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Steven Kruijswijk - The Way to the first GT-podium
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 04-09-2012 12:39
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 833
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So after I really enjoyed writing my first story I decided to start a new one now. I hope you'll like it
Hello everyone,
I am Steven Kruijswijk and I decided to write my own cycling blog from now on.
For everyone, who doesn't already know me:
I'm a 24-year-old dutch cyclist for the UCI World Tour Team Rabobank. Our team is mainly specialized in stage-races, which is a good thing for me as I like those races the most. They really suit my abilities well. I am a good climber and also a decent time-trialist, but I will still have to work hard especially on improving my time-trial skills. In my blog I will present you reports from the races I participated in and also give you some inside information from our team. But I will as well inform you about general news like results from important races or major transfers.
Database: PCM-Daily 2012 Expansion Pack
Difficulty level: Extreme(in January - Hard)
Development of attributes: 0.4
Edited by johannes-w on 22-09-2012 14:21
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 04-09-2012 12:40
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World Champion
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Good luck. I hope this is as good as it was the Coppel stoy. |
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| Katusha |
Posted on 04-09-2012 12:41
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Free Agent
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Good Luck! You should select La Vuelta  |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 04-09-2012 12:41
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Breakaway Specialist
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Also I'm very happy that I can say that I am riding in the same team as my two best friends:
Bauke Mollema
and
Wilco Kelderman
We know each other for quite some time now, because we all moved up to Team Rabobank from the teams own Continental Tour team. Even if we don't race together in the same races, we talk to each other nearly every day at least on the phone. And we follow each others race results closely. So of course I will also tell you all about the races they participate in and share some of their thoughts in my blog.
That's it for now - I will tell you all about my schedule and season goals later on.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 04-09-2012 13:03
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Tour de France Champion
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Good Luck, hope you have a great story  |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 04-09-2012 13:15
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Protected Rider
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good luck with this, I will try to follow.
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 04-09-2012 14:58
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8389
Joined: 08-09-2009
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Good luck, hope Steven shines on his way to the podium. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-09-2012 15:02
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Team Manager
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Good luck with this story.
Hopefully you can bring him back to his 2011 form. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 10:40
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 04-09-2012 15:44
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Tour de France Champion
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Hmm... I will definitely follow this story.
Finally a story about a dutch cyclist.
I love the fact that he is good friends with some of my favorite cyclists too(Mollema & Kelderman) |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 04-09-2012 18:32
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 833
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Thanks to everyone for the comments
Career goal
My long-term goal is to finish on the podium of a Grand Tour at least once in my life. I don't think that I'm really ready for it yet, but I hope to achieve it in the next years - sooner rather than later of course. 
As I already finished in the Top 10 of a very hard Giro in 2011 it shouldn't be totally unrealistic to aim for a podium someday, because I think I still have a lot possibilities to improve in many ways.
My main goal for this season will be the General Classification in the Giro d'Italia, like in the last years. It is by far my favorite race of the year, especially because of the brutal climbs. I just enjoy nearly riding uphill only - for several days in a row.
Also the team counts on me to get some good results in my preparation races for the Giro:
Depending on my form I may also try to accomplish those goals:
So here is my complete race overview:
February
I will start my season in February - I will race in Mallorca and in Andalusia.
March
After that I will do a bigger block of training and only start racing in the end of March in the race Hel van het Mergelland.
April
For the last preparations to get in the right shape for the Giro d'Italia I will race the Giro del Trentino and the Tour de Romandie
May
I'm happy to be back at the Giro this year. Also I'm really looking forward to the race, because Wilco will be part of the line-up as well. He will try to help me through the mountain stages.
June
Depending on how I feel after the Giro I will probably just take a small break and race the Tour de Suisse in June. But after that I will get a little vacation off the bike. Of course I will follow the Tour de France, where Robert Gesink will try to get a great result for our team.
August
I am very happy to be in the temporary line-up for this years Vuelta, because this means I will also ride a Grand Tour with Bauke. He will be the leader here and I will try to support him in the mountains, but I will probably also try to get in some breaks and collect a few KoM-points.
So that's my season plan, if all goes well.
Team News
Several riders from our team are already in Australia preparing for the Australian Champs and the Tour Down Under. I hope we manage a good start into the season... Good luck to all of them!
Bye for now
- Steven - |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-09-2012 19:06
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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You made an excellent choice with Kruiswijk Best of luck! |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 04-09-2012 19:12
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Tour de France Champion
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Looks great!!
Good luck
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| roturn |
Posted on 04-09-2012 19:22
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Team Manager
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Interesting schedule. Pretty realistic. Will there be more preparation for the Vuelta when you are chosen into the final line-up?
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 04-09-2012 21:19
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 833
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@Ian: I wanted to go with Kelderman but almost in the last minute I picked Steven instead
@Manx: Thanks
@Roturn: I hope you and the others like that its pretty realistic and dont think that its boring instead. But well this year he didn't race the Giro I like him since last years Giro, thats why I wanted to do the Giro. At the start of the Vuelta he will have quite many race days and he won't go for the GC anyways - so no extra Prep-races
Edited by johannes-w on 04-09-2012 21:19
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 04-09-2012 23:12
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Tour de France Champion
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Looks like you have a busy schedule to look forward to this season so Good Luck and hope you have a successful time |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 05-09-2012 06:16
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World Champion
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Nice presentation and nice schedule for Steven. he is one of my favourites, so i will follow closely, good luck!
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 05-09-2012 12:53
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 833
Joined: 24-04-2009
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Glad to see you seem to like the schedule and thanks for the comments again
So this is my first "real" blog entry after the introduction. Welcome everyone to the blog.
My training group is in Mallorca, Spain right now. Wilco and Bauke are here as well, also a few other riders from Rabobank. We also meet riders from other teams here everyday. It feels good that the season is about to start soon. But a few other riders from our team are already a step further:
I have some news from Down Under...
The NC's of Australia were held last weekend. The roadrace was quite hilly and as we were only present with three sprinters, we decided to try sending our best rider for this course, Michael Matthews, in the break.
He already was in a nice form as he targets the Tour Down Under in the next week.
Michael was able to make it into a three-men break, both other riders weren't nearly as strong as him. About 20 kilometres before the finish, when their lead was down to about two minutes, he attacked and left his two companions in the dust.
With a great finish Michael was even able to hold off the favorites, who attacked from the peloton and is therefore the 2012 National RR Champion of Australia!!!
What a perfect way to start the season - Matthews takes the win
| 1 | Michael Matthews | Rabobank Cycling Team | 4h19'43 | | 2 | Simon Gerