Shonak wrote:
Sounds like a great start. However, it seems too strong for a PCT team. Your sponsor wants you to win Paris-Roubaix, that's just weird. What difficulty do you play on if you don't mind me asking?
@Dippofix: Good luck with Roche at the Giro. I always fail against Nibali (and he always seems to ride it in the first year). And yes, it was a wonderful route. Enjoyed it immensly playing. After report comes later when I feel for it, I already finished the Giro by now. Probably going to take a break from the game for a few days/weeks but we'll see how long I won't play it (for example, I really like to play it when I'm hung over).
So I almost managed to win the Tour (2015) with Van Garderen (77 MO, 80 TT). But in the last two stages before Champs-Elysees, a mtf up Peyragudes and a TT to Chartres - yes it was the 2012 route again - I got crushed by Froome. Nothing I could do to prevent it, since he has 83 MO and 82 TT by now... and saved his peakform for the last week.
Frustrating, but it has been a great Tour anyhow with stagewins of Sagan, Fuglsang and Van Garderen and the polkadot jersey with Soler
So i'm just before the first TT at the Giro, and both Roche and Degenkolb sure as hell are on fire. Of the six stages (excluding the TTT) each of them took three stages. The other two stage wins for Roche we're the same as the Marina di Ascea stage, he attacked and Held a good gap, but sadly no time gaps, but due to bonifications he's up to fourth in the GC after loosing over a Minute in the TTT. Still, i'm not sure if this'll be a good Giro for me or not, GC wise. Massive startlist, with Wiggins, Nibbles, Evans, Gesink, Uran, Kreuziger and Henao to Name just the GC Contenders that are all within 43 seconds of Wiggins who's in pink at the Moment. My fear is that Roche peaked too early and that a lot of those named above good go past him on the tough mountains in week three. But really three stage wins and a few okay-ish Performances by Bos make me more than happy with it already.
@Rob81 Hmm, that Looks like one of the only chances for TVG to win a GT, with the amount of TT-Kilometres. But what DB do you use? There should be more than one tour variant in it.
@Rob81 Hmm, that Looks like one of the only chances for TVG to win a GT, with the amount of TT-Kilometres. But what DB do you use? There should be more than one tour variant in it.
Yes, that's why I'm so bummed. This was definately his chance to win it, but it was impossible to stop the Froomebot. I use the PCMDaily Expansion Pack 2012 database by the way, started with a custom team containing only free riders, and look at me now almost winning the Tour four years later...
There are many Tour variants in that database but somehow the 2012 route showed up again.
Rob81 wrote:
There are many Tour variants in that database but somehow the 2012 route showed up again.
In PCM12/13, the variants are normally set to be random (the game assures that the route from the previous year won't be picked again, but it doesn't prevent that all variants be picked before it uses one that has already been used). So the more variants the smaller chance that a route is re-used, but it's not impossible for that to happen
@Rob81 Hmm, that Looks like one of the only chances for TVG to win a GT, with the amount of TT-Kilometres. But what DB do you use? There should be more than one tour variant in it.
Yes, that's why I'm so bummed. This was definately his chance to win it, but it was impossible to stop the Froomebot. I use the PCMDaily Expansion Pack 2012 database by the way, started with a custom team containing only free riders, and look at me now almost winning the Tour four years later...
There are many Tour variants in that database but somehow the 2012 route showed up again.
Hmm, thats strange. :/
I'd be really annoyed if the 2012 route showed up again, but if TVG is your leader that's perfect. I played the TT by the way, Wiggins won of course. Roche finished third though, behind Nibbles, so he's also third in GC, about a minute down from Wiggins. Due to the three wins and a third place in the TT Roche also has the points jersey, but Degenkolb looks set to win nearly every flat stage left. I'm actually strongly considering to try to lead out Sagan or Nizzolo with Bos sso that Degenkolb doesn't collect so many points. Not sure though if that would work.
So the Giro has moved on, i just finished stage 14, and it's getting better and better. Roche won another two stages, this time MTF. They we're really weird though, because most of the favourites just sat and stared at each other. The first time only Gesink bothered following, the second time nobody. It's very tight though for GC, Roche and Wiggins Keep swapping the pink Jersey between each other. I'm quite confident about the Points Jersey now, Degenkolb has stopped doing anything, but now it's Sagan! Still, Roche has a nice amount of Points between them.
