one being protected and, although Dan said he wasn’t feeling great, he was doing a really good job.
People often take the piss out of the terrain available in Britain. I beg to differ – the climbs today were tougher than the Ardennes and in places were ripping the peloton apart. This picture of Porlock Hill shows another thing as well – the support was fantastic, great to see and made the race much better for us riders.
As we hit the footslopes of the final climb, the road reared skyward, Marek Rutkiewitcz attacked and I followed.
We were soon clear of the main group and working together up the 7.5km climb. With 2.5km left he went away and I felt I couldn’t follow. So I set my own pace and began to close the gap. Sadly, there just wasn’t enough road and he crossed the line 25 seconds ahead, leaving me ruing my missed opportunity to leave a real stamp on British racing.
It was those same 25 seconds that left me in 2nd place overall. As a way of repaying Dan for his efforts I gave him my share of the prize money, as is the tradition in cycling, but I hope to be able to repay him properly next weekend in Lincoln. |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 26-02-2011 21:18
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Lincoln GP
Britain’s most popular one day classic takes 11 laps around the town of Lincoln and culminates on the steep cobbled climb of Michaelgate, which is usually besieged by fans.
I was there riding for Dan and he was probably the strongest rider there. However the cobbles weren’t really my forte and there were some much stronger teams. A strong break went away early and had a big gap with 40km left as it split up and Lars Petter Nordhaug attacked.
So Dan told me to step on it after it began to stretch on the ascent and I did my best to drag him up to the break ahead.
I pulled him up to the last riders of the break but there was still another group and the solo leader up ahead. I was cooked and dropped back rapidly before quitting the next time back in Lincoln. Dan was attacking hard to bridge across to the chase group and managed it. He quickly went again in an attempt to catch Nordhaug but the gap was just too large and it was Nordhaug who won (Dan is at the back of this picture, pushing away from the rest to take second).
Rank Name Team Time
1 Lars Petter Nordhaug Joker - Bianchi 4h28'08
2 Daniel Lloyd AG2R - Wiggle + 59
3 Bram Schmitz Team Sparebanken Vest + 1'37
4 David McCann Pezula Racing s.t.
5 Paolo Fornaciari Team Sparebanken Vest s.t.
6 Richie Porte Pinarello Racing Team s.t.
7 Grant Irwin Drapac Porsche Development Program s.t.
8 Ugaitz Artola Jelly Belly Cycling Team s.t.
9 Durwan Benjamin Team Konica Minolta - Bizhub s.t.
10 Ingar Stokstad Joker - Bianchi + 2'49 |
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 27-02-2011 15:56
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Volta a Catalunya
This is the kind of stage race I hope to excel in in the future and so far in it’s gone ok. We came in in the top 10 in the opening TTT and I helped Vladimir and Matty (in their preparation for the Tour) on the hilly second stage. The third flat stage ended in a sprint and I didn’t have much work to do.
The fourth stage was an absolute monster, 182km with nearly 5000m of climbing.
And I was told to cover the break and followed a rider from a small Spanish team. He wasn’t the climber I had expected and I went past him in the misty Catalonian mountains.
I made the decision to go for the King of the Mountains sprints because there were enough to take the jersey. I took first on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th climb, only coming in 2nd on the 5th ascent.
I tried my utmost to stay clear to take the points on the 7th summit but I was caught by the peloton before cracking completely.
I went backwards through the bunch and grovelled my way to the finish. Carlos Sastre beat me there by quite a way while Vlad led the chase group in for second.
There it was though – I was in my first leaders jersey. |
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Alakagom |
Posted on 27-02-2011 16:04
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Really enjoying the story, keep it up wacko
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wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 28-02-2011 18:29
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The mountains jersey was an honour but I was under strict instructions not to the next day. I was forced to save energy on the stage where Vlad was slightly disappointed to finish 8th.
The following stage was another tough day in the mountains, if not as long and I was obliged to do some hard work.
Tons of people attacked and I went with them.
Sadly the peloton didn’t want us going, however they were happy to release my KOM rival Matej Kvasina. He took the first climb and I could do nothing about it. At the bottom of the second climb I had recovered enough resources to try and make another break. This time I got free with Edwin Orozco and Haimar Zubeldia. I was far from the best out of this group though and they bothe began to drop me up the climb. I was worried that Kvasina would take the lead but thankfully I went all out and managed to overhaul him to take 3rd up the climb.
I dropped back after this climb to save energy. On the final climb Sastre was once again dominant while Vlad came in 9th.
Sadly, Sastre’s win gave him enough mountain points to go 3 ahead of me. |
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Alakagom |
Posted on 28-02-2011 18:36
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Still very good ride, gonna be very intresting battle between Alex, Sastre and Kvasina for climber jersey. Hope Alex can do it !
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