In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.
One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and POP! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.
My name is...well, my name isn't who I am, it doesn't define me. At the moment, I am the hungry caterpillar, eating everything around me, gathering everything in that I can, waiting to sprout into a beautiful butterfly.
OK, that metaphor was far too pompous, let's cut that out and get to straight English. I'm an assistant DS at the newly formed Caterpillar Cycling team. Caterpillar Inc. sponsors the team, trying to improve brand recognition and sales across predominantly Europe but also other countries they're based in across the globe (you can find out about the company here https://en.wikiped...illar_Inc. ). We've got 16 riders and a Continental license. Caterpillar have said they'll sponsor the team for a minimum of 3 years, an extension depends on whether we're ProTour or not by then.
So a bit more about the team. The head honcho is Rupert Evergreen, not well known in the cycling scene, but put in charge here. He's a bit old school, preferring a more formal relationship with the riders (and the staff too) as well as not really embracing technology. We're not exactly going to be best pals, but we'll get along.
Pre-season training has already begun, and we've got 16 good riders, a real mixed bag of young and old, sprinters and climbers, introverts and extroverts. My job will focus on keeping these 16 happy, as well as monitoring their training and being at the races. A lot of responsibility and hard work, but it's a job I like and a step towards the job I'll love – team manager of a ProTour team.
I've already got my itinerary sorted for January. I'll be with our five Australians (can't give out names yet until the team presentation) for their national championships, which are when the team presentation is (it's back in London), which Rupert will oversee. Then it's training up until our first race proper, the Tour Down Under, which we've secured a wild-card for. I'll be second in command their, but I'm not entirely sure how much freedom Rupert will give me. We'll see.
Oh yes, my name. My name is Jonny Clayton. It's going to be very well known soon. I hope. Or should that be I know?
Caterpillar Unveiled Hilton Clarke and Glen Chadwick lead Continental squad
London was the venue for the unveiling of one of the worst kept secrets in cycling: the brand new Caterpillar Cycling Team.
[img-r]https://www.nyse.com/images/press/cat-l.gif[/img-r]
Sponsored by Caterpillar Inc., a company renowned for it's production of machinery and engines, the team is hoping to achieve ProTour status within 3 years, under the guidance of relatively unknown team manager Rupert Evergreen, who was enthusiastic about the team and it's future.
“Failure is not a word in my dictionary, and the riders will not fail me. They're all good riders, but they know they need to constantly prove their good enough to stay in a team like this.”
The team presentation was a reasonably low key affair, a fact confirmed by the team manager, as the riders were presented to the awaiting media in suits, with only a model to show off the jersey festooned by the traditional Caterpillar yellow.
“We're not your big high glamour, high budget team like Team Sky. We're going to be getting results through hard work, not mood lighting. We don't need wind tunnel testing, it's the rider's strength that gets results not what he looks like on the bike.”
The team was mixing it's five Australians, who are tomorrow riding in the National Championships, under the watchful eye of Rupert's number two, Jonny Clayton, who nobody seems to know anything about.
A low key entrance, but a high profile race will start the team off as they secured a wild-card to the Tour Down Under. However, a team with ambitions like this was always going to be asked about Le Tour.
“Not this year. Probably not next year either. We're focusing on races like the Tour of Britain and Tour of California whilst we're not in the ProTour.” A bold statement, only made bold by a couple of astonished looks from the Caterpillar Inc. representatives. Trouble at the top already?
Squad:
Hilton Clarke (AUS, 30)
Glen Alan Chadwick (NZL, 33)
Ed Clancy (GBR, 24)
Rory Sutherland (AUS, 27)
Marc De Maar (NED, 25)
Dean Downing (GBR, 34)
Karl Menzies (AUS, 32)
David McCann (IRL, 36)
David Veilleux (CAN, 22)
Dean Windsor (AUS, 23)
Daniel Fleeman (GBR, 27)
Cameron Evans (CAN, 25)
Ben Day (AUS, 31)
Joshua England (NZL, 23)
Alexander Boyd (USA, 22)
Guy East (USA, 22)
jph27 wrote:
This is going to end up like all your other stories.
