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One in a Billion | Rise to the Summit
AbhishekLFC
@Aquarius: Yes, it is my first ever WT stage race win. It is also my first non-GT stage race win since 2021! Weird things happen Pfft

@Tamijo: Thanks Grin
 
AbhishekLFC
April

Coming off the back of my first ever World Tour stage race win, I raring to go at the next race in the Basque Country.

Vuelta al Pais Vasco

I was looking forward to this race from the start of the season, as the profiles suited me excellently.

Stage 1

i.imgur.com/d90RzKR.png

The lone break increased to five after the first climb. The climbs were deceptively hard on this stage and the peloton was down to just 69 riders after the third climb. One from the break was caught by now. Kwiatkowski got dropped on the fourth descent, which wasn't something anyone was expecting. Another breakaway rider was caught here and eventually all of them caught on the fifth climb. The peloton was down to 50, and the bunch sprint following the downhill section saw me just miss out on the stage win, and coming 2nd.

i.imgur.com/CD9sfCI.png


Stage 2 was supposed to be 'easier' but it wasn't without incident. Tigether with teammate Ligthart and also Loer, I got away from the pack on the fifth climb and eventually dropped Ligthart. We caught and passed the break, but were caught by the 99 man peloton with 2.5 km to go. I finished safely in the pack, with Mohoric sprinting to 5th, starting from a long way back. I moved down a spot in the GC, while Mohoric moved up to 4th.

The four man break lasted till the third climb on Stage 3, with about 40 km still to go. I won the KOM sprint on the fourth climb, moving to the front of the peloton in the final stages of the same. Adam Yates attacked on the climb to the finish, with 5 km remaining. I got away from the peloton in chase but left it a bit too late and couldn't catch Yates. I finished 2nd on the stage and moved up to 2nd in the GC behind Yates.

Stage 4

i.imgur.com/P9Zcc2V.png

The peloton nearly halved in size on the first climb itself, chasing the eight man break. It halved in size agian on the second climb, leaving just 52 riders in it. Two from the rbeak were caught. Jeff New set a brutal pace for us up the third climb and I stuck to him like glue. Three more from the break were reeled in as the pack whittled down to 33 riders. I did still have four teammates in the group. Two more from the break were caught befroe the fourth climb, where New continued to push the tempo. Duteil took over with 15 km to go. New's effort had dropped all of Kwiatkowski, Moser, Polanc, Van der Poel and even our teammate Mohoric! The peloton was now down to 23 with only New and Duteil left to support me. The last rider from the break was caught with 10 km to go. All the stage favourites left in the front group were at the front with Duteil leading us on. I attacked with 3 km to go, with Yates and Dunbar chasing. Yates caught up with 1500 meters to go. I slowed down, and waited for the sprint, but he held on to my wheel throughout. I did get the better of him in the sprint and took the stage win!

i.imgur.com/BErN5Ir.png


Stage 5

i.imgur.com/BKI48k2.png

This stage was expected to be tough, with so many climbs littered across the profile. And it was! The early break had six riders, while the peloton was already down to 78 riders after the second climb. Simon Yates, 4th in GC, was among those in trouble, but he recovered after the climb. One rider from the break was cuaght on the fourth climb, and two more caught on the fifth climb started. Mohoric and New were bossing it at the front, in a repeat ofthe previous stage. Riders from the break kept getting picked and all were caught on the seventh climb. The peloton was down to 36. Duteil, New and five others were caught up in a crash at the base of the eight climb, which left me short of helpers. I got away from the pack on the climb, seeing that the team would not be able to control the pack now. I was chased by Aru, Yatesx2, Dumoulin, Bosvelt and Wellens. Aru left the others behind and caught up to me on top of the eighth climb while Nairo Quintana and Oomen had joined th echasing group. Me and Aru were caught on the descent. Four riders - Aru, Wellens, Oomen and Dumoulin, attacked on the final climb. On top of the final climb, Aru was out ahead on his own, with Dumoulion the closest to him, with me down in the fourth group on the road with Simon Yates. We caught the group ahead of us before the finish, which was important and meant I did not lose time to Adam Yates, who was in the said group. Aru won from the impressive attack, while I finished 7th. New lost some time on this stage but still held on to his U25 jersey.

Stage 6

i.imgur.com/WbQ6pRz.png

The reason catching up to the Adam Yates group was so important on the previous stage was because of this one. I knew I should be faster than him against the clock, but losing time on stage 7 would've meant him going out of reach. I still had 38 seconds to make up.

I was among the favourites for the stage win and started off well, going past the intermediate time check in second place. Yates was already down 33 seconds by this point and it was looking really good now. I stopped the clock just milliseconds down on the best time set by Dumoulin, meaning it was 2nd place on the stage. Now it was a wait to see how far down Yates would be. He came in a 1'16" off my time, which meant I had just picked up back-to-back wins in World Tour stage races!

