So, my other story died so I`ll have to try again and I`m going to make you decide wich team to play with.
DB: PlusPackage(08 DB)
Poll will be closed later today
Edited by olabj on 18-11-2009 16:33
Poll is closed, I`m starting with Euskatel. Before I start I need a answer from you, should I take out all the riders who have been caught doping until today or should I take those who were caught in 08, the lsat option is, should I just let all the dopers ride?
Euskaltel - Euskadi
So the Basque team got themselves a new sport director, me. I`m going to break some main rules while I`m in charge of the team, first of all I`m going to end the "only Basques on this team" campaign. If we want to stay in the top we have to expand our view and look further than our noses. I`m going to start out slow with only buying spanish and french riders. Anyway, here is the team and our goals:
Goals:
They are hard but not to hard so we will try to reach them all
Team leaders
Samuel Sanchez
He will be our team leader for the Vuelta where he`ll try and reach a top 3, if he fails we have Igor Anton as the ace up our sleeve Haimar Zubeldia
He is our leader for the Tour where he will try and reach the top 5, he will also be the leader in any races SSG don`t ride Mikel Astarloza
He will be the Co-leader in the TdF and the leader in all the races SSG and Zubeldia won`t ride, together with Igor Anton
Igor Anton
He will be the Co-leader in the Vuelta and as mentioned above he will be the leader in minor races together with Astarloza
Koldo Fernandez
Koldo is the teams main sprinter and he will ride in the TdF for the green jersey and stage wins
The rest of the team looks like this
The main facts:
Game: PCM 08
DB: Plus Package, all dopers from 08 are on FT and their stats have been lowered so that they are no longer that good
Difficulty: Normal, maybe hard if I`m to good
First reports up soon
Edited by olabj on 15-11-2009 15:13
January month wasn`t anything to write home about, we got our best stage at the last stage where Isasi got a 10th place in the sprint and Pozzato took the overall. McGee won the Australian national championship. February went a little better with Sanchez taking second in Vuelta a Mallorca and Zubeldia taking 6th in Vuelta a Andalucia
As you can see from the list, it`s a strong field with riders like the Schlecks, Valverde and Rodrigues for the GC, while Boonen and Bennati along with Cav is here for the sprints
Paris Nice, Stage 1:
We all know the flat TT profile of this stage so I`m not going to post it
Anyway, the first of the favourites for the GC to hit the road was Juanjo Cobo, he sat a time good enough for 17th, +18
Then it was Yaroslav Popovychs' turn, he was one of the favourites for the stage, but ended slightly dissapointing only on a 22th, 19 seconds down
Then it was Andy Schlecks turn, ending on a extremely dissapointing 118th place 42 seconds down
Valverde was next, he is the huge favourite for the GC this year, performed good in bad early form, and finished 24th, +20
Then it was time for the huge stage favourite, Bradley Wiggins, he rode into a nice time, but nothing more, he would hyave to blame on bad form for this one, 8th, 11 seconds down
The winner of todays stage, Laszlo Bodrogi of Credit Agricole, a blistering time on this short course, 7 minutes and 41 seconds.
In the end our guys did well with Zubeldia and Sanchez on 5th and 6th, by far the best of the favourites. good start for us
Paris Nice. Stage 2:
The profile is flat meaning that we`ll probably have a bunch sprint, our hope is Koldo Fernandez.
A break was formed including Galparsoro, at the mountainsprint the break got divided into two parts, Galparsoro managed to stay in the front, just
At the last little hill of the day Rodrigues of Caissè, who had lost a lot of time in the TT, tried to bridge the gap to the break, together with Philip Gilbert. They both made it but they stood no chance as Liquigas and Quickstep picked up the pace for Benatti and Boonen.
With 5kms to go Koldo had the wheel of the fast-going train of Saxobank, O`Grady leading for Arvesen
As it turned out, that train was the faster than the train for Haussler, where all the favourites had positioned themselves
At the 1km mark all Koldo had to do was pass Arvesen, but Pozzato in his white Pro-Tour leadersjersey and Tomekke came fast from behind
Boonen looked like he was going to pass both Koldo and Arvesen.
And at the line it was Tom Boonen who managed to throw his bike in front of Arvesen`s, while Koldo ended on a nice third and managed to get us our first PT points.
Stupid as I am I forgot to save the race replay, however I did get the results exported. I think I`m going to take the pictures during the race from now on. expect a new update later today
Paris Nice Stage 3:
1 Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi 4h46'06
2 Alexander Efimkin Quick·Step + 21
3 Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
4 Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux s.t.
5 Fränk Schleck Team CSC Saxo Bank s.t.
6 Manuele Mori Saunier Duval - Scott + 44
7 Dimitri Muravyev Astana Cycling Team s.t.
8 Nicolas Jalabert Agritubel s.t.
9 Mario Aerts Silence - Lotto s.t. 10 Haimar Zubeldia Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
