ursul wrote:
Kopp and Backsted have good result. Hushovd and Haussler, maybey it is too for your team.
Yeah, they should be in normal circumstances. But I doubt they are very fit at this point, so it should be possible to come closer. Today my lead out was very unconvincing. If I utilize Backstedt better, Kopp should be able to start his sprint in the best position. Backstedt has the machine to pull him to the front in this race.
You were wrigth. You did it, and it paid.
Great victory.
Another flat stage, and the guys are full of confidence after yesterdays result. But I’m not interested in giving Cervelo a free ride to the finish line like yesterday. Today I’m gonne send people with the breakaway. Guldhammer joines the first attack of the day. Cunego counters (wait a second, now that was just a mixing up with the commentating – it is Goddaert from Topsport Vlaanderen….). There are also Nilsson (Differdange) and Batchelor (Team Halfords). Will it be a Batchelors party?
Now Cervelo is pulling indeed… The breakaway is actually reeled in. It might because of Nilsson who is 12th overall (2 seconds in front of Guldhammer in 80th). Surely that can’t be right – he is no threat for the overall. With 150 KM another attempt is on. McCann is there, but Cervelo starts pulling again – and they can’t get more than a minute’s gap. A new attack goes with 95 Km to go. McCann jumps at it again. Cervelo moves up again. They can’ get more than 1:20.
But this time Cervelo is also helped from within the breakaway. Bertolini and Barbe keeps hanging on in the back, and then attacking the others in the breakaway. Time and again. Finally McCann can't keep following. Not that matters, I think, as they are just about to be swallowed by the pacak again. But just as McCann is reeled in - the bunch slows don - and let the others go. Am I simply paranoid here, or was I just not allowed to have riders in the breakaway today?
Cervelo is actually towing the peloton, but they are not taking time back from the breakaway, so with 40 KM to I send up McCann and Guldhammar to helpt with the pulling. Backsted-Rasmussen-Kopp is near the front. With 7,5 KM to go Backstedt starts moving up on the left side.
Loddo and Richeze is on Kopp’s wheel, with Haussler just back of them. With 4 KM to go, Rasmussen takes over. Rasmussen opens the sprint with 2,6 KM to go.
But Kopp is overtakes him already with 1,9 to go. Have we started too early? It is Richeze with Haussler on his wheel, behind Kopp.
Richeze and Haussler jumps at 0,8 KM. Kopp has lost his punch. But so has Richeze. Haussler has a higher speed, but cannot get past him. Kopp makes it two!
Haussler can only look with dissappointment in his face!
O'Joy! - Rasmussen is also happy.
Results 1 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi 4h15'35
2 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team s.t.
3 Maximiliano Richeze CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
4 Alberto Loddo Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
5 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team s.t.
6 Romain Feillu Agritubel s.t.
7 Yukiya Arashiro Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
8 Frédéric Amorison Landbouwkrediet - Colnago s.t.
9 Manuel Belletti Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
10 Sébastien Harbonnier Differdange s.t. 11 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
19 Philip Deignan Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
23 Magnus Bäckstedt Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
97 Lucas Persson Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
107 Stian Remme Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
121 Rasmus Guldhammer Team Statkraft Bianchi + 2'50
122 David McCann Team Statkraft Bianchi + 6'18
Overall
1 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team 10h58'55 2 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi + 4
3 Maximiliano Richeze CSF Group - Navigare + 28
4 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team + 30 5 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team Statkraft Bianchi + 36
28 Magnus Bäckstedt Team Statkraft Bianchi + 44
49 Philip Deignan Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
79 Stian Remme Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
99 Rasmus Guldhammer Team Statkraft Bianchi + 3'34
117 David McCann Team Statkraft Bianchi + 7'02
122 Lucas Persson Team Statkraft Bianchi + 13'48
Points
1 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team 65 2 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi 62
3 Maximiliano Richeze CSF Group - Navigare 44
4 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team 35
5 Alberto Loddo Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli 32
From the press (VG.no)
“Another Coup for Kopp!”
David Kopp won his second stage in a row in the large asian cycling race Tour de Langkawi. Thor Hushovd finished fifth. David Kopp, who represents the Norwegian Statkraft-Bianchi team, is now second overall . Thor Hushovd’s team mate Heinrich Haussler is leading the race. "We rode for Heinrich today", Hushovd said. "It is always a good thing to give somthing back to the other riders and let them have a go in the smaller races".
