this is my first atempt at a story ... so i hope this goes well ...
Edit; Any coments, critesisms, advice or ideas, no matter what, are fully appreciated and welcomed. Thanks
Settings;
race - hard, carrer - normal, progression - 0.5, db - my friends - few stat and name changes
Background;
In order to raise awareness and funds the charity Shelterbox have teamed up with UNICEF to start a cycling team ... the long struggle for funds was finally overcome thanks to the growing support by both governments of the UK and USA, with additional help provided by a UN grant.
The team hopes to increase awarness of the dire situations around the world, and raise funds, all winnings and bonuses are donated.
(I have actually done some work for Shelterbox)
My Goals;
achieve top 5 in any continental tour rankings
gain wildcard entry to as many pro tour races as possible
produce a national champion
provide opportunites for young riders at the top level
Riders;
Thomas Voeckler (FRA)
Tejay Van Garderen (USA)
John Augustyn (RSA)
Ben Swift (GBR)
Andrey Amador (COS)
Simon Nober (GER)
Atepuma (COL)
Stephan Danifl (AUT)
Fabricio Forrori (URU)
Fabio Felline (ITA)
Peter Kennaugh (GBR)
Geraint Thomas (GBR)
Scott Thwaites (GBR)
Sandy King (GBR)
Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
Pierre Rolland (FRA)
Taylor Phinney (USA)
Rasmus Guldhammer (DEN)
Tom Dinielson (USA)
Nathan Brewn (CAN)
Johnathon Bellis (GBR)
Jerry Wiscovitch (USA)
will add sponsor goals, and latest reults/big news when i can ....
thanks
p.s. i've been playing this for a while and have just reached july
Edited by Wiley on 02-08-2011 23:40
PCM.Daily NFL Fantasy Football Champion: 2012 PCM.Daily NHL Prediction Game Champion: 2013 PCM.Daily NFL Prediction Game Champion: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021
Update on Goals;
4 have now passed, and four i have failed
Fayt-le-Franc is a cobbles race, and my best COB stat was around 68 ... i came 11th
I failed to achieve a wild card to either Pari-Nice or Tireno-Adriatico, which has really shaken my sponsors confidence.
I also failed to win the Calfiornian Road, but more on that in a moment
Notable Results;
Atepuma was 5th in the Colombian nationals, by less than a minute.
Fuglsang has been my star of the season so far, 2nd in the Danish championships having been out sprinted to the line by Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank), he won stage 2 of the Semana a Castilla y Leon, he was 4th overall in the Circuito del Trentino and won stage 1. But, for me, his best results were at the GP Romandie and Tour de Swiss, were he was 8th and 6th overall respectivly, as well as taking the young riders jersey in each.
Rolland took the KoM jersey in the Californian Road having been in the breakaway every single day, he aslo won stage 3 of the Semana.
Van Garderen was 5th in the US ITT, and 4th in the road race, 3rd overall in the Tour of Malaysia, where the top three were split by 8 seconds, as well as winning stage 4 of the same race, he was also 13th overall in the Tour de Swiss.
My best race so far was the Californian Road, Dinielson was 12th, Guldhammer 14th, Van Garderen 11th, Fuglsang 7th and Rolland KoM
So far we have proved we can mix it with the big boys and have donated £124k in winnings, which we hope to double by seasons end.
Other news;
Tommy Voeckler has been widly recognised this year as the unluckiest rider in the world, he fractured his skull in early march, this kept him out till late april. At his second race back in early may he broke his arm, then on early june he broke his leg. So far Voeckler has been involved in 12 different crashes.
Some wider news on the Giro, the first 5 stages all went to break aways!! (no joke), but Nibali came out on top with Basso 2nd and Scarponi 3rd, while Cavendish earned his first GT jersey as did John Gadret.
Milan-San Remo had a schocking result, Amets Tuxurruka (Euskatel) took the race by a stagering 2minutes over the rest of the field, which was lead in by Cavendish.
We have secured new funding from 2 new sources, one in Russia and one in Sweden, both have offered money to the project in return, not for ad space, but to give riders from their countries support, which is why we have begun scouting programs in both Sweden and Russia
Transfer News;
Its july and time to bolster the team.
Unfortunatly Tejay Van Garderen has decided to not renew his contract straight away and as a reult is most likly going to be leaving us at the end of the year.
