|
Modern Times, Old Roads | The End
|
| AndyFan |
Posted on 29-05-2014 18:59
|
Under 23
Posts: 60
Joined: 22-04-2014
PCM$: 200.00
|
Stats? |
| |
|
|
| rogvi97 |
Posted on 29-05-2014 23:05
|
Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 933
Joined: 10-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
|
AndyFan wrote:
Stats?
Not Ian's style to do so....
No signature available
|
| |
|
|
| the_hoyle |
Posted on 29-05-2014 23:25
|
Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
PCM$: 200.00
|
Ian... this story gets better and better! Magnificent that you kept us on the edge with the story line and looking so good in the Rainbow Stripes! Well Done... just well done 
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
 |
| |
|
|
| VoetsT |
Posted on 30-05-2014 09:01
|
Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 851
Joined: 29-06-2013
PCM$: 200.00
|
That picture of the sprint is just awesome
I hope you can achieve the best success of your career in this team 
|
| |
|
|
| baia |
Posted on 30-05-2014 10:01
|
Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5398
Joined: 04-10-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Great season.. nice new team choice, surely will be another season with impressive results...
|
| |
|
|
| Jesleyh |
Posted on 30-05-2014 10:06
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15274
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
|
Matt's looking amazing in the stripes indeed!
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
|
| |
|
|
| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-05-2014 10:23
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
TimoCycling - True story
sutty68 - You won't have to wait long
Martial1 - Thanks, me too!
AndyFan - like rogvi97 said
the_hoyle - Well after a long build-up to the fail WC of last year, I thought it might be better to do the reverse now (though winning it was one hell of a task  ) Thanks!
VoetsT - I think Quickstep can lift Matthias to even higher grounds!
baia - Bar accidents, I'm sure it will be
Jesleyh - Totally! It's the most beautiful shirt in the world! |
| |
|
|
| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 07:24
|
Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
|
|
| IP: None |
|
|
| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-05-2014 10:24
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
- dary!
Exactly, it will be legendary!
 Santos Tour Down Under - Stage 1
Time for my first real race in the Rainbow Jersey. Il Lombardia was great, but let's face it: I was never going to do anything real there.
Omega Pharma - Quickstep is a whole other world for me, so different from Orica. But more on that later. The thing you need to know now is that, for the first time in my career, I'll be starting in the Santos Tour Down Under!
Profile
 This looks like it'll be a very fast stage. It's 33°C, so it's important to drink enough during the race! With the likes of Cavendish and Kittel here, I'll be sprinting against the very best. No slacking allowed.
The team sent here to Australia is build around my abilities as a (punchy) sprinter. The lead-out was no less than impressive!
One final drink and then I threw the bottle away. Time for the sprint of my life. I want that first victory in the rainbow stripes as soon as possible!
Bouhanni is an extremely explosive sprinter. He was a bit too aggressive in the lead-out, accelerating too fast.
So I just went myself, mixed it up!
In the final 20 meters, I got passed by Nizzolo and Kittel. A third place to start with, not bad.
My dear friend Bradley was just behind me. A good result for him!
| 1 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Garmin Sharp | 3h15'21 | | 2 | Marcel Kittel | SAP | s.t. | | 3 | Matthias Vleminckx | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | Bradley Carroll | ExxonMobil - Geberit | s.t. | | 5 | Elmar Reinders | ASUS | s.t. | | 6 | Rick Zabel | SAP | s.t. | | 7 | Nikola Aistrup | Gazprom | s.t. | | 8 | Peter Sagan | Cannondale | s.t. | | 9 | Mark Cavendish | Team Sky | s.t. | | 10 | Geert Van der Weijst | ASUS | s.t. |
Santos Tour Down Under - Stage 2
Stage 1 was just a warm-up. It's time for the real work now. We know who's here to sprint (Kittel) and who's not in their best shape yet (Cavendish). All cards are on the table, now let's see who can take the victory on stage 2!
Profile
 This profile should suit me better than yesterday's. It's slightly rougher and the final sprint should be more on power than on pure speed.
There was some panic in the final kilometers as I lost touch with the lead-out. The pace was so high and it was fighting for every spot!
But we powered through and came out on top. Such class!
Bouhanni proved the perfect launching pad for my sprint today!
But I got countered by Marcel Kittel, who was at my wheel. There was no matching his speed today.