And for the Vuelta, i can already tell you it'll be J.D. Atapuma to lead it! I originally planned to let Quintana (77 MO, 75 HI, two stars left in each) lead, hoping that he'd have improved a bit by September. But then i realised just how incredible Atapuma would turn out to be. He's got 78 MO at the Moment, and still THREE stars left! That Guy might have 84 MO when fully developed! His HI and TT are quite low (72 & 61, respectively) but he should easily be able to take more time on the mountains then he'll lose in the TTs. That might also mean no replacement for Roche when he leaves, at least not a stage racer.
Maybe somebody for the classics and/or Sprints, contracts running out, of the non-stage racers i'm considering are:
Boonen
Terpstra
Kittel
Guardini
Bouhanni
Breschel
Vanmarcke
Van Avermaet
Also, the vuelta is renowned for being hilly, I even won it with a puncher in pcm12, so maybe you should go with Quintana. That Atapuma evolution is well awesome. I generally find Quintana is quite poor in pcm12 though, so that may explain it. And for the signing, I say Vanmarke, he normally develops well.
Maybe somebody for the classics and/or Sprints, contracts running out, of the non-stage racers i'm considering are:
Boonen
Terpstra
Kittel
Guardini
Bouhanni
Breschel
Vanmarcke
Van Avermaet
Any thoughts?
Well, I just signed Vanmarcke to be my main cobblestone rider because he also is an awesome lead-out for my sprinters... So out of your list I would go for Vanmarcke and Kittel or Bouhanni.
Roche was in Pink until stage 20. And then Wiggins takes about 1:30 out of him. This might be the closest i'll ever get to winning a GT with an Irish Rider. Its so annoying i coud cry. Winning the Points and the mountain Jersey is nice, but it could have been so much more. I'm in the middle of stage 21 at the Moment, of course no wind or anything. And even if. On stage 20, 5 riders missed the time cut. 5 of my own riders. So i'm left with Roche, Aru, Deignan and Jungels. I'll have to try to break away, but i don't think it'll work.
Just finished the tour It was a great race for our team! First we had changed our sponsor from Bouygues to Rabobank. The first stage goes well. Demare get a 3th place after Boasson Hagen and Kittel. Stage 2 was our first big day. Chavanel atacked to gain points for the KOM-Jersey. He won all the mountain sprints, and atacked in the downhill to the finish. At 2km he had still 30". But he get back 0.2km before the line . Rui Costa wins the stage and the new yellow yersey. Stage 3, Chavanal atacks again. This time he atacked again at the last downhill. And he won! With 30" at Niki Terpstra and 2'00" at the first favourites. Our GC-riders (Poels and Ten Dam) came at 3'30". The next dat was the TTT. It was close but we won with 2" at RadioShack-Leopard. Then the were some sprint stages who I forget who won. Chavanel loses his yellow yersey, because a breakaway won. Peraud was the new leader. With the first mountainstage Chavanel atacked to gain points for the KOM-ranking. He won at the first .HC col and get back in the peloton. Ten Dam, Poels, and Riblon finished in the first group. Peraud holds his leader yersey. The next stage, Chavanel, Frank, and Puccio goes in the breakaway. Frank leads the breakaway. Chavanel hold his place, and Puccio was the domenestique for Chavanel. Chavanel won all KOM-sprints, and had then 40points before Koren. Chavanel atacked again in the last downhill and wins the stage. He went second at 2" in the GC.
Restday
Then the were some sprint stages. Tony Martin wins the TT 2" before Chavanel. At the Mont Ventoux stage Froome wins 20" for Contador and 45" at Rolland. The GC then:
1. Froome
2. Contador at 1'20"
3. A. Schleck at 1'35"
...
16. Poels at 2'40"
17. Ten Dam at 2'50"
Poals form was getting worsers so I decided to make Ten Dam the teamleader.
Restday
Then the last weak. In the hilly stage Frank become 5th from the breakaway. Rojas wins. Ten Dam finished in the Favourites group and Poels at 50" of the favourites group. Contador fell, and give up. Then there was the mountain-TT. Suprisly Rodriguez won, before Froome at 10". The GC:
1. Froome
2. A. Schleck at 1'00"
3. Rodriguez at 1'20".
Kittel lead the point yersey, Chavanel the KOM, and Pinot with 1h00'00" the youth. Then there was the Alpe Du'Hez stage. Chavanel goes in the breakawy to gain points for the KOM. Westra wins with 20" at Kruijswijk and 1'00" at Chavanel. Schleck come at 11'20". Froome at 11'40" and Ten dam at 13'00". The next stage was won by A.Schleck. The GC then:
1. Froome
2. A.Schleck at 6"
3. Rodriguez at 2'35".
...