But we are bringing in a host of new talents.
Dimitri Champion (FRA) is joining us from AG2R
Rigoberto Uran (COL) is joining us from Caisse d'Epargne
Simon Spilak (CZE) is joining us from Lampre
Denis Gilimzyanov (RUS) is joining us from Catyoucha
We are also looking for new talents,
future great sprinter Rais Skachkov (RUS) will be taking his first proffesional steps with us on 2011, as will current U23 no.1 Serafin Areda the spanish sprinter.
Rankings;
My Top Continental Rider is Jakob Fuglsang in 16th
The Team are 7th (but only 6 points of 5th)
SuperPrestige the Team is 15th (the best Continental team)
The best SuperPres rider is Fuglsang in 36th
Top Tour our team is 22nd (5th of the continentals)
The best Top Tour rider is Fuglsang in 43rd
2nd Half of Season Targets;
We are aiming for good results at the SuperVolta Portugal, the Tour of Britatin and to achieve a few more Top Tour Races before the season ends in October
News Flash;
3 bike manufacturers are in competition to provide frames to the team. Our current 6 month contract with Pinerolo will not be renrewed and Giant, Bianchi and Specialized are in competition to land the deal. Each has said that they want to expand to compete with Treks Livestrong deal. Management has siad that it any deal will cost the team no money, and that all bike sale profits must go to charity.
Currently it looks likly that Bianchi will secure the deal, but nothing has been finalized yet.
It has also been anounced that Shelterbox-Unicef are not finished in the transfer market and are looking to sign Jonny Hoogerland. Hoogerland has made it clear that the offer would have to be very good offer to consider the move.
5 top tour teams arrived to compete, AG2R who brought Noccentini and Champion, Lampre who brought Cunego, Lotto, HTC who brought Martin and Milram. Visconti, second ranked rider in the continental tour, also decided to show up
Voeckler set off first for Shelterbox-UNICEF, 6th rider of the day, and set the best times at both the intermediate check and over the line. Van Garderen then beat Voeckler to the intermediate check by a second, but Voecklers descent kept him ahead at the finish by 2 seconds. This set the tone for the day as each of the next 3 Shelterbox riders went over the line in the top 5. However as the bigger riders started coming in they were filling in the board, but no-one could get near the time of Voeckler. Tony Martin (HTC) set off as the last rider of the day and briefly looked like beating Voeckler, but by the top of the climb he was 30 seconds down, and could only recover 14 seconds on the flater part of the course. This gave Voeckler a break from bad luck, and his first win of the year.
Standings After Stage 1;
Voeckler 12'19 Shelterbox
Van Garderen +2 Shelterbox
Fuglsang +12 Shelterbox
Martin +16 HTC-Columbia
Amador +17 Shelterbox
Rolland +20 Shelterbox
Atepuma +21 Shelterbox
Cornu +24 Omega-Pharma Lotto
Champion +25 AG2R
Nober and Forrari came in 15th and 16th '27 down.
Edited by Wiley on 30-07-2011 00:14
The days early sprint point was contested by the peloton, and won by Bonnet (BTL). A break formed after 5-6km and at first included Righi, Kloucke, Eichler, Ricci Bitti, Smulkis, Deroo, Saramontis and our own Forrori, they were then joined by Fropporti and Coutouly, and then again by Belhvosciks, Morzoli and D'hollander. The break got a maximum lead of 3'45" which started to come down as the race hit the days big climb. It could not survive and was cought with 98km to go, about half way up the climb. Forrori then rode away from the peloton, dragging Smulkis with him, they could only acheive a 30" lead. Behind them however the race shattered as three large groups formed, each seperated by a minute. Fortunatly all Shelterbox riders were in the first group and climbing well. Forrori and Smulkis were brought back about 3km from the top of the climb. This allowed a sprint for the KoM points, lead out and won by Visconti, followed by Fedrigo and Rolland. The race regrouped on the decent, and at 48km to go, allowed Jan Bakelants to go solo away from the field. He Proceeded to gain at most 3'25". The final climb of the day was won by Blakelants, still clear, then Visconti and Fedrigo. The chase struggled to organise and as a result Bakelants took a solo stage win, 40" up on the field at the finish, which was lead in by Bonnet and Bozic.
KoM jersey - Visconti
Points Jersey - Voeckler
Young jersey - Bakelants
Team - Shelterbox
Combative - shared between Forrori, for never stopping attacking, and Bakelants, for a terrific solo win.
