The team we sent have been working fantastically, Modolo and Hutarovich have provided the leadout we were hoping for, and Greipel has added the finishing touches time and again!
Away from the sprints Jens Voigt has given it a good go without masses of support, we wish him luck for tomorrow on Wilunga, though we hope to protect Greipels GC position as much as possible!
Greipel makes it 2 from 2 in the World Tour
Volto Ao Algarve
The Volto Ao Algarve is the opener in this years Conti-tour. We're going to be participating with a strong squad hunting high placings across the board.
The Startlist: R.Ulrikkson A.Guardini R.Belovosciks Y.Doi A.Pereyra A.Hernandez J.Bakker
As you can see it's a highly international squad lead by some talented riders. Our man for the GC will be the teams Classics leader, Robert Ulrikkson, Joined by one of the squads stronger sprinters, Andrea Guardini who will hunt the point jersey. The squad is mostly built of development riders, as will be standard for the non-WT races, a chance to gain experience and grow, in order to show the team what they can become.
We must also make a special mention for Jeffrey Bakker, who will be making his Racing Debut here in Portugal, so Good Luck!
The team travelled to Italy with high hopes of collecting the points jersey, especially when we saw the changed par cours and weak sprinting start list. However, every stage where there could have been a sprint we were left alone in the chase, unable to bring back the large breakaways.
All in all, a terrible race for us, Rating: 0.5/10
Paris - Nice
Turning our eye now to the French race to the sun, which has just reached its mid point. So far sadly, more disappointment. Andrea Guardini just hasn't been feeling good, and as a result we've not been able to contest the sprints.
Fortunately however we do have our GC man Andreas Kloden here in France, the team will be turning its eye now towards him, in the hope he can achieve at least a top10 for us in GC.
After a disappointing time in the sprints, the team were left hoping that we would have more success through our Veteran GC man, Andreas Kloden.
The race kicked off with a 4km prologue, the only day in the first half of the race which looked important in the GC battle. Kloden is a strong TTist, but struggles over these very short distances vs the clock. Never the less he was able to perform reasonably and lose just 22" to stage winner Tony Martin.
After a few quiet days which saw Andreas stay safely away from trouble, He was able to join all the key attacks on the summit finish, and finish in a strong second ahead of some quality puncheurs including Gilbert, Dan Martin, Thomas Voeckler and Peter Sagan. That finish was enough to move onto the bottom step of the podium with 3 days to go.
Kloden then kept his powder dry for the next 2 days, opting to err on the more defensive side, relying on his team in order to maintain his position, dropping just one spot ahead of the final stage where he gave it his all on the Col D'Eze. A blistering attack about halfway up the climb left the peloton in tatters, and It was all Purito could do to follow our leader home in order to cling onto the top GC spot.
Andreas never the less took a brilliant stage win on the final day in France, the first which saw sunny conditions, and did enough to finish in 2nd spot, a distance ahead of Peter Sagan who took 3rd overall.
They say a picture tells a thousand words, and regarding this race, no picture tells a better story than the photo of the riders crossing the finish line.
Yup thats right folks, we won the first Monument of the calendar.
With a mixture of strong TTists, and a few guys capable of leading out Greipel in the sprint, we were hopeful of controlling the race, something I'm proud to say we managed.
Following further allegations in the press regarding our team leader Andreas Kloden, we'd like to publicly announce our full support of Andreas, and denounce all accusations that have been made towards the rider.
Questions were first raised after his performance and solo victory on Stage 8 in Paris-Nice, and then again after a similar result in Catalunya. Whilst the team feel all actions are unnecessary, we are aware of the sports background, and are willing to make his blood passport and all data values for the previous 3 weeks available to any who may show interest.
In the meantime we wish Andreas all the best in defending his Catalunya jersey in the coming days, and hope this will blow over soon.
R.Ulrikkson
A.Guardini
R.Belovosciks
Y.Doi
A.Pereyra
A.Hernandez
J.Bakker
André Greipel
Luke Durbridge