10. Roche at 10'35"
...
13. Ten Dam at 11'50".
The next stage was the weirdest. Rodriguez won the stage with 1'00" at A.Schleck. Froome finished at 1'25". And Ten Dam tenth at 3'00". Boasson Hagen wins the last stage and Demare finshed second.
The GC:
1. A.Schleck
2. Froome at 19"
3. Rodriguez at 1'35".
...
10. Ten Dam at 13'51"
The KOM
1. Chavanel
2. Koren
3. Froome
The Points:
1. Boasson Hagen
2. Kittel
3. Goss
Youth
1. Pinot
2. Landa
3. Kwiatowski
Team
1. Saxobank
2. Rabobank
3. Sky
It was a nice tour. A 10th place for Ten Dam and a stage win for him (TTT), the KOM-ranking and 2 stages for Chavanel. I have signed Mollema for next season. Next year we come for a top 5
In the meantime Clement finished 3th at the Austrian .HC race and has won a TT. In Poland Barguil wins a stage and Hoogerland the race. Sagan was second and Valverde thirth.
how do i win the TTT stage in the Tour (2013), i have tried a few different techniques but i always end one of the last five with Sky i have tried a TTT tutorial i found here somewhere but didn't work?
Aleakez wrote:
how do i win the TTT stage in the Tour (2013), i have tried a few different techniques but i always end one of the last five with Sky i have tried a TTT tutorial i found here somewhere but didn't work?
It's difficult. The riders below the 75 in TT goes by me always from the start riding tempo, and the other from the around 20km.
I have Just finished the season. Let's start in August. In August Frank Schleck makes a great start. In the Eneco Tour he has wun the hilly, stage. Ballan takes the cobbles stage and Phinney the overall win.
Our team went to San Sebastian. For the hilly classic there. We finished with a good 5th place in the sprint. Igor Anton was the rider. Gilbert won, before D.Martin and F.Schleck. In Portugal, volta a Portugal, Tony Gallopin was donig well. He won the TT survived the cobbles and survived to at the hills and mountains. The result: The GC win. In the Vuelta a Espana we makes a good start with finish the TTT as thirth. The first hilly stage was won by our rider Igor Anton. D.Van Poppel get some podium places in the sprints. The podium 3 weeks later:
1. F.Schleck (with 3 stage wins)
2. D.Moreno +4'20" (with 1 stage win)
3. I.Anton +5'20" (with 2 stage wins)
Hilly: Garate
Points: F.Schleck
Youth: I.Izargirre
Team: Caja Rural (with 1'00" at Katusha because the were with 2 man in the winning breakaway at the Angliru)
In the Vattenfall Cyclassics Kittel won, while in GP Ouest-France Plouay Flecha won by a breakaway. In Montreal P.Sagan won and in Quebec Rui Costa. Michel Albasini has wun the tour of Brittain. Now the WC's. T.Martin won the ITT with a 1'00" before Cancellara. Chavanel finished 7th at 2'40". In the RR was apthis the situatin at the last 30km:
1. A breakaway with Gilbert, Sagan, Ballan, Zoidl, and Jungels.
2. A first peleton around the 40 riders with B.Mollema, R.Gesink, J.Rodriguez, S.Clarke (has developed to 80 in hill ), Gerrans, Froome, Voeckler, Etc. They are at 50"
3. A another peleton at 3'00" with Valverde and LL Sanchez.
I manage Holland and I had Mollema as teamleader. He is in great shape, and the best hilly rider in my selection. At the last big hill I let him ride his own pace. He got a gap of 10" at the peloton. Slowly he rides to the breakaway. In the downhill he was 50" before the peloton and 10" after the breakaway. At the last climb he get by the breakaway. Nobody cans follow him and Mollema goes solo to a victory. He makes it and become WC!
1. Mollema
2. Sagan at 20"
3. Gilbert
4. Zoidl at 40"
5. Ballan at 55"
6. Rodriguez
7. Gesink
8. Jungels
9. S.Clarke at 1'20"
10. Cancellara
In October we race not so many races. Degenkolb wins from a breakaway Il Lombardia, while Albasini winn in the WT-Race Zurich-Metzge. Bouhanni wins Parijs-Tours and the new WT race Amstel Curacao Classic. D.Moreno wins the. Tour of Beijing before Cancellara and D.Teklehaimot. And Jens Mouris wins the Chrono des Nations.
