Hello, my name is Simon, and I'm a professional bike rider.
This is the way I've always wanted to start a blog, and now that my team mates decided that it would be fun to make ME write a blog as MY birthday present, that's the way I'm gonna start it.
Done.
Well, I guess I'm supposed to tell you about myself, but I won't do that just now. Instead I'll start out by telling you guys about my team:
I ride for a pro continental team called Royal Unibrew Pro Cycling, based out of Copenhagen, Denmark. We have had a bit of a turbulent start as a team sponsorwise; we've already changed the team name 3 times, and that was all in the first month and a half as a team.
First we were team Q8 iCycling, sponsored by Q8 Denmark and Apple Denmark, but then Apple pulled out, and Royal Unibrew came to our rescue. Then for two weeks we were Q8 - Royal Pro Cycling, but then Q8 used some hole in the contract and they pulled out as well, so now we're just Royal Unibrew Pro Cycling.
So our main sponsor is Royal Unibrew, who primarily makes beer (Royal, Faxe etc. etc.) and soft drinks (Faxe Kondi, Nikoline). They also distribute Heinekin and Pepsi in Denmark, and they want to get out in the world, so they've put a lot of money in the team.
The secondary sponsors are Maersk, Hummel, Q8 and Jyske Bank, while our minor sponsors include Telstra, Toyota and Specialized.
(I've been told to write this )
Our shirt looks like this:
Official team jersey of Royal Unibrew Pro Cycling (RUB) of 2010
The orange band on the left arm (and leg) is NOT a Livestrong knock off. It's a deal we've made with Roskilde Festival to show our appreciation of their charity work, which is a case we'd like to help with. So by sporting this orange band, we rise awareness of the greatest music festival on the planet.
We have a mix of pro riders and amateur riders on our team. We are all either Danish or Australian, and I'll take my time to tell you about them now:
We have three captains
Matti Breschel
Matti is probably the most valuable rider for our team. He is our main weapon in out quest for the Top Tour next year. He's a guy who can both sprint, ride in the hilly stages and conquer the cobblestones.
Michael Rogers
Michael is our grand old man. His 30 years of age makes him second to oldest rider, only beaten by Nicki Sørensen. He is a valuable asset for such a young team, and he still has his forces on the time trials and in the mountains, and can be important in some of the smaller Top Tour races.
Jacob Fuglsang
Jacob is our best stage race rider. I think that he have what it takes to win big races, and he'll be a team leader for a lot of years. I look foward to helping him in the mountains.
We have two secondary captains
Chris Anker Sørensen
Chris is a climber. He can ride uphill like only a few riders on our team, and in the very steep climbs he might be our best shot.
Simon Gerrans
He is one of four Simons on the team, and he is by far the best of us. He's a classic puncheur who can win a sprint in a breakaway any day. And he can win smaller stage races, also in the Top Tour.
We have one sprinter
Simon Clarke
Simon is our main sprinter. He's still quite young, and he needs to improve both in the hills and on flat road.
We have one Nicki
Nicki Sørensen
My favorite rider! He was once 20th in the Tour, and he is just so cool in every way. On Saxo Bank he was the water carrier, and on our team.. he's the water carrier. Or he is in the biggest races. But I think we'll see him surprise everyone and maybe win a GT or maybe Tour of Swiss..
We have three helpers
Magnus Jeppesen
My best friend Magnus. He is maybe the biggest Danish talent at the moment, and he'll probably be the best puncheur in the history of Danish cycling. He wanted to be a climber and win GT's but he's stopped focusing on that, because his TT will never be good enough, and he just can't keep up on the real long mountains.
Anders Lund
Not much can be said about Anders, other than he's a talent that never really became the rider I thought he would become. But he is one that takes one for the team, and he doesn't mind leading the pack for the first half of a stage, if it means that his teammates will have a chance of victory.
() Simon Malone
That's me. I'm a stage racer. I like the long climbs, where you really suffer. I'm half Danish and half Australian, born and raised in Denmark, but ride for Australia (because then me and Magnus can be national champions at the same time)
And finally we have 10 amateur riders
Søren Krag Andersen Simon Bigum Mads Lillelund Christiansen Daniel Mielke Christian Olesen Lucas Udby Mathis Johansson Lars Stig Maier Jesper Haahr Petersen Jonas Schmidt Christensen
That's it for my first blog post. The next few will be updates on the races that we've participated in (especially those which i rode myself) and our results in those. I'll start finding some pictures for my posts, beginning with Paris - Nice.
(To those of you who didn't get it, this is a PCM story. The riders Magnus Jeppesen and Simon Malone are totally fictive, though based on real people. I play with PPDB database and the save game is started on patch 1.1.8.0 or something like that.)
I thought I'd update you on the first month of cycling for Royal Unibrew Pro cycling and yours sincerely.
It all started at the Aussie champs. Simon (Gerrans), Michael (Rogers), Simon (Clarke (Simon for gods sake, write the last names)) and myself participated in the race, but we didn't make a name for our selves. Simon Gerrans ended sixth, but the race was won by Michael Matthews of Jayco - Skins.
Australian Championships:
1. - Michael Matthews (JAS)
2. - Brad Hall (MPC)
3. - Matthew Hayman (SKY)
4. - Matthew Goss (THR)
5. - Cameron Meyer (GRM)
I guess you have to be named something with Matthew to do well in these champs.
In Tour Down Under, I didn't participate. I was quite disappointed, but life goes on. Simon Gerrans and Matti Breschel were our best cards, but the stage victories didn't come, but Matti did claim two seconds, a third and a fourth place in the stages. The second place, behind Cancellara, on the hilly stage gave him the final victory though, by the smallest margin possible.
Tour Down Under
Final GC
1. - Matti Breschel (RUB)
2. - Fabian Cancellara (SAX)
3. - Martijn Maaskant (GRM)
4. - Kurt-Asle Arvesen (SKY)
5. - Karsten Kroon (BMC)
6. - Bobbie Traksel (VAC)
7. - Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY)
8. - Murilo Fischer (GRM)
9. - Sebastian Langeveld (RAB)
10. - Nicolas Roche (ALM)
This meant that Matti Breschel and Royal Unibrew ended the month leading the Top Tour. Matti was selected rider of the month by a cycling magazine.
As you might see, these results are old, and not updated that much. From now on (Paris - Nice, in which i participate), I'll make live updates on my pc, and upload them, when time is. These two months will, however, be "looked back on", so the descriptions will be less detailed, and might only scratch the surface of what happened.
(Edited by RUB management)
Edited by tehMalone on 23-07-2010 00:59
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