EDITORIAL
It seems Richeze actually lost Kopp’s wheel before he went to the side, as you can see on the third picture. That’s probably what gave us the victory, as Haussler did not have a wheel to follow and had quite a gap to close.
This will be something different. Favourites for today are the ones with good climbing legs. Things are not enough challenging to be a chance for the purest climbers. A man like Rebellin is the number one favourite. Deignan will be our best chance overall (70/74 hills/mountain), and our strongest support riders is Guldhammar/Remme/McCann with 67-68 in hill stats. One of the latter ones will try to sneak into todays breakaway.
Favourites for today includes Rebellin and Scarponi. None of my riders is mentioned. So can we do something below the rader?
How it unfolded
McCann follows the breakaway of the day. Guldhammer tried to latch on as well, but he was not strong enough. The six-man break consist of McCann (Statkraft), Stokstad (Sparebanken Vest), Gallagher (Sean Kelly Team), Tennant (Halfords), Sokolov (Bbox) and Neyens (Topsort Vlaanderen). Several riders within 45s from the lead – that is not promising for the break. But McCann should be the strongest in the group if it succeeds.
Meanwhile Sastre is down. Pauwels and Novoa is there for him and get him pack in the pack.
The break has 11:48 at most with 135 KM to go. There are strong winds around, so we’ll need to have a careful eye on what’s going on in the peloton as well. 7 minuts with 80 KM to go. But now time flies away! Before the last hill I see bertolini advancing in the bunch, but there is no attacks. There will be a large group towards the finish. Kopp is not having a good day, although he is still there. But we can make use of Rasmussen probably.
Now Fedrigo and Rebellin attacks on the flat!
I counter with Rasmussen and Deignan. Coppel also attacks. Deignan has a lousy flat skill. Now there is waves of attacks. We end up in G2 while Simoni and Rebellin (Serrementi) and Poos (Differdange) is up front. Kopp is in the rest of the bunch. They might still pull everyone back. But no, the leaders are now nearly 1 min away with 5 KM to go – in the strong wind. It's a win for Rebellin.
Kopp finds the wheel of Bertonlini in the bunch, there is points to get for the sprinters jersey. Kopp wins the sprint in the bunch, but eight riders were further up.
OVERALL
1 Bert De Waele Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 16h35'56
2 Pierrick Fédrigo Bbox Bouygues Télécom + 4
3 Florian Morizot Besson Chaussures - Sojasun + 12
4 Christian Poos Differdange s.t.
5 Gilberto Simoni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
6 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team + 24 7 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi + 28
8 Maximiliano Richeze CSF Group - Navigare + 52
9 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team + 54
10 Marco Frapporti CSF Group - Navigare + 1'00 11 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
37 Philip Deignan Team Statkraft Bianchi + 1'08
Points 1 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi 69
2 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team 65
3 Maximiliano Richeze CSF Group - Navigare 44
4 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team 35
5 Alberto Loddo Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli 32
6 Davide Rebellin Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli 31
DS' debriefing
Bad day for us. Deignan lost nearly a minute to some strong overall riders – totally unnecessary. The team tactics where prepared for attacks in the hills – and we had none left to to try to wheel in late escapes. Deignan were all to lousy on the flats to follow Rebellin et al. Rebellin took the stage, De Waele the overall lead. The good news is that Haussler could not contest the sprint, and Kopp will now be the true leader of the completion after borrowing the jersey from Heinrich Haussler who had the overall lead until this point.
Favourites for today are Sastre, Simoni and Scarponi. I am not close to being mentioned. Deignan is our best climber, but I am sure that today will only serve to demonstrate that we are helpless in the overall competitions when things move upwards! We’ll see how it goes. Top 10-15 would be good, I think.
With 88KM to go in this short stage, Bergseth from Sparebanken vest attacks. We counters with Persson and Guldhammar. Several others follow and a 12 man group is established. No climbers. They never gain much ground. We decides to spend Persson to do harder pulls, while Guldhammer goes more conservatively. Persson does turn the clock to the breakaways favour again. At the very beginning of the climb, with 36 KM to go – it is still no more than 3:20. But time gaps disappears when the first part with steeper slopes is on. Semi favourites are launching on the first top. And Sastre follows! When the rest of the favorites also goes – Deignan follows.