Reading these posts makes me want to start a career with an Italian team and take them on top of the cycling world. It would be Liquigas come-back or Lampre.
So far I've finished the second year of my RadioShack career with usual Schlecks-Cancellara combo from later PCM editions. Upped a bit Schleck's stats as I hoped he would be fine for this years's Tour so he's stronger than he actually should be.
First season didn't start as well as planned. Bakelants and Jungels won some CT races, but the team failed most of the stage race goals sponsors set, only Catalunya was won by Voigt. No riders were peaking for them. We did better on the classics though. Cancellara would probably have won MSR if he wasn't blocked when Gilbert attacked on Poggio. But second place is also nice considering podium goal was achieved. He then went on to dominate the cobbles. Only Gent-Wevelgem was lost to Boonen. He then carried his form to Ardennes and got 3rd in AGR after Samu's solo win. Should have overcome Chavanel too, but mistimed the sprint. Kiserlovski go us top 5 in Fleche some days later. Then the LBL was interesting. Most of the favourites were cought behind in splits and our team worked hard to keep the gap. On the steeper climbs some managed to bridge over to first group while others dropped to second. Anyway the gap seemed quite secure before the pace got really high for the finale and I was quite surprised when I saw some of the favourites back in front when the fireworkd began. Costa won the race and I even missed the top 10. Then came the Giro where Nibali totally dominated, winning all the major jerseys. Andy came 2nd without peaking as his goal was Giro Tour double-podium. The Tour was set to be Froome's playground with Contador his closest rival. Froome was strongest as expected, but lost time once in a while due to being unattentive. Then Contador crashed out and at the end 3rd week Andy was finally able to match Froome uphill. On the final mountain of the race, Froome got stuck in the middle of the peloton and almost lost the jersey. If only Andy wasn't blocked for a while, he may have got those extra 20 seconds too. Nibali completed the podium in Paris, Goss won the green and Taaramäe grabbed the polka-dots. Then it was time for Fränk to shine. I sent a stong squad to San Sebastian but only got 3rd with Monfort as I missed the split with my leaders. In Vuelta Fränk got us our first GT victory, grabbing red jersey from Hesjedal (3rd in Giro) on Angliru thanks to his freshness. Moreno was 3rd ahead of Monfort. At the Worlds Spartacus won the ITT (no in-form contenders) and Breschel survived the hills to win RR. Nizzolo dominated late-season sprints and Fränk finished the season with victories in Lombardia and Beijing.
Notable transfers:
Caleb Ewan to Radioshack in January
Degenkolb - Argos -> RadioShack
Cavendish - OPQS -> Sky
Wiggins - Sky -> Orica
Pozzovivo - Ag2r -> MTN
Vanmarcke - Blanco -> Lotto (prevented a cobbles favourite to be domestique at OPQS)
Evans - BMC -> Lotto
Pozzato - Lampre -> Katusha (again prevented double leadership at BMC)
Goss - Orica -> Argos (relegated) -> IAM
Kittel - Argos (relegated) -> Euskaltel
Guardini - Astana -> Movistar
T.Martin - OPQS -> Astana
Vanendert - Lotto -> Ag2r
I also signed Stannard and Dombrowski.
Lampre and Argos were relegated and IAM and Androni promoted.
2014 was a total domination. Kiserlovski dominated early-season stage races and Cancellara sweeped the early classics, winning MSR and Flanders treble after hilly P-N with his superior TT. Fränk Schleck won AGR, but struggled with daily form on Fleche and LBL, won by Gilbert. Sponsors wanted points jerseys this time in Giro and Tour, which was given to Degenkolb to accomplish. While Degenkolb struggled in Giro without a proper sprint train, the fight for pink was tough between Movistar (Quintana, Valverde) and Radioshack (Andy, Monfort). Valverde was the Movistar leader as Quintana lost a bit time early, and managed to gain a lot of time in downhill finished with his early peak. Schleck waited for final week, but didn't gain enough time on the last summits to win the race. Valverde also got the points jersey ahead of Degenkolb as Radioshack had to admit the defeat. Other GC contenders included Talansky (3rd) and Dan Martin (4th) of Garmin, Gesink (crashed out of top competition but was strong uphill) and Nibali (aiming for Tour). The Tour was dominated by Froome as Sky ripped the peloton apart at times and Nibali often had to bridge the gaps from other contenders to Sky group. In the splits Contador, Wiggins, Purito were often the losers and Hesjedal lost the podium this way. As the route featured a lot TT kms and downhill finishes, I only targeted for top 5 with Fränk and accopmlished it by being attentive when the gaps appeared. Top 3 was Froome, Nibali and VDB. I got stage wins and green jersey with Degenkolb and polka-dots with Popovych. Vuelta was Andy's playground with Betancur and Pinot (5th in Giro) completing the podium in a surprisingly flat Vuelta. Nizzolo took us the points classification. Worlds ITT route ended with a hard climb and Froome won it. RR was won by LLS ahead of Sagan. Then I sent a stong squad to Lombardia and as the peloton reached top of the final climb together despite many attacks, I seeked a perfect oppurtunity to complete the Mini Slam with Spartacus who didn't renew his contract despite my efforts. He won the last monument with a downhill solo. We completed our domination of WT with another 1-2-3 in Beijing. As we always had at least 1 rider with good form for every WT stage race, we won all one week races except Dauphine (won by Froome ahead of Schleck).
Transfers:
Cancellara - Radioshack -> OPQS
Boonen - OPQS -> Radioshack
Kreuziger - Saxo -> Radioshack
Froome - Sky -> BMC (actually Movistar but I didn't think they can handle 2-3 leaders, with Quintana and Valverde still on board)
VDB - Lotto -> OPQS
Gilbert - BMC -> Movistar
Costa - Movistar -> Sky
Kittel - Euskaltel -> Blanco
Goss - IAM -> Argos
Henao - Sky -> Astana
LLS - Blanco -> Orica
Aru - Astana -> RadioShack
Hesjedal - Garmin -> Cannondale
Next season we will be sponsored by Unicef and I haven't actually decided if I continue or start a career with Lampre.
The transfers:
Rabobank was this year not active in the transfer market. There are 3 riders leaving our team (Fernandez, Gautier, and Barguil) and 5 new riders (4 young talents, and the WC Bauke Mollema).
Rabobank and IAM promote to the WT. FDJ, Lampre and Lotto goes to the PCT. So there are now back to the 18 WT teams. De Rijke, and Rabobank Development team get the promotion to the PCT while Bretange, Champion System and RusVelo goes to the CT.
Teams with new sponsers:
Europcar -> SFR
SaxoBank-Tinkoff -> Tinkoff
IAM -> IAM - Atlas. They were weak for the WT. So I have got a fusion with Atlas.
@Maximo: Congratz on winning the Mini Slam with Cancellara. Quite awesome. It's something I tried with Sagan in my previous Volkswagen career but alas lost motivation half way through. Lampre is very fun to ride honestly. I can only recommend them.
I havn't managed to post the Giro yet, or in fact play any PCM the last week. After the Col d'Izoard stage where Majka gained time on Caroli and Mollema, we had the 50 km time trial from Pavia to Milano (Stage 16). It turned in a fiasco! Caroli lost nearly 4 minutes (+3'53'' ) to Mollema who got 2nd place that day, zero seconds behind Craddock. Verona and Kwiat got Top 10 rankings that day but obviously my top climbers (Aru, Rosa) lost massive time too. Caroli was now 1'11'' or something like that behind Mollema, who got the pink jersey. Majka on #3 got 2 minutes to Mollema.
Before the 4 final mountain stages there was a flat stage from Milano to Verona, which was won by Gavazzi (WIT, formerly Cannondale) solo. My team mostly rested. Caroli and many others needed so find new strength, the last weeks have been quite intense with constant controlling of the peloton. Plus, Caroli isn't so far yet in his development to previal completely such a tough Giro. His weak time trial may come as a result of sub-par regeneration.
But, obvioulsy Lampre didn't give up just yet.
Stage #18 saw a big breakaway with Diego Rosa in it. Rosa did some work but mostly rested. From Vicenza to Passo Giau there were several climbs who thinned out the peloton. While Rosa was already in the final climb up to the Passo Giau, Caroli was protected by König and later Aru to get a perfect position at the steep first kilometers into the mountain. Right at the foot of it, he didn't waste any time. He had great fitness that day, attacked and kept his pace up to it. Radioshack must have gotten nervous. When Caroli rode like a beast past the breakaway riders, Rosa couldn't even hold up with him for too long. While Radioshack and Mollema tried to control the race, Majka constantly broke loose but always got caught. At the last kms to go, Caroli was already rather powered-out yet sure to win the stage. However the time gap was truly the important thing. He got 42'' seconds to Mollema and 49'' to Majka. A first little punch of a revenge.