Eh?
Anyway, it's a good team and I can't wait to see the Jersey.
Thanks. It's made by speedyfire
Spoiler
Australian National Championships (ITT, Buninyong, 6/1/2010)
I came to Buninyong for the Australian National Championships expecting glorious sunshine. I got the same damp, drab, depressing, overcast, miserable grey weather that I thought I'd left behind when I left London Heathrow.
The course for the individual time trial was 40km of rolling terrain, with a long downhill run to the finish. We'd got all five of our Australians with us, but only Ben Day, Karl Menzies and Rory Sutherland would realistically do anything, especially with Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers here. Therefore, Dean Windsor and Hilton Clarke will just be taking out as training, not going flat out.
Dean was the first rider off, and set a respectable 58'02, and was in the hot seat for precisely 1 rider. Karl was the 4th rider to go, and he went into the lead, with a time of 57'29. He also was in the hot seat for precisely 1 rider, as Travis Meyer shaved 35 seconds off of his time.
Ben Day was next up, and set a strong time of 57'10, moving into 2nd place. Hilton Clarke soon followed but was nowhere.
Ben Day riding well
With just Rory Sutherland to go, looking at the overcast conditions, rain had held off for our first 4 riders, and I was hoping that maybe it wouldn't come.
“Looks like we're in for rain,” Rory said to me moments before he set off. Of course, the clouds immediately unleashed a deluge of rain.
Rory rode well, getting out a nice consistent tempo, and finishing 11 seconds slower than Karl Menzies (who was now 5th).
So with only five riders left, I started to feel confident – Ben can't lose too many places, can he?
Spoke too soon, as the next 5 riders all went faster, with Michael Rogers setting the winning time of 55'48.
1
Michael Rogers
Team HTC - Columbia
55'48
2
Cameron Meyer
Garmin - Transitions
+ 4
3
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 7
4
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
+ 11
5
Heinrich Haussler
Cervélo Test Team
+ 32
6
Jack Bobridge
Garmin - Transitions
+ 38
7
Adam Hansen
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 46
8
Travis Meyer
Garmin - Transitions
+ 1'05
9
Luke Roberts
Team Milram
+ 1'19
10
Ben Day
Caterpillar
+ 1'22
13
Karl Menzies
Caterpillar
+ 1'41
16
Rory Sutherland
Caterpillar
+ 1'53
24
Dean Windsor
Caterpillar
+ 2'15
31
Hilton Clarke
Caterpillar
+2'20
Not a bad start, now for the road race in 4 days time.
Australian National Championships (RR, Hilly, Buninyong – Buninyong, 10/1/2010)
The same 5 rolled up to the start-line, and with us having the equal largest team, there was a strong possibility we could do well here, if we played our cards right.
17 laps faced us, totalling 172km and 17 times up and down the same hill. The small size of the pack meant a break had a strong chance of succeeding, and so I gave the job of Karl to follow any attacks, just cover them.
Of course, he just ignored me and attacked straight away, on his own.
Four others joined across to him, to form a pretty strong 5 man group (compared to a bunch now totalling 32). His companions were Roberts (Milram), Walker (Footon), King (Trek U23) and Wilson (Garmin). If the break stayed away, only Wilson would trouble Karl in the sprint.
The pack started to give the break a leash: 2 minutes, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12!!! The guys seemed to be enjoying the now warm weather instead in the bunch, and were willing to let the 5 breakaways contenders fight it out for the win.
In the break, with 25km to go, the others were doing the bare minimum of work, letting Karl set a pace. So then attacking Karl would be not on, right?
A flurry of attacks featured over the next 15km, each easily caught by an angry Karl, who seemed to be running on cold fury.