He is now in the first group alongside Simoni, Sastre, Coppel and Baliani.
He does not even try to follow Sastre and Simoni, who accelerates upwards – but tries to find his own tempo and try to avoid losing all yellow.
Several others are passing. All with better climbing stats. Eventually though he catches up with the now 9 man strong leading group with 2,5 KM to go.
But he lost the rest of his yellow. Sastre leads Simoni over the line and get a time gap back to the rest.
Deignan follows Baliani to an impressing 4th.
Stage results
1 Gilberto Simoni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli 2h57'57
2 Carlos Sastre Cervélo Test Team + 11
3 Fortunato Baliani CSF Group - Navigare + 33 4 Philip Deignan Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
5 Pierrick Fédrigo Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
6 Domenico Pozzovivo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
7 Gerrit Glomser Vorarlberg - Corratec s.t.
8 Pierre Rolland Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
9 Luis Felipe Laverde Colombia es Pasion Coldeportes s.t.
10 Yoann Le Boulanger Agritubel + 2'06
11 Jérôme Coppel Française des Jeux s.t.
12 Rémi Cusin Agritubel s.t.
13 Michele Scarponi Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 3'31
14 José Serpa Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
15 Eduardo Gonzalo Agritubel + 3'55 24 Rasmus Guldhammer Team Statkraft Bianchi + 5'17
26 Lucas Persson Team Statkraft Bianchi + 5'39
Overall
1 Gilberto Simoni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli 19h33'45
2 Pierrick Fédrigo Bbox Bouygues Télécom + 45
3 Carlos Sastre Cervélo Test Team + 1'15
4 Fortunato Baliani CSF Group - Navigare + 1'41
5 Gerrit Glomser Vorarlberg - Corratec + 1'49
6 Pierre Rolland Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t. 7 Philip Deignan Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
8 Domenico Pozzovivo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
9 Luis Felipe Laverde Colombia es Pasion Coldeportes s.t.
10 Jérôme Coppel Française des Jeux + 3'22
PRESS RELEASE FROM STATKRAFT-BIANCHI:
Statkraft Bianchi took an impressive 4th place on the very demanding queen stage of Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia. Irishman Philip Deignan finished 4th 33 seconds behind former Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre. Former Giro’d Italia winner Gilberto Simoni is now leading the race. Philip Deignan is now 7th overall, 1:49 back. He is also 2nd in the young rider classification with the same time as leader Pierre Rolland. Statkraft-Bianchi rider is still leading the points’ jersey. Team Manager Odin van Ginohove was in buoyant mood after the stage: "- We are punching above our weight here, Philip rode smart and good to get into the top 10!".
Hmm. I thought I already posted this tage, but it seems to be gone. Here goes again:
Tour de Langkawi, stage 6.
Another stage which should end up in a sprint. Hushovd, Haussler and Loddo are named favourites. Kopp should be well. There are some lumpy roads with 25-15 KM to go it seems. Kopp’s not wonderful in the hills, but is in good shape and should be ok. A larger problem is to get lead out man Magnus Backstedt to the front.
McCann goes with the first breakaway attempt. It is an unsettled one with lots of attacking going on - and the pack is chasing. But eventually a 12-man-group is established. McCann is there.
Cervelo and Serrementi (for Loddo) is not represented, while I have a strong rider up front. They will need to chase. With 75km to go the break has 7:16. Serrementi is at the front, with Livestrong. Cervelo is yet again trying to get another free ride, refusing to pull. The gap increases. With 50 KM to go, it is 8:21. It will most likely survive today.
In the final small hills things are getting nervous. McCann makes a short attack to see if we can limit the front group.
It works. Marino (Besson) and McNally (Halfords) comes along. With 6 KM to go, McCann attacks again. If not successful, he might ruin his chance – but one got to try! Noone follows.
And he gets a good gap! He will win!!
Well-deserved, he was active to set up the breakaway, did his job in the breakaway – and attacked twice to shed completion.
Meanwhile...
Backstedt opens the sprint with 2,5 Km to go, with Kopp in 2nd position. He has gas enough to hold until 1,1 Km to go – still in front, but Hushovd is closing in.
But Kopp is keeping up the pace and takes the bunch sprint to take three points, so that he now has 7 points to Haussler which is the only competitor for the prize remaining. Deignan was far up in the sprints (3 spots in front of Rolland) – and took over 6th overall and 1st in the U25 competition!