However, the real important time gap occured on the following day. 200 kms to Livigno featured as a first mountain the infamous Passo del Stelvio. Kwiat was determined to get in the breakaway and managed it fairly easily. He now had to look that the time gap won't get too big. Caroli still was behind Mollema in the GC and thus we had sorta an advantage with the previous victory. Lampre saw that they took advantage of their great climbers and Rosa attacked together with Navarro at the Stelvio. Easily, they rode away and Rosa eventually let Navarro go as the Spaniards pace was too fast and Rosa was getting too far away from the peloton to be a fruitful relais station for Caroli's later attack. Lampre and especially Caroli had some good descending the previous weeks but surely it came as a surprise that König attacked in the descent of the Stelvio. Right at his backwheel was Caroli. However, Caroli actually had a hard time keeping up with his teammate. When they had enough time on the peloton in the descent, König protected Caroli and completely powered himself out in the long descent and the short flat leading up to the Passo del Fosgacno (2-Cat). When they reached Rosa at the foot of the climb, König couldn't hold up with Caroli and it was Rosa's time to work for Caroli. This was the moment where Caroli probably got the biggest time gap on his rivals. I think, he was leading up to 3-4 minutes at some point, but it rather fast decreased in the climb. Radioshack did chase right from Caroli's attack and thus the peloton was really small at that, rather early, point in the race. Up to the Foscagno, Caroli catched up to the big breakaway. Mollema and Majka now behind him nearly reached the breakaway too. However when they did, Caroli was already gone. Once again, a teammate, Kwiat, powered himself out and Caroli reached the summit with about 2 minutes ahead of Majka, Mollema, other favourites and a bunch of breakaway riders. A short descent helped Caroli to gain a bit power back for the 4-Cat climb (Passo d'Eira). It was very short but could have been futile. He managed to keep his lead of about 1 minute and even gained time in the 10 km descent. Mollema, Majka and Fuglsang got about 1'22''. Also great, no time bonus for Mollema because Quintana and Fuglsang snatched away the seconds. So thanks for that guys. Nice riding by Navarro who came in with the favourites group. Aru lost nearly 6 minutes to Caroli, having previously missed the split of the leader's group.
Yet however the race was still open. Mollema was only about 1'20'' behind in the GC and as Caroli has shown, it was easy to gain time as much as it was to lose.
From Bormio to Monte Colmo could be described as the Queen's stage. Passo Gavia, Monte Padrio, the famous Mortirolo(!!) and Monte Colmo. Yeah. What a stage. Lampre knew that if Caroli managed to hang onto the pink jersey today than everything would be fine. Normally. We rode slowly into the first two climbs, trying to conserve as much as energy as possible. The breakaway's time was insane. A rider by Radioshack was in it, we just let them get away anyway. However the peloton was still thinned out, many riders dropped. Mortirolo saw an carnage as Verona and König picked up the pace but it was later Vacansoleil who were really eager. Rolland (VCD), Fuglsang (ALM), Uran (RTL), many good riders attacked and we had to control them somehow. Majka (VCD) and Mollema broke loose too later at the Mortirolo. Lampre couldn't snatch them at the summit and thus a group of favourites were in front of us and Lampre was struggling to maintain reason. At some point in the descent, Mollem was virtual leader of the Giro - again. Yet however, Mortirolo is a mountain who demands sacrifice. Caroli was pretty exhausted from his previous victories and tried mostly to conserve energy as much as possible. Lampre came closer at the Monto Colmo but soon there were no helpers left. Not even Aru anymore. Caroli was all on himself. While the breakaway upfront got caught by Mollema and Majka, Caroli snatched in turn other favourites like Fuglsang and Rolland back and just left them standing there. He was on fire, angry, but also risking a lot. Maybe even imploding, trying to close the gap to Mollema and Majka. Thankfully, there wern't the winner's 20 bonus seconds in the race anymore since Montaguti (VCD) won the stage 2 minutes ahead of his team captain Majka. Mollema came in 3rd at the same time. I was really happy when Caroli crossed the finish line and at least lost only 44'' to his rivals. At one point he was really close to closing the gap and catching up to them, but I suppose I let him ride too hard and he kinda had no energy left. Still, he was still leader at that point, in all rankings by the way (KoM, Point, U25 too).