General Classification

1Abhishek SinhaEvonik20h46'28
2Adam YatesRed Bull+ 39
3Tom DumoulinGazprom+ 1'06
4Fabio AruSauber+ 1'11
5Tim WellensBonsucro+ 2'55
6Simon YatesSauber+ 3'18
7Sam OomenMTN-Qhubeka+ 3'53
8Eddie DunbarGatorade+ 4'27
9Nairo QuintanaFirefox+ 4'29
10Davide FormoloBonsucro+ 5'04

Spoiler

i.imgur.com/jWqJ5p9.png


Points Classification

1Abhishek SinhaEvonik89
2Tom DumoulinGazprom77
3Fabio AruSauber59
4Adam YatesRed Bull55
5Tim WellensBonsucro51

i.imgur.com/9fByyu0.png


KOM Classification

1Ezequiel GrandiGatorade39
2Jesús HerradaUbisoft35
3Abhishek SinhaEvonik27
4Marco TecchioBoyaca27
5Miles ScotsonTeam Cannondale - Garmin21


Team Classification

1Sauber62h28'16
2Bonsucro+ 4'49
3Evonik+ 9'33
4Gazprom+ 12'34
5Red Bull+ 13'26


How good the team were in this race is evident from the clutch of finishers in the 20s, which was a big part in both my stage win and the final GC success. I even picked up the Points jersey and was 3rd in the KOM standings.
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 12-09-2018 18:13
 
jandal7
A very well played yet aggressive race from you, and it resulted in another win, amazing GrinGrinGrin

Coming off the back of my first ever Grand Tour stage win

Que? Pfft
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."

[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] i.imgur.com/c85NSl6.png Xero Racing

i.imgur.com/PdCbs9I.png
i.imgur.com/RPIlJYr.png
5x i.imgur.com/wM6Wok5.png x5
i.imgur.com/olRsxdu.png
2x pcmdaily.com/images/mg/Awards2021/funniest21.png x2
2x i.imgur.com/TUidkLG.png x2
 
AbhishekLFC
jandal7 wrote:
A very well played yet aggressive race from you, and it resulted in another win, amazing GrinGrinGrin

Coming off the back of my first ever Grand Tour stage win

Que? Pfft


Thanks Grin Was always in control except for some time on the fifth stage when the attackers got away and I had to chase.

I have won multiple Grand Tour stage wins before! Was just in a hurry to write it and didn't proof-read what I wrote. Corrected now. Wonder why I was thinking about that ? Pfft
 
Vostok
Good job, that was very well ridden! Smile
Also, I hope I can comment here, I am new to the site... Embarassed
 
AbhishekLFC
Thanks Smile

Off course you can comment here. Welcome to the site Grin
 
Vostok
Ok, good to know. I will be sure to follow the story then! Grin
 
Ripley
What a great season so far, winning those two races which are never easy to win. Tour-Vuelta double coming up? Smile
i.imgur.com/6Km77FO.png

pcmdaily.com/files/Awards2019/team%20story.png
pcmdaily.com/images/mg/Awards2020/avatar.png
 
AbhishekLFC
@Vostok: Thanks Smile

@Ripley: There's some time for the GTs and let's not get too carried away yet Pfft My early season form has crashed down at the Tour before!
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 18-08-2018 17:21
 
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AbhishekLFC
Amstel Gold Race

After a great start to the season, I head to Ardennes week high on confidence, in a trio of races which is slowly rising higher in my priority list.

I was in a free role for the race with Bosvelt the designated leader. The break of the day had 5 riders. I was involved in a crash with 60 km to go, which brought down 15 riders in all. I recovered back to the pack. This was soon followed by me being caught on the wrong side of a split in the pack. I did get back to the peloton. With 20 km to go, the break had just over a minute's lead. The peloton was down to 39 riders. A breakaway rider was caught with 8 km to go, and another with 6 km to go. Wellens attacked from the pack and went in chase of the break. He caught two of them but Maitre took the win from the break as the pack left it too late. Duteil finished 5th, Mohoric 7th and Bosvelt was 9th for us. I lost out towards the end, running out of energy to hang with the front of the pack, after having spent energy unnecessarily earlier. I finished 24th.
 
AbhishekLFC
La Fleche Wallone


I was in a free role again for the second part of Ardennes week. I was the defending champion in this race and was hoping to achieve something similar this time too. The team was quite similar to the one that started Amstel Gold Race and achieved three Top 10 results.