This is really a good start of the season – but how many has tried to maximize shape at this point in the season…
RESULTS: 1 David McCann Team Statkraft Bianchi 3h22'21
2 Geert Verheyen Landbouwkrediet - Colnago + 38
3 Stephen Gallagher An Post - Sean Kelly Team s.t.
4 Maarten Neyens Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator s.t.
5 Fredrik Johansson Differdange s.t.
6 Mathieu Claude Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
7 Reto Hollenstein Vorarlberg - Corratec s.t.
8 Camillo Suárez Colombia es Pasion Coldeportes s.t.
9 David Le Lay Agritubel s.t.
10 Ingar Stokstad Team Sparebanken Vest s.t.
11 Mark McNally Team Halfords s.t.
12 Jean-Marc Marino Besson Chaussures - Sojasun s.t. 13 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi + 3'15
14 Thor Hushovd Cervélo Test Team s.t. 15 Magnus Bäckstedt Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
16 Maximiliano Richeze CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
Especially satisfied with Deignan there, he sprinted himself to climb one step on the overall ranking. How is that calculated when having the same time? By lowest aggregate stage rankings?
I forgot to go with the replay, so no pictures here.
Labelled as a flat stage, the final criterium of Tour de Langkawi is still looking a bit tricky. There is a small hill in each of the 12 laps that we are unsure about how will affect the stage. The goal is to keep Deignan close to the front and not let anyone who threathens his jersey or overall position. Kopp needs to stay alert and keep an eye to Haussler to secure his jersey.
Kopp is named favourite together with Hushovd and Haussler. We’ll see. The circuit is quite technically. It is a short hill (ca 1 km) with slopes of around 4-5 percantages. Seeing that we are about to see 13 laps in a total of 80 kms, it might still be demanding.
There are some attacks. We are at the head of the peloton although not going too fast. A seven man break is off. None of which is dangerous for anything. I have no problems with letting them go, as it reduces the risk of losing the point’s jersey – and since I am quite unsure if Kopp can hang on in the front when the tempo is high towards the finish. More people is attacking. Still no problem. There are more people to care about in the overall/U25 – although mainly Rolland, Pozzovivo and Laverde. It is
Guldhammar and McCann who is towing, while Rasmussen is water carrier. Deignan is protected by Remme, and Kopp by Persson. Backstedt is just hanging around.
With 33 KM to go Vorarlberg takes over in the front of the main group. The leaders have 1:30. One Cervelo-rider is also there, and two from Agritubel riding for Feillu. With 21KM to go, all are together. Unsure about how to go forth now. High tempo-train is not suitable under the circumstances. So we’ll just try to stay to the front as good as we can with Backstedt, Deignan and Kopp.
All together with 7 KM and one lap to go. We are some way back when the sprint opens, as Kopp could not get the right wheels. It will be Richeze vs Glomser. Glomsser takes it. Kopp third. Deignan came in about 20th. Where were the rest of those he needed to keep up with?
He made it. 6th overall – and U25 winner. And Kopp wins the sprinter’s jersey.
What did the sponsor say?
4 stars for Deignan’s 6th.
4 stars for Kopp’s two stage wins
2 stars for McCann’s stage win
1 star for Kopp’s third place on stage 7, and Magnussens ditto at stage 2.
No mention of the sprinter’s jersey or the U25 jersey. Oh well.
In the News: VG.no
Statkraft-Bianchi finished racing the prestigious asian cycling rase Tour de Langkawi yesterday. Team manager Odin van Ginohove declared himself really happy about the team’s performance. “This is our first showing at a race on this level, and we really put our mark on the race!.” Van Ginohove did not exaggerate, Statkraft Bianchi won three of the seven stages, finished 6th overall with Philip Deignan who also won the Under 25-competition, and also brought home the sprinter’s jersey with double stage winner David Kopp. “That is significant results”, van Ginohove explains and adds: “The competition was hard, with Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni and reigning Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre fighting it out for the victory.” David McCann also brought home a stage victory for the team.
Thor Hushovd could not get the stage wins he had wished for, but said that it was an OK race as to being so early in the season. “My first goal is Milan – San Remo, so riding to strongly here was not an priority. Hushovd finished 42th in the race.