What absolute basta...
On the last ascent of the hill, Karl launched a blistering attack of his own. Luke Roberts was closest to following, but Karl was pumped up, and already had a minute on his “companions” by the top.
A short descent later, and Karl was crowned the best rider in Australia.
A fantastic win
Afterwards, Karl had a few choice words for his breakaway companions. And so did I quite frankly. But as soon as he was on the podium, that was all forgotten, as Karl would be wearing the green, gold and white of Australia for the next season!
Tour Down Under (19/1/2010-24/1/2010, ProTour)
So here's our first race proper, and boy is it a big way to start. We're up against riders like Cancellara, Petacchi, Bennati, Farrar, Kroon...quality, quality riders. We've brought along our five Aussies, plus David McCann and David Veilleux.
Rupert has set out the game plan for us: Hilton Clarke will target the sprints, along with Karl Menzies if the route proves too hard for Hilton. Rory Sutherland will be our GC guy, while the rest will be support for those 3, or trying to get into breakaways.
And that's where I come in. My job is to try and get one of our team into a break every stage.
Stage 1: Clare – Tanunda (140.6km)
First stage, and first try for the break went to David McCann, who joined 7 others for a break which didn't really get going, and was caught within 20km of the start line.
When they were caught, the pack eased up a lot, and I told somebody else to have a go over the radio. Up stepped Dean Windsor, who put down full gas, looked over his shoulder and found he was alone. Race radio quickly allowed me to go up to him, and I told him to just ride tempo, don't kill yourself.
Deano goes solo
He quickly snapped up the first set of mountain points, but the [ack brought him back in with 55km to go. That cued up an attack from Leif Hoste, who took the next set of mountain points, whilst Dean attacked from the bunch to take 3rd on the climb, dragging 2 others with him (Hinault (Ag2r) and Vigano (Sky)) to form a chase group after Leif Hoste.
Leif Hoste goes for a sneaky attack
However, the strength of the pack always meant such a break had no chance, and Leif Hoste was caught by the peloton just as he got the last mountain points, taking away the jersey from Dean Windsor, who'd already been caught and dropped.
So it became a sprint, and what a sprint it was! Coming into the last turn, Karl found himself in the second wheel behind Scott Davis of Astana, and went full gas from there...
Karl in a great position
But...
Petacchi came round him
Still, second place was a great result, holding off Bennati and Farrar is a great achievement, and a great start for the team. Just a shame Deano didn't get the climber's jersey, rolling in 6 minutes after the pack too – very demoralising, but hopefully he'll return positive tomorrow
Question for you Crommy, why do all of your alter-egos for your stories have names that make them sound like low level thugs from a Michael Caine movie?
This story is partly a tribute to PCM10's fantastic graphics engine, partly a showcase of Crommy's intelligence and partly an iron maiden for Crommy's Hamsterwheel.
Stage 2: Gawler – Hahndorf (165.6km)
I would be marshalling the break today again, with Deano hoping to pick up all 32 points on offer.
But we managed not to just slip Deano away – Ben managed to get into the 6 man break too, giving us strength in depth to get those KOM points.
Two is better than one
The only problem was, the first climb was 8.5km long with an average at 6.8%, and Dean was dropped easily. The plan changed then, and it was Ben who would try to grab as many points as possible, and with nobody else going for them, he was first at the top. Climb one done. Would we make it to number two?
The rest of the stage was fairly pedestrian. The break stayed away just long enough to grab those mountain points, which put Ben level with Leif Hoste on points – he wouldn't get the jersey though, which was very frustrating, we'll have to try again tomorrow.
Ben gets the points, but it isn't enough
The finale was one for the real sprinter's, a long straight allowing them to get positioned, but the winner was still surprising: Murilo Fischer outsprinted Van Avaermet and Cancellara to take the stage and go level with Petacchi. Karl roled in a very good 8th, dropping to 4th in the GC.
And gratz with the win 