The last stage was the another mountain stage. Crossing 5(!) in short order the Passo Maddalena, Lampre had only 200 kilometers left to Brescia to finally win the Giro. 3 tough weeks behind the team, and just one last test. Mollema only 29'' behind Caroli was a sure promise for a tough last fight. The holland rider delivered, when he attacked on the 3rd time climbing the Maddalena. Still, there were back then about 70 kms to go, so he took a real risk here. Caroli knew that the previous days were hard on him and his team and they kept their cool. However, they couldn't let Mollema just ride away on his own. At max, he had 1'30'' time before Lampre chased up the 4th time climbing the Maddalena. They couldn't really decrease the time though and it was only Caroli on his own at the final climb that he managed to finally catch up to Mollema. There was only 1 km to go at to the summit and very long steep descent into Brescia. God knows what would have happened if Caroli hadn't catched up to him a few meters before In the descent, Caroli followed Mollema's backwheel to risk nothing. This gave Fuglsang, Majka and Aru time to get back to the two rivals. Aru even attacked in the descent and managed to snatch the 7th rank overall. The stage saw a breakaway win by Grmay for Astana, and finally Lampre's big Giro victory. Caroli put a fitting end to a masterful performance over the last 3 weeks full of intense racing and sweet victories yet also bitter defeats. In the end, Caroli won 4 stages, all 4 jerseys (KoM, Points, U25) as well as the admiration of entire Italy. Key to the victory were obviously his strong descents and the cobblestone section. Time trials would have nearly cost him the victory and sometimes he may should have kept up with Mollema and Majka instead of too much focusing on his own team. When he did this in the mountains he sometimes lost time.
For Caroli, this should cement his superstar status in Italy now. He will now improve his puncheur abilities, aiming for Lombardia and the WC, which offers some small hill sections.
Majka and Mollema were great opponents, always fighting and taking every stage serious. Also very nice performance by Fuglsang, Craddock (Rank 5!, 25 yrs old) and Rabottini. Uran and Intxausti sacrificed themselves for Mollema and Aru got a nice 7th rank, also preparing him as a 2nd captain for the TdF. Quintana did a good prepration for the TdF (#14), who came in form very late in the Giro.
Overall, GC:
1. Caroli (LAM)
2. Mollema (RTL) +29''
3. Majka (VCD) +2'19''
4. Fuglsang (ALM) +6'51''
5. Craddock (BEL)
6. Rabottini (Selle Italia)
7. Aru (LAM)
8. Rolland (VCD)
9. Bakelants (OPQ)
10. Intxausti (RTL)
Also great by Rosa, Verona and Kwiat who also got Top 25 rankings. 5 riders by Lampre just shows a great team performance even though they worked for nearly entire 3 weeks for their captain. Lampre didn't win the team classification though, it went to Radioshack.
Up next are Tour de Suisse and Crit-Dauph, both season goals, yet however not really important this season (since Lampre). Merida's next goal is Tour de Pologne and I really probably sign the proposal right away although we failed the Romandia sponsor goal. Alas, this is not important since we got some plus points with the Giro victory anyway. Edited by Shonak on 24-10-2013 21:30
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
What difficulty do you play on if you don't mind me asking?
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. Rui Costa wins the stage and the new yellow yersey. Stage 3, Chavanal atacks again. This time he atacked again at the last downhill. And he won! With 30" at Niki Terpstra and 2'00" at the first favourites. Our GC-riders (Poels and Ten Dam) came at 3'30". The next dat was the TTT. It was close but we won with 2" at RadioShack-Leopard. Then the were some sprint stages who I forget who won. Chavanel loses his yellow yersey, because a breakaway won. Peraud was the new leader. With the first mountainstage Chavanel atacked to gain points for the KOM-ranking. He won at the first .HC col and get back in the peloton. Ten Dam, Poels, and Riblon finished in the first group. Peraud holds his leader yersey. The next stage, Chavanel, Frank, and Puccio goes in the breakaway. Frank leads the breakaway. Chavanel hold his place, and Puccio was the domenestique for Chavanel. Chavanel won all KOM-sprints, and had then 40points before Koren. Chavanel atacked again in the last downhill and wins the stage. He went second at 2" in the GC. 
), Gerrans, Froome, Voeckler, Etc. They are at 50"