Two riders formed the break of the day. The peloton had a quiet day except for slowly reducing the gap to the break. Only 46 riders remained in the pack with 20 km to go. Kwiatkowski, Ania and Simon Yates attacked with 10 km to go. The break was caught 3 km later. I was in the next group chasing the three attackers with a minute's deficit. We tried our best but couldn't catch the riders out in front. I won the sprint for 4th, which was a very good result once again in this race. Bosvelt finished 8th to continue the team's fine results this week.

1Michał KwiatkowskiGazprom4h50'15
2Anastasio AniaSkydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club+ 45
3Simon YatesSauber+ 1'00
4Abhishek SinhaEvonik+ 1'35
5Valerio ContiRed Bull+ 1'43
6Gracjan GregorekWestpacs.t.
7Nairo QuintanaFirefoxs.t.
8Paul BosveltEvoniks.t.
9Sam OomenMTN-Qhubekas.t.
10Mathieu van der PoelSauber+ 2'07

Spoiler

 
Aquarius97
Great result in Fleche, which is quickly turning to be one of Sinha's favourites races with his latest results there Grin
Manager of [MG] Repsol - Netflix


pcmdaily.com/files/Awards2016/newmember.png
pcmdaily.com/files/Awards2017/newmanager.pngpcmdaily.com/files/Awards2017/improved.png
 
Vostok
Kwiatkowski Rolling Eyes
Former Sky-rider... No, I am just kidding Smile
4th is also a very nice result! Grin
 
AbhishekLFC
@Aquarius: Following in the footsteps of Val... No, too much pressure! This race is fun though Wink

@Vostok: Thanks. It is. And Sky-bots continue to dominate unfortunately Frown
 
Tamijo
Suprem Pais Vasco (a late) congratulations on that and fine race in La Fleche too.
 
AbhishekLFC
Thanks Grin Really enjoyed those myself!
 
AbhishekLFC
Liege - Bastogne - Liege

i.imgur.com/7oTGfk0.png

The culmination of Ardennes week and a race where I've done well a couple of times but have never been able to fight for the win. I head into this race with a good result in La Fleche under my belt and hoping to put in a good show.

Bosvelt remained the team's chosen puncher leader as I was given a free role again. The first nine man break didn't last long. Eventually it was seven riders who got away including Gregaard for us. Four off them were caught, including Gregaard. The pack split up with 115 km to go, with Conti being caught up on the wrong side of it for us. He and the rest of the grupetto did make it back. There was a major split with 70 km to go. M>A. Lopez, McCarthy, Dumoulin, Sagan and Ion Izagirre were the big names caught up on the wrong side of it. They did eventually make it back.

One rider from the break was caught with 55 km to go, with the rest caught with 37 km left. Duteil and Bosvelt attacked with 35 km to go, followed by seven others - Parra, Oomen, Van der Poel, Nairo Quintana, Ania, Kondo and Ion Izagirre. I found myself still in the third group on the road with 20 km to go, with not much change in the situation of the riders ahead of me. In the mean time, Mohoric had made his way to the second larger group chasing the two leaders. Bosvelt and Duteil were still in the front group. It was looking unlikely that I would be able to make to a stab at the win now.

I caught up to Mohoric with 9 km remaining, while the group he was in earlier had broken up into smaller groups. It was Duteil who was still in the front group, with Bosvelt dropping down to the group just in front of me on the road. I made my way past half a dozen riders or so in the final couple of kilometers, having paced myself better. I got into the top 10, with a 9th place finish. Duteil finished 2nd, losing out in the sprint to Ania. Bosvelt finished 8th, just ahead of me on the road. This was a great outing for the team with Mohoric also claiming 13th. In fact, the whole Ardennes campaign has been a big success!

1Anastasio AniaSkydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club6h11'18
2Arnaud DuteilEvoniks.t.
3Mathieu van der PoelSaubers.t.
4Sam OomenMTN-Qhubeka+ 50
5Tim WellensBonsucro+ 1'11
6Michał KwiatkowskiGazproms.t.
7Julian AlaphilippeGazprom+ 2'02
8Paul BosveltEvonik+ 2'18
9Abhishek SinhaEvonik+ 3'02
10Nairo QuintanaFirefox+ 3'23

Spoiler

 
Aquarius97
Well, a Top10 for you isn't a bad result, given that it's your first time in LBL Top10.

Impressive performance for the team, though lacking that win that could have made it perfect
Manager of [MG] Repsol - Netflix


pcmdaily.com/files/Awards2016/newmember.png
pcmdaily.com/files/Awards2017/newmanager.pngpcmdaily.com/files/Awards2017/improved.png
 
Tamijo
A great result with 3 rider in top 10
 
AbhishekLFC
@Aquarius: Yes getting the win would've been the perfect finish to the week! Quite happy with my own performance too.

@Tamijo: Yeah great consistency from everyone.
 
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