In the final 25 meters, he lost a bit of his speed, I came closer again! But the finish line came too soon.
| 1 | Marcel Kittel | SAP | 3h00'09 | | 2 | Matthias Vleminckx | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 3 | Peter Sagan | Cannondale | s.t. | | 4 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Garmin Sharp | s.t. | | 5 | Nacer Bouhanni | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 6 | Mark Renshaw | Bardiani CSF | s.t. | | 7 | Tim Wellens | Trek Factory Racing | s.t. | | 8 | Matej Mohorič | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 9 | Ion Izagirre | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 10 | Jacopo Guarnieri | Astana Pro Team | s.t. |
The fact that my lead-out Bouhanni finished 5th and a non-sprinter finished 7th just shows how tough the final kilometers were, and slightly uphill, too.
| 1 | Marcel Kittel | SAP | 6h15'11 | | 2 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Garmin Sharp | + 9 | | 3 | Matthias Vleminckx | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | Dylan van Baarle | Belkin Pro Cycling Team | + 13 | | 5 | Peter Sagan | Cannondale | + 15 | | 6 | Reto Hollenstein | IAM Cycling | s.t. | | 7 | Martin Kohler | IAM Cycling | + 16 | | 8 | Jesús Del Pino | Orbea | s.t. | | 9 | Ivan Lytvynenko | Gazprom | + 17 | | 10 | Mark Cavendish | Team Sky | + 18 |
 Omega Pharma - Quickstep
Okay, now that the season has truly begun, I can tell you a few things about my initial thoughts of Omega Pharma - Quickstep!
The Future
First, they decided it was time for me to focus completely on my career and what rider I should become. In consent with the team management, I decided what direction I'll be going with the rest of my career. They think my career is only getting started now.
Tom Boonen, one of our team leaders, said that I have a lot of potential for many different terrain, but it'd be a mistake to try and develop them all. In modern cycling, that's just not the way to go. He had one word for me, one quality that he thought was my absolute top, potentially the one word that I'll never find an equal in (these are Tom's words!):
Power.
Tom said I needed to work on my power, that's my main strength. What does this power translate in?
- Flat riding
- Cobblestones
- Power sprints (after tough races, tough finishes)
- Short climbs (Flemish Ardennes, Amstel perhaps)
- Time Trialing
We talked about it for a few days and we're all on board now. I have lost quite some weight in order to win the World Championship, but that's in the past. From now on, I will stay on my trajectory and work on all of the above. That means I can write history in races like De Ronde, Paris - Roubaix, maybe Milan - Sanremo, but that also means I have to make a few sacrifices:
- Less chances to win another World Championship
- No chance for the ultimate dream: to win all 5 monuments
- Ardennes will be too hard for me
- I'll never develop into the fastest sprinter
- Green Jersey in the Tour will be very hard to achieve
- Winning stage races like Tour of Poland become next to impossible
But all in all, it's for the best. I want to focus on what I can do and not on what I can't do. Let's just roll with it and make the most of it!
The Present
Right now we're at the 2018 season. We've got a super strong team, especially on the cobbles, I'm wearing the Rainbow Jersey, I'm at a new team. For me, the pressure is huge, so you can imagine how relieved I was when I heard Patrick Lefèvre saying the following to me: (I'll just summarize it)
Patrick told me I wasn't to worry. They signed me before I became World Champion and for them that doesn't change much. This is what they expect of me:
Cobbled Season: This is why they brought me on board. From Milan - Sanremo to Paris - Roubaix, they count on me to score, big time. Oh yeah, they're putting a lot of pressure on me for these races. They want at least one monument, and preferably all three of them. All eyes are on me.
Tour de France: The World Champion should start in the Tour. I wasn't going to argue with the management here. So I'll be going to the Tour. I'll be counting on my sprints there, there are some stages that have a tough lead-up to the sprint where I could score a victory, maybe.
The Rest of the Season: For the rest of the season, the pressure is off (well, sort of). Quickstep sees me as a long-term deal. They know I can deliver in a cobbled race, so they expect me to do so. But now that I've made a choice about what direction I'll be going in, they don't expect me to get those results immediately. This season is just about making progress and developing as a power sprinter and hopefully even as a time trialist. Of course they hope I can bring home some nice results, but there's no pressure.
So that's a good deal. I'll be under pressure in the Tour and in the Cobbled Races, but I can handle that. I can develop on my own pace for the rest of the season!
The Past
Despite the management promise that the pressure is off (to a certain extent), Tom's shoes will be hard to fill. Both the fans and even some of the management, expect me to become the next Tom Boonen. Well, I am not. I am Matthias Vleminckx.
Do I hope to collect a palmares like Tom Boonen's? Sure, maybe I can even hope to do better! But I'm not Tom Boonen. Tom is a different human being, loved by the audience. He left an emptiness in Belgian cycling and most eyes are on me to fill that gap. That brings enormous pressure. Let's hope I can cope with it!
See you later,
Matt |
| |
|
|
| jona500 |
Posted on 30-05-2014 10:52
|
Junior Rider
Posts: 29
Joined: 03-06-2010
PCM$: 200.00
|
So happy to see the story go on! I really like how you use the live coverage with Michel Wuyts and Sven Nys, although I was very surprised when I heard Nys had retired! He would only be 43 years old at that time  The day I hear Tom Boonen will retire will be one of the saddest of my life as I'm a big fan, but if he retires to leave room for a brilliant talent like Matt that's softens the pain First goal for Matt should be breaking the rainbowjersey-curse and winning a race! And Lefevre and Boonen seem to have nice plans, about that green jersey: it seems like you are going to be a bit of a Hushovd-kind of sprinter and I remember him bringing the green jersey to Paris and winning two stages in his WC-jersey
|
| |
|
|
| VoetsT |
Posted on 30-05-2014 15:01
|
Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 851
Joined: 29-06-2013
PCM$: 200.00
|
Good start of the season
|
| |
|
|
| sutty68 |
Posted on 30-05-2014 16:25
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
|
A very good start to the new campaign |
| |
|
|
| rogvi97 |
Posted on 30-05-2014 22:59
|
Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 933
Joined: 10-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
|
I like that dilemma, follow your own yellow brick road
No signature available
|
| |
|
|
| sutty68 |
Posted on 30-05-2014 23:27
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
|
This is the road to the future, stay on it and you will be fine
 |
| |
|
|
| Martial1 |
Posted on 30-05-2014 23:36
|
Neo-Pro
Posts: 388
Joined: 30-04-2014
PCM$: 200.00
|
Matthias ≠ Boonen
Matthias ~ Boonen
Matthias will be > Boonen
Math Matthias style
|
| |
|
|
| Ian Butler |
Posted on 31-05-2014 08:54
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
jona500 - Realyl glad you like the live coverage races! (NC and WC), yeah I decided I wanted Nys as a reporter and by now he would have reitred that way I could have José De Cauwer back as a National Coach.
Boonen's retirement was too bad, and I'll be sad the day it happens in real life. But in this game/this career I don't mind too much, since Matt is here to pick up the tab
Let's hope there's no curse for Matt. He should be focused, strong and motivated enough to score a win one of these weeks!
VoetsT - Thanks !
sutty68 - Let's hope it gets better still Staying in that road should be possible
rogvi97 - Will do, thanks
Martial1 - Now that is math I like to do  |
| |
|
|
| TimoCycling |
Posted on 31-05-2014 08:58
|
Sprinter
Posts: 1765
Joined: 27-08-2012
PCM$: 200.00
|
Great start once again! |
| |
|
|
| Ian Butler |
Posted on 31-05-2014 10:06
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
Thanks |
| |
|
|
| Ian Butler |
Posted on 31-05-2014 10:07
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
Santos Tour Down Under
The Santos Tour Down Under was an interesting experience. There were four absolutely flat stages, in which I gave it my all. However, in stage 4, Bouhanni was leading me out at a fast pace. I decided to drop a gap. The other favorites were too late to notice this and Nacer went on to win the stage.
For the rest, I stepped up myself and tried to win a stage, but I was unable to. I scored a 2nd place and two 3rd places. In every stage I was inside the top 10, even in the (minor) uphill finish.
All in all it was a good start of the season, with me taking valuable WT points for the team. The only thing missing is that first victory. But let's not panic, the season is still young.
| Winner | Leader | | Stage 1 | Giacomo Nizzolo (GRS) | Giacomo Nizzolo (GRS) | | Stage 2 | Marcel Kittel (SAP) | Marcel Kittel (SAP) | | Stage 3 | Peter Sagan (CAN) | Matthias Vleminckx (OPQ) | | Stage 4 | Nacer Bouhanni (OPQ) | Peter Sagan (CAN) | | Stage 5 | Simon Yates (SKY) | Peter Sagan (CAN) | | Stage 6 | Peter Sagan (CAN) | Peter Sagan (CAN) |
General Classification: Peter Sagan (CAN)
Points Classification: Peter Sagan (CAN)
Mountain Classification: Simon Yates (SKY)
Young Rider Classification: Matej Mohorič (BMC)
Team Classification: Omega Pharma - Quickstep
Tour Down Under: In Pictures 
The group sprint in stage 3
Peter Sagan taking stage 3, me taking the General Classification
My short journey as race leader. The team showing who's boss
Letting the gap fall between me and Bouhanni
Our first victory of the season!
Building up to the uphill sprint finish
Simon Yates with his final punch
My story here in Australia: "almost"
Peter Sagan - what a season start!
| 1 | Peter Sagan | Cannondale | 20h17'01 | | 2 | Matthias Vleminckx | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | + 12 | | 3 | Simon Yates | Team Sky | + 18 | | 4 | Gianni Meersman | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | + 32 | | 5 | Matej Mohorič | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 6 | Rui Costa | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 7 | Sergio Henao | Bardiani CSF | s.t. | | 8 | Jelle Vanendert | ASUS | s.t. | | 9 | Tom Van Asbroeck | Lotto Belisol | + 1'43 | | 10 | Warren Barguil | ExxonMobil - Geberit | s.t. |
And that concludes our Santos Tour Down Under. I'm looking forward to my next race, because I'll have Tom Boonen in the team car there!
See you later,
Matt |
| |
|
|
| Shonak |
Posted on 31-05-2014 11:43
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
|
Matthis scoring some early points for confidence, but does he need any more when you ride in rainbow jersey? Very good.
Also, liked the Past, Present & Future part. A Cycling Carol, the Ghosts of OPQ.
Edited by Shonak on 31-05-2014 11:44
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
|
| |
|
|
| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 31-05-2014 11:59
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7293
Joined: 11-04-2012
PCM$: 200.00
|
A good start to the season for Matt!!!
|
| |
|
