After the big deception with my Euskaltel story, I decided to give it a go again.
This time, I'll do a one rider story, with Igor Antón.
Team: Euskaltel - Euskadi
Database: PCMNorge 2007 DB
Patch: 1.0.4.4
Race difficulty: Hard
Financial difficulty: Normal
Evolution of attributes: 0.7
And: Random Potential
I'm Igor Antón. This season, I'm gonna do a blog about my races. But let me tell you something more about myself first.
I was born in the small Basque city of Galdakao, on the 2nd of March 1983. Throughout all my life, I've been a cycling fan, and in 2005, at the age of 21, my dream came true: I joined the professional cycling team of Euskaltel - Euskadi. Their scout found followed me in some smaller, U23 races, and thought I had a bright future ahead of me, so he made the team contract me.
My first season as a pro was quite a good one. Because I had to work as a domestique, I had no win that season, but I still managed to finish my first Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia, in 83rd place, and gained a lot of experience.
Last season, 2006, I got a bit more of a free role, which proved to be a good decision by the team: I won the 16th stage of the Vuelta a España, and I finished 15th in the general classification! After the Vuelta, I kept my great form, and I won a small Spanish classic, the Escalada a Montjuïc, which felt really great, because my leader, Samuel Sánchez, won that race the 2 years in front of that. Other winners of that race are Eddy Merckx, Joop Zoetemelk and Laurent Jalabert, I am really happy that I'm now on the list of winners, together with them!
For this season, the team said I can lead smaller stage races, and perhaps the Vuelta, but thatfully depends fully on how our other riders do during the season. Anyways, I'm really excited, and I hope you will follow me throughout the season.
Igor Antón
PS: Our trainer uses a special rating system. He rates all our characteristics form 50 (worst) to 85 (best). Here's how he rates me at the moment, I will update this throughout the season.
Hey readers,
the squad is already reveiled officially, but here am I, introducing the squad for 2007 to you by myself.
Samuel Sánchez will be our absolute leader this season. Samuel will aim for the Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour of Lombardy.
Haimar Zubeldia is our second leader. He is a bit weaker than Sánchez in the mountains, but his TT is a little bit stronger. Haimar will aim for the Giro d´Italia and the Tour.
Mikel Astarloza is our third, and last leader. Mikel will try to win smaller stage races, and to achieve a top 15 in the Tour, and a top 10 in the Vuelta.
Koldo Fernández is the strongest sprinter in our team. He will be our main sprinter in any race he participates in. He says he doesn't have a particular goal, he just wants to win as much as possible. That's the spirit!
Iñaki Isasi is also a decent sprinter. He will be our leadout man for Koldo Fernández and take over his role if Fernández is in bad shape.
Aitor Galdos is an equally stong sprinter compared to Iñaki Isasi, but he has more difficulties in keeping a high pace before the sprints start, therefore he won't lead out often.
As I already mentioned before, I am the team's most important free element. I will take risk on big mountain stages by attacking a lot, protect the leaders when our regular domestiques can't and be leader in some smaller races.
Amets Txurruka is a decent climber, and he is a very good attacker. He will attack a lot in the hilly classics, and protect our leaders in the mountains.
Dionisio Galparsoro's only specialization is climbing, therefore he can't help our leaders and gets a free role. We hope he can grab some wins by getting in the breakaways.
Aketza Peña Iza is also a good climber as well, with a free role.
Iñigo Landaluze has a big advantage over the rest of the team: he can survive the cobbles. He is also a good puncheur, so he might sneak into the top 50 in the cobbled classics, which is an incredible prestation for a Basque.
Here is the team's calendar. We will race mainly in Spain, Italy and France.
The races I'm participating in are in bold, they will be the only ones with detailed reports in my blog.
I'm sorry that I didn't update for a while, I was on a training camp in Monaco with the team. I still am, actually! Today, we had a day off, so I decided it was about time to update my blog Here is a list of some riders I think will be very succesful during the season. Keep an eye on them!
This season's Grand Tours should be really exciting. Michael Rasmussen, Carlos Sastre and Alberto Contador will most likely battle in the mountains in the Tour, but Cadel Evans, Andreas Klöden will try to follow them in the mountains and win the Tour in the time trials. Carlos Sastre may also go to the Vuelta, the route suits him well.
The cobbled classics will be very close. Fabian Cancellara, Leif Hoste, Tom Boonen and Alessandro Ballan are equally strong, but they really should not underestimate American Champion George Hincapie, who is getting older, this may be his last chance to win Paris-Roubaix.
This season, there are two sprinters that will most likely outclass all the others, Robbie McEwen and Alessandro Petacchi. Daniele Bennati and Oscar Freire may have a lower top speed, but they can stay in the peloton on heavier terrain. Olaf Pollack is by far the strongest Continental Tour sprinter, and will therefore win a lot of sprints.
Just like the in the sprints, there will be a battle between two in the Ardennes, but Alejandro Valverde and Davide Rebellin should really watch out for Fränk Schleck, Danilo Di Luca and especially Michael Boogerd, of whom rumors are being spread about his retirement.
Fabian Cancellara is not only one of the strongest cobblers in the world, he also excels in time trialling. Levi Leipheimer also is a great time triallist, and David Zabriskie will challenge him too. Jose Ivan Gutierrez is expected to do well in time trials too, and Andreas Klöden has a great advantage in Grand Tours, because he is one of the top 5 time triallists.
Okay guys, I do not want to give you a tossy impression, but the media states this too. I am one of the canidates for the white jerseys in the Grand Tours. Andy Schleck, Juan Mauricio Soler, Riccardo Ricco and Janez Brajkovic will challenge me; good luck to them!
Mark Cavendish is by far the best U25 sprinter, and will try to convince the audience during the Tour. Paride Grillo will try to do this in the Giro, Francisco Jose Ventoso during the Vuelta. Heinrich Haussler and Gerald Ciolek are two young, talented German sprinters, follow them during the season!
This was my blog for today, regards,
Igor AntónEdited by fcancellara on 15-06-2012 22:32
Here is a list of some riders I think will be very succesful during the season. Keep an eye on them!
... but almost sure it´s Sammy Sánchez..at least the shadowed figur it´s from him.