Statkraft Bianchi only rode with one Norwegian on the team, Stian Remme. “He did a great job riding for Philip Deignan and David Kopp. We have lots of good and talented norwegian’s in the squad. The will be called upon for a string of hard races the coming months”, van Ginohove said to VG.
Team Sparebanken Vest did not have the same success in the race, with Vegard LAengen Stake as best rider in 48th. “
Next up in February:
Tour du Haut var (hilly race, team is lead by Arvesen)
MTN Giro del Capo (5-stage race, including a mountain top finish some hilly stages and a short ITT. Kopp, Arvesen and Deignan will be present)
Team:
Arvesen (Leader)
Kessiakoff
Deignan
Persson
McCann
Martin
Remme
Mission:
Whatever…
With people like Valverde and Cunego amongst us – we have low expectations. Very low. Other prominent people: Nocentini, Wegmann, Paolni, Moreau. Arvesen is not in too good shape, but neither should the favourites be. McCann is in good shape, so he will take off with the early escapees.
Remme and McCann goes with the first wave of attacks. For a moment it looks like a Caisse d’Epargne rider would join in. But he stops his move – and starts towing the peloton in chase instead. Annoyance… And as if that is not enough – no one else will pull in the breakaway. Time to start over I thought briefly.
But suddenly the gap got to two minuts – with only Remme doing anything up there. It seems he will be towing for a while, as McCann will not do anything as long as none of the others do (he did try to take relays in between to see if that changed the situation, but no)
… Someone is trying to bridge over. That might be useful. So we are sits up and wait. Now Milram also has two. We have four minutes. Remme and Knaven (Milram) is doing the work.
Not being the most well-working break, it is no surprise that there are attacks within the breakaway group with 126 KM to go. We do not follow but are letting Remme increase the tempo. We’ll rather try to bridge later in the downhill section if necessary. So Remme is wheeling in one attack after the other while McCann can follow a steady tempo.
Reeme keeps a high pace on the largest climb of the day. The group is losing riders.
At the top there is only three – but I reckon others will come back on the downhill. But they don't. It is about 10 minutes back to the main group – and 100 km to the finish line. The third man we have with us is Talabardon from Besson – and now he attacks. This time McCann follows – Remme is spent.
But 100 KM with a duo.. Hmmm. And Talabardon is gone. So it is McCann alone. McCann is alone – while Remme tows (!) Talabardon back.
I wouldn’t go all that distance alone. And then the stupid fellow attacks me again… The trio is back together further down the hill. Remme in the lead again. On the next hill Remme sits back. McCann takes over and Talabardon must let go.
Meanwhile in the peloton: Deignan and Arvesen is keeping up, while the rest is falling back on the climb. But the worst is over now. Arvesen is the freshest, so Deignan is now a helper after being protected until now. No action on the second large hill. One smaller, but steeper remains. 5:25 is the distance to McCann in the front – 57 km to go. On the steep hill, some strong fellows are moving, among them Paulinho (Astana) and Moreau (Agritubel). Arvesen stays. On the top of the hill. McCann has 2:58 back – and 31 Km to go.
Now a group with Gilbert, Rodriguez, Vaugrenard and Bertagnolli moves. Arvesen deciedes to mark the move.
Gilbert and Rodriguez makes a too strong move though – so Arvesen just wasted his energy. Bad team decision there. Things are messy now with flows of attacks. McCann is caught with 14 Km to go.
Arvesen is swallowed by the bunch again. Deignan is dropped – so no one there to help. Arvesen should have a useful sprint for this company – but he has wasted a lot of energy. There are six up front, with 30s and 5 KM.
Arvesen is further back - unable to come along with the attacks. Valverde is big favourite, but looses it in the storm of attacks on the final strech.
Debriefing with the DS!
A really fun race to do. Lots of things happening, and good teamwork with Remme for McCann. McCann actually kept up with the main group, shile also Remme kept ahead of the "bus". Remme was solid today, having spent large amount of time pulling. I had hoped better than a 16th. But we followed the wrong horse today.
NEWS FLASH!:
I am riding Paris-Nice. That is an acknowledgment! At the moment I am fith of the continental teams behind LPR, Jelly Belly, Serrementi PVC and Palmeiras Resort. Happy about that – although I have to keep in mind that I had really made an effort to be as fit as possible in the races so far. I will slip many spots back, I assume.
Edited by Gonchar on 21-05-2009 21:43
The team is forced back to excotic playgrounds as the team will ride Giro del Capo in South-Africa instead of doing some Belgium races with the classics crew as hoped for. This was not what was hoped for, but the riders was not totally negative to the idea of training and riding in the southern hemisphere – instead of the Belgian mud and rain!
Gido del Capo is ranked a 2.1 race for the occasion. Last years 2.2 edition was dominated by Barloworld who claimed the top two spots overall with Pfannberger and Froome. Our rider Stian Remme participated as well, riding for Sparebanken Vest. He finished 17th overall. Håvard Nybø also rode, and finished 6th on one of the stages. We need to improve on that. We really should have a team to really be one of the dominating teams here.
The race starts with a fairly flat stage, but with some short hills towards the end to make things tricky for the sprinters.
Stage two is a hilly circuit with where things will explode on the last lap, I assume.
Stage three is a mountain top finish, but the climb is not that long.
Stage four is another undulating stage. No hard climbs, but an uphill sprint.
The race endes with a 6,5 KM fairly flat time trial.
We are sending a strong team:
Arvesen (general leader, but Deignan is in better shape and might be better overall, depending on how big gaps there will be in the mountain stage)
Backstedt (TT and lead-out man)
McCann (Free rider)
Kopp (Sprinter)
Deginan (Climber and overall hope)
Nordhaug, Rasch, Nybø (domestiques)
They will meet strong competition from riders like Moreau (Agritubel), Rujano (Gobernacion Zulia), A.Efimkin (AG2R), Voeckler (Bouygues). Still; Arvesen and Deignan in good shape should be able to take them I hope.
I must admit that from stylistic point of view your story is much better than any other one and even many of novel writers can learn from you... Nice... really nice...
Flat profile, but a couple of climbs in the last 25 KM will be a difficulty. McCann will be on the move. While the rest tries to get Kopp over the hills. Arvesen have a useful sprint as well – if Kopp is not there.
How it unfolded
Gallacher from Sean Kelly Team opens the race. 7 riders is clear. MTN and Agritubel tows the peloton and they won’t let them go. Another attempt. McCann is there. There is a split in the peloton that soon lost two minutes to the main bunch. It seems there was a mass crash. Among those affected are Moreau, and MTN’s probably overall hope D.George.
That can make things funnier for me in the overall competition – but the breakaway is doomed as the peloton sets a high tempo. And as McCann is wheeled in – I join in keeping the pace up.
Rujano attacks – but I assume it is for the mountain points. But Roche is trying to escape – we'll let him. Agritubel works hard to get back, and has taken back nearly a minute of the lost time. Noone else is interested in keeping the pace in the peloton high enough to keep those followers back. So I give a short message to the team: "Oh well - nice try. Let's attack in stead."
So when an new escape goes – I follow with Rasch.
After all – I think Moreau would have been able to come back on the climbs if the distance was not more than a minute anyway. As I stop towing – Moreau is back in a very short while… Agritubel went straight to the front of the now bigger peloton and continued to chase
Roche and Ladagnous is too strong for Rasch on the hill. Deignan attacks on the top of the hill as the break is wheeled in. Well, actually he just followed the favourite who attack for the 2 last points of the mountain classification but decided to keep going. Kopp went well over the first climb.
To my horror race radio says that Christope Moreau and Wesley Sulzberger have attacked! We did not pay properly attention there!
Arvesen needs to limit the losses. Moreau will be a big threat for the overall victory!
He gets in a second escape group and chaeses hard. It is Wesley Sulzberger who wins!
Behind Arvesen Kopp wins the sprint in the main group. There is not time gaps between the Moreau's group, Arvesen's group and Kopp leading the main pack.
Results
1 Wesley Sulzberger Française des Jeux 2h29'00
2 Christophe Moreau Agritubel s.t.
3 Cyril Gautier Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
4 René Mandri AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 5 Kurt-Asle Arvesen Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
6 Shinichi Fukushima EQA - Meitan Hompo - Graphite Design s.t. 7 David Kopp Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
8 Saïd Haddou Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
9 Gianni Meersman Française des Jeux s.t.
10 Gregor Gazvoda EQA - Meitan Hompo - Graphite Design s.t. 12 Magnus Bäckstedt Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
96 Lars Petter Nordhaug Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
102 Philip Deignan Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
131 Gabriel Rasch Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
134 Havard Nybö Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
136 David McCann Team Statkraft Bianchi s.t.
Debriefing with the DS!