Edited by Wiley on 30-07-2011 11:36
brewers90 wrote:
You have my three favourite riders in your team. (Swift, Thomas, Kennaugh)
Hope they're not letting you down!
Definatly not, Swifty always gets in amongst the sprints, Thomas has a podium to his name, and Kennaugh is one of my best domestiques. There performances have been perfect and are developing into excellent riders.
The attacks came from the drop of the flag, and it was Stage 2's most combative rider Ferrari that opened up. He got clear with Ricci Bitti and Deroo. The three stayed clear until the first mountain sprint of the day.
Ferrari then went clear and built up a lead of 10 minutes over the peloton by the bottom of the days big climb. He had 46secs over Righi, Deroo, Lisson and Bitti, a further 1'06" over Marcato and Dancik, and a further 39" over Smulkis, Henig, Sokoll and Buts. Ferrari took the intermediate sprint at the base of the climb, followed by Lisson and Deroo.
Ferrari then took the big KoM points at the top, 2'09 over the Bitti-Dreoo group, who had been joined by Righi and Dancik. E3 came over the top a further 2'32" down, and the peloton at 9'14" off the lead.
However Ferrari was caught at 83km to got by the chasers, but he still took the next sprint ahead of Righi and Lisson. Then the real action started. Nocentini attacked at 72km to go. This forced me to bring Shelterbox to the front, but fortunatly we were aided by Lotto. Nocentini took the final KoM points ahead of Chainel and then Ferrari. Ferrari was caught by the peloton at 22km to go, a valiant effort, but he then proceded to aid in the chase. Nocentini was finally caught at 17km to go. Shelterbox and Lotto continued to force the pace, at the expense of Nober and Amador who had given everyhting to set up the finish. At 9km to go Fedrigo launched an attack, then Visconti at 8.5km to go, but both were cought at 7.8km to the line. Fedrigo then had another dig at 6km, Voeckler then countered at 5.5km and flew past the BBOX rider on the descent and rode away. Van Garderen and Visconti then went clear of the peloton with 2km to go, coming together with Fedrigo under the flamme rouge. But nothing was going to stop Voeckler, who took a well deserved solo stage win.
The sprint for 2nd gets a mention as three riders were seperated by half a bike lenght over the line.
Leader - Voeckler
KoM jersey - Ferrari
Points jersey - Voeckler
Young rider - Van Garderen
Team - Shelterbox
Combative - FerrariEdited by Wiley on 31-07-2011 23:00
News Flash;
Jonny Hoogerland signs a new 2 year contract with Shelterbox. Hoogerland says that he is impressed with the new outfits organisationand results, and very much looks forward to being one of the teams leaders in 2011.
The BOTD formed early on without any problems, the group of 10 included; Nober, Rousseau, Eichler, Fropporti, Firsamov, Engoulvent, Grad, Belhovsicks, Cretskens and Morzoli. The intermideate sprint went to Fropporti. The group got a maximum lead of 4mins, at the base of the first catagorised climb. Rousseau took the KoM points at the top, then again at the top of the 2nd climb.
The break was caught just over the top at 15km to go. As the peloton swallowed them up, the relay was dissrupted. Voeckler saw this as an opportunity and attacked on the descent. As did Eichler. Voeckler rode away from Eichler who was caught a furhter 2-3km down the road.
Voeckler went hard on a finish that suited the late charge. He managed to get a 30" lead, which he held against the odds to take his 3rd win of the race and 2nd in a row.
The BOTD contained 7 riders; Mano, Eichler, Timmer, Saramontis, Pronk, Sokoll and the KoM Ferrari. The group acheived a maximum gap of 3'30. There was a group of 3 chasers, Henig, Koucek and Buts.
Ferrari took the big climb of the day and extends his KoM lead, followed by Eichler and Manos.
On the descent Fuglsang launched his attack but was caught at 27km to go.
Visconti then tried an attack at 17km but was caught at 13km to go.
Fedrigo went at 12.5km to go, countered by Cunego.
Van Garderen and Martin tried to bridge but only Van Garderen made it.
The final KoM points went to Fedrigo, Cungeo and Van Garderen.
Veockler made the bridge to the leading trio under the flamme rouge.
Fedrigo held of the other 3 to take the stage win.
