Willy have to have at least 78 on mountains in my opinion if he can keep up with Schlecks when you quick sim the race. Anyway nice result! good luck in San Remo. Hope you can get great result in favourite classic Edited by JuanMotr on 17-02-2013 18:14
PCM rulezz - T - h - anks, mate It's definitely the highlight of his career so far!
Daggen - Well, what can I say, they made some changes, made it a 100-day stage race
sutty68 - Yet Kittel survived all 57 of them
Stromeon - Definitely
Ollfardh - I couldn't believe it either!
krisa - Don't say sorry for going on holidays Thanks a lot for the comment!
JuanMotr - There wasn't a single mountain stage, so the MO stat didn't really matter, it were all hilly stages, and Willy's HILL stat is about 5 less than one of the Schlecks, how about that All about great shape!
baseballlover312 - No, don't worry about that. I believe I've finally found a perfect harmony between PCM and life I race about 1 stage every day, and it just seems right. Before I just got lost in the game and the stories burned out too fast. This is Petronas-speed. I feel like I can keep this up for a very long time
Thanks for the many, many comments and views. Next up is Milan - San Remo. I hope it'll be playable, it's a very laggy race on my computer, I might try to turn down some graphics, though.
Welcome in the 104th edition of Milano - San Remo, an ancient cycling event that brings the world's greatest riders to the start line. It's a race where everyone can win, but few have. Sprinters, punchers, attackers, everyone hopes that today will be their day. But only one can win...
Nearly 300 km. We all know what's about to happen. There will be a breakaway, which will be caught on time. Then things will slow down. Some riders will try to ride away on the Poggio, then it's up to the sprinter's teams to make sure their sprinters stay at the front and the attackers are caught.
Or that's what everyone was thinking...
Willy Wouters
Yesterday, Slagter fell sick and he couldn't start. Wegmann would take his place.
It certainly made for a nice starting picture: World Champion Tom Boonen came here to win. It would be his first.
The breakaway of today consisted of four brave men, who would be on their own for over 200 km.
I enjoyed the scenery as much as possible. Both for me and Stijn it's our first time here, and this is a truly magical race. I wanted to enjoy it, above all!
But I'm no tourist. The pace was high and the hilly terrain started to cause some nervousness. The pace went up.
And then I got an idea. When nobody suspected it, I attacked! It was on the Cipressa, about 23 km from the finish, one hill before the Poggio! After winning Tirreno - Adriatico, I almost felt obliged to show my face today.
And it worked! I got some riders with me. Names that count, really count! Cancellara, Gilbert, Flecha, Burghardt and Chavanel.
We kept together until the top and started descending. Gilbert and Cancellara did most of the work. The peloton wasn't far, but they didn't come any closer!
But soon it took its toll. I broke away, I had to pay the price: Cancellara's pace was too much for me, that man is a machine.
On the top of the Poggio, I got caught.
It was close, and I believe I can ride top 10 here one day. I'll certainly come back here. I finished a decent 34th.
Stijn Van Gent
I started the day in the middle of the pack, but I soon moved up front.
Since it's my first time here, I felt very nervous. I was here as a sort of free element, depending on Marcel Kittel.
The final 100 km are quite hilly and everyone wants to stay up front so the race is very nervous the whole time!
I was quite successful in staying at the front. I'm heavy enough to fight for some places. The hills were tough but I felt in a great shape and I hung on!
Many riders started dropping out because of the hills and sometimes narrow roads. You had to be rightly placed!
And then Willy launched his attack. I think he was brave today, and he did good. However, I stayed alert and kept at the front. Descending the Poggio, I was looking for Kittel. He was nowhere in sight, so I had to make a quick decision: I'll sprint for myself. I turned out to be right. Kittel had survived the Poggio, but barely, and had no energy left to sprint.
The sprint was unbelievably hectic.
And Cancellara had managed to just stay out of the grasp of the peloton (in a way, he has Willy to thank for this!). He wins Milano - San Remo 2013.
I was sprinting like my life depended on it. I had a big advantage, my stamina! Some other sprinters were tired out, while I get better if the race is hard and long.
I finished 6th! I consider this an amazing achievement and definitely one of the greatest days of my career. It looks like I'm ready for the cobbled season! Both me and Willy have quite some WT Points now, Willy's even 5th in the Ranking at the moment!
Result
This has been a great day. It looks like this all isn't real, the entire season. Willy wins in Mallorca, wins Tirreno - Adriatico, Stijn finishes top 10 in San Remo... Seems so unreal.
Update on schedule: Because of the tough race of Milano - San Remo, Stijn will skip Dwars Door Vlaanderen and just start in E3-Harelbeke.
Until then,
Stijn & Willy
hello, i just started to read your story a couple of days ago and it really got in to me. really well done, love the characters and the writing. cant wait to see the cobbles season
dienblad - Thanks! It was very unexpected, considering the field and Stijn's sprinting stat, but he did it
PCM rulezz - Argos won't regret signing them, I think
sutty68 - Thanks. Everything was close together, so Stijn was close to the win, but also close to the 14th place Though he did great, and let's hope he can improve for next year!
krisa - Thanks, mate
locodoco - Glad to have you on board, thanks a lot. Hope you enjoy it!
Finally, the moment has arrived. After San Remo, I feel a bit too tired, still. I hope it won't affect my racing today. I'll be looking for four top 10 places!
Unfortunately for me, the sun was shining once again. I really hope the weather for the remaining classics will change more to my advantage.
The peloton fell apart after a cobbled, steep, hill. I was pretty much at the front. There was some chaos due to radio interference, we had no contact with the team cars.
And then Stijn Devolder escaped.
Strangely enough, no one reacted, so eventually I moved up and organized the chase.
After 5 km, the radios worked again. And then I got shocking news: Peter Sagan had broken away earlier and was already 4 minutes in front. When did this happen?
Fabian Cancellara and I attempted to reel him back in.
But Cancellara was counterproductive. He semmed to have given up and was looking for the podium instead of the win. On the flat sections, he didn't do anything, so I was forced to ride. On the cobbled sections, he constantly upped the pace to drop me...
I bluffed and held my legs still, so we got caught by a chasing group.
But I had wasted energy. And suddenly Cancellara thought it was necessary to go at full speed, I got dropped...
Peter Sagan, where will it end with this young talent? He takes another win and he made it look so easy!
My consolation is that I win the sprint for the 9th place! Still unfortunate, though, I think I could've done better today.
I'm somewhat confused by Cancellara's behavior during the race. I asked him about it as soon as I had the chance and he simply replied: "Just a racing tactic, it got me a third place, so it worked."
In the end, I got my top 10, so I really can't complain. Still, I had good legs. Let's hope I can carry them along to Wevelgem in a couple of days.
Stijn