Well, then. We nulled out Moreaus advantage here, although time bonuses can play a significant role, as the winner gets 20 seconds. Although Arvesen ended up at the same time as the pack behind him, I will defend the decision to attack and chase. I am positively sure that helped bring the gaps down to 0. Looking on the picture from the finish line, I think we have to say we were lucky to avoid time gaps to Sulzberger at least.
Very fun to read, and i like that you give reports from newspapers and such stuff, very cool It's only a shame Kessiakoff hasn't got updated stats, that would have been fun in the mountains
Very fun to read, and i like that you give reports from newspapers and such stuff, very cool It's only a shame Kessiakoff hasn't got updated stats, that would have been fun in the mountains
Thanks! Feedback on what in the story that works - and what does not - can only help to improve it!
Mountains are not my terrain with the current team composition. Kessiakoff got some nice downhill skills, so I hope to make use of that a few times during the season!
Edited by Gonchar on 23-05-2009 00:07
Plan for the day: Keep Arvesen to the front. McCann and Deignan will be used to follow semi-dangerous attacks. Deignan however, will not be taking to big risks – as he can be a possibility for tomorrow's mountain stage and the overall.
Rasch joines todays breakaway. Not much else going on...
Favourite Efimkins goes with a larger group already with 70 KM to go. McCann markes that attack.
McCanns move ensures we are able to stay comfortable in the pack, while Moreau's Agritubel-team have to chase Efimkin back. Which they do. Rasch is still up front though. So others still have to work. A potentially dangerous evolvent is that Roche bridged over to the breakaway. But the breakaway is brought back with one and a half lap to go.
Veikannen and Efikin goes at it again with 21 KM to go. McCann marks. Then Rujano and Moreau follows as well.
Now the favourites are rolling. So we follow with Deignan and Arvesen too.
Moreau just vanishes up front for Arvesen, while the rest of the late attackes is brough back. McCann now sits with Veikannen, Efimkin and Moreau. He is not working… Deignan is attacking with Arvesen on his wheel – so now they are up with the front group. On the penultimate climb, Arvesen, Deignan and McCann is all there, although the last one is in the back of a 13 man group. Arvesen is on the wheel of Voeckler with 3 KM to go...
...and overtakes him with 0,5 KM to go. Moreau is coming fast from behind – but Arvesen holds off to a victory!
Results
Debriefing with the DS
I am very happy about the positioning for the sprint today. The stage was won there at the foot of the last climb! There is now twelve riders who have taken 1:13 on the rest. We had Deignan and McCann there too. Moreau leads with 4s over Arvesen on the overall due to more bonus seconds. It remains to be seen if it will be Arvesen or Deignan that is our overall hope. Deignan can fight it out for the U25-jersey as well. The only competitor that came in with the front 12 is no climber at all.
IN THE NEWS:
(Cyclingnews.com):
Team Statkraft-Bianchi’s Kurt-Asle Arvesen won stage two, while another second place by Frenchman Christophe Moreau enabled the Agritubel rider to take on the leader’s jersey. BBox Bouyguys Telecom rider Thomas Voeckler came third for the day.
The attacks began for real with Efimkin making a move a good 20 km from the finish line. Other favourites came along, and a 13-man group were established on the penultimate climb. At the foot of the last uphill stretch to the finish it is Thomas Voeclker who lead the group on. The Norwegian-based Statkraft-Bianchi team had Philip Deignan and Kurt-Asle Arvesen well prepared for the sprint, and Arvesen went past Voeckler to take a narrow victory in front of Christophe Moreau who came fast but started the sprint in a poor position.
“Today’s stage was somewhat unsettled as the peloton is still unsure about who to watch out for. But I thing Moreau and [Jose] Rujano looks like the hot favourites, with the mountain stage now coming up. They should be the strongest climbers here. We will try to fight for a good position, and we are very satisfied to have three man in the decisive break”, said Statkraft-Bianchi team manager Odin van Ginohove.
PS. I've had the same problem about being rejected to race in the races you want. Just one hint: you should only sent your invitations after you've finished some races. Hopefully you're somewhere in the top rankings of the UCI continental and if you sent your applications now you'll have more chances of getting invited. But its still no certain i'm afraid
It's only a shame Kessiakoff hasn't got updated stats, that would have been fun in the mountains
