Team: Euskaltel - Euskadi
Database: PCM.Daily's 2012 DB V1
Patch: 1.0.4.4
Race difficulty: Hard
Financial difficulty: Normal
Evolution of attributes: 0.7
And: Random Potential
Igor Antón just seemed unbeatable in the mountains of Italy, with 4 stage wins, the mountain, points and general classification! Vincenzo Nibali was the only one getting close to him, and young Dutch Bauke Mollema grabs his first GT podium with a nice 3rd place, but a five minute gap to the first place. Italian veteran Stefano Garzelli finished in 5th place, behind young Slovakian contender Velits. Steven Kruijswijk became 6th, which is quite a presation, since he had to work for Mollema the whole Giro. The sprinters' teams failed, with only 2 sprint finishes.
Tour de France
1
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
2
Alexandre Vinokourov
Pro Team Astana
3
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
4
Jean-Christophe Peraud
AG2R - La Mondiale
5
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
6
Robert Gesink
Rabobank Cycling Team
7
Denis Menchov
Team Katusha
8
Fränk Schleck
RadioShack - Nissan - Trek
9
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
10
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
The 2012 Tour de France was by far the most epic we've seen over the past few years. For a long time, it seemed like Robert Gesink was going to win his first Grand Tour, but in a crash in stage 17 he lost a lot of time. This stage was won by our own Sammy Sánchez, who got the maillot jaune here. But, unfortunately, he couldn't keep on going, and lost a bit of time in the next mountain stage. Before the time trial, the top 5, in order: Vinokourov, Peraud, Sánchez, Basso and Evans, were only devided 20 seconds from each other. But Cadel Evans rode the time trial of his life, and brought home his second yellow jersey. Alexandre Vinokourov rode a decent time trial and finished second in the GC, but Sammy Sánchez did even better, and the gap between him and Vino was only one second. Basso and Peraud lost a lot of time, but still a nice top 5 finish for him. Youngster Mikel Landa took home the polka-dot jersey for us, and Edvald Boasson Hagen took home the green jersey, since Mark Cavendish had to abandon in the last mountain stage. Sad for him, but at least the green jersey stayed in his team.
Wow, what a performance by Samu! In stage 4, on the summit of the Sierra Nevada, he was the strongest, and he got the red jersey. Samuel Sánchez kept winning stages, but taking the red jersey was not that easy: in stage 13, right before the 2 heaviest mountain stages, Samu fell off his bike in the last 5KM, and lost an awful lot of time. Alejandro Valverde profited from this and took over the red jersey. Meanwhile, Igor Antón, who was working as a domestique for Samu, attacked, won the stage and took the 3rd spot in the GC (Sánchez was still second). When we started stage 14, the gap from Valverde to Samuel was 5 minutes, and Igor was 3 minutes behind him. But hey, Samu never gives up, and he showed why he had been in the red jersey for so long: he won the stage, and reduced the gap with Valverde to 2 minutes. And then, stage 15. The legendary Alto de l'Angliru. Samu just rode away, together with helper Nieve, and created a massive gap to Valverde. He won the stage with 5 minutes advantage over Valverde, and kept his lead until Madrid. he also takes home an astonishing 8 stage wins and the mountain and points jersey! Well done Samu! Bauke Mollema takes fourth place for the second time in a row now, Tommy Voeckler finishes 5th and fellow Basque Beñat Intxausti gets 6th position.
Monuments
Milano - San Remo
1
Fabian Cancellara
RadioShack - Nissan - Trek
2
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
3
Jens Voigt
RadioShack - Nissan - Trek
4
Sylvain Chavanel
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team
5
Lars Ytting Bak
Lotto - Belisol Team
Ronde van Vlaanderen
1
Fabian Cancellara
RadioShack - Nissan - Trek
2
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
3
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team
4
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Pro Cycling
5
Sylvain Chavanel
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team
Paris - Roubaix
1
Fabian Cancellara
RadioShack - Nissan - Trek
2
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Pro Cycling
3
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team
4
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
5
Björn Leukemans
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
Liège - Bastogne - Liège
1
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Barracuda
2
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
3
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
4
Alexandre Vinokourov
Pro Team Astana
5
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
Il Lombardia
1
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
2
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
3
Matthew Lloyd
Lampre - ISD
4
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Sky Pro Cycling
5
Alexandre Vinokourov
Pro Team Astana
In Milano - San Remo, Fabian Cancellara simply rode away from the pack on the flat and celebrated his victory. Pablo Urtasun was too tired to sprint and had to drop. We are not known to have good cobblers, which is true, therefore none of our riders could get a top 25 in de Ronde or in Paris - Roubaix, which were both won by an incredibly strong Cancellara. Surprising Ryder Hesjedal won Liège - Bastogne - Liège, we again didn't send a squard strong enough for a high finish. Samuel Sánchez kept his great form from the Vuelta and rode to a win in Il Lombardia, after an early attack! Matthew Lloyd was very surprising with a 3rd spot here.
Because Bradley Wiggins and Fabian Cancellara weren't present at the World Championships ITT, Tony Martin was big favourite, and everyone expected him defending his title here. But that did not happen. David Millar, unseen for most of the cyclist fans throughout the season had a reason for his disappointing season: he wanted to win here. Really nobody thought he could do anything here, except for his team mates of Garmin - Barracuda, who said he and his American team mate David Zabriskie looked exceptionally strong on the most recent training camp in front of the world championships. They proved to be right: the two Davids (where have we heard that before? ) were absolutely astonishing here and achieved the double for their team. But perhaps that wasn't even the biggest surprise here. Samuel Sánchez, who seemed to win everything he participated in after his amazing Vuelta with 8 stage wins, told us he wanted to go to the World Championships, because he felt like he would be able to do something nice, so we let him go. And boy, Samu was right! A 3rd place on the Time Trial! But that was not all.
The Road Race was going to be a very exciting and hilly one, and the main favourite was therefore Philippe Gilbert. But that all changed when Samuel Sánchez became 3rd in the time trial; he revealed his amazing form. Because of this, Samu was seen as the one that had to battle Gilbert. But, Samu didn't battle Gilbert. In the last few hills, the leader of the Belgian team had to drop. The Belgians showed some great tactics: in no time, they changed Nick Nuyens into their leader. But it was already to late: Samuel attacked as soon as Gilbert was dropped, and he was not seen by the other until they reached the finish line. For Samuel the world stood still. He just couldn't believe what happened here. He, Samuel Sánchez, his legs still hurting from the Vuelta, was world champion! I was in the car, as I was co-director sportif of the Spanish national team, and I couldn't believe it either.
But shortly after that, an even greater miracle happened. For once, all Spanish civilians, who had been watching the world championships (which were a lot, because of Sánchez' role as favourite), felt united. No differences between Catalunya, the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, just plain celebration. That night, there was a big party in Bilbao, capital of the Basque country, and fans from all over Spain came to celebrate Samuel. When Samuel came back home, he was welcomed as a national hero. It's beautiful what sports can do, isn't it?
National Championships
Kentaurus' layout, as in his Kyle Lewis story
Australia
Simon Gerrans
Australia (ITT)
Richie Porte
Belgium
Philippe Gilbert
Belgium (ITT)
Maxime Monfort
Britain
Mark Cavendish
Britain (ITT)
Chris Froome
Canada
Ryder Hesjedal
Canada (ITT)
Svein Tuft
Columbia
Miguel Rubiano
Columbia (ITT)
Juan Pablo Suarez
Czech Republic
Roman Kreuziger
Czech Republic (ITT)
Roman Kreuziger
Denmark
Matti Breschel
Denmark (ITT)
Jakob Fuglsang
France
Sylvain Chavanel
France (ITT)
Christophe Riblon
Germany
Jens Voigt
Germany (ITT)
Tony Martin
Italy
Enrico Franzoi
Italy (ITT)
Ivan Basso
Netherlands
Sebastian Langeveld
Netherlands (ITT)
Wilco Kelderman
Norway
Thor Hushovd
Norway (ITT)
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Poland
Thomasz Smolen
Poland (ITT)
Michal Kwiatkowski
Portugal
Rui Costa
Portugal (ITT)
Tiago Machado
Russia
Denis Menchov
Russia (ITT)
Vladimir Karpets
Spain
Amets Txurruka
Spain (ITT)
Samuel Sánchez
Switzerland
Michael Albasini
Switzerland (ITT)
Mathias Frank
Ukraine
Yaroslav Popovych
Ukraine (ITT)
Yaroslav Popovych
United States
George Hincapie
United States (ITT)
Tejay Van Garderen
We did the double! Good job by both Samuel Sánchez and Amets Txurruka. Something noticable is that a lot of youngsters became National ITT Champions; Van Garderen, Kwiatkowski, Boasson Hagen and Kelderman, congratulations to them, may they have a bright future in front of them.
Edited by fcancellara on 28-05-2012 22:21
About the story: I decided to finish 2012 first. After that, I will make a summary of the 2012 season and start the story in 2013. Expect me to start the story in 2-4 weeks. I'm sorry to have you guys waiting, but I wouldn't like to do all the races I just did over again, I hope you understand Edited by fcancellara on 29-04-2012 20:47
Nice to see someone showing Euskaltel some love. Good luck to you!
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.
) were absolutely astonishing here and achieved the double for their team. But perhaps that wasn't even the biggest surprise here. 
I guess the fact of having no sprinters scared a lot of people ^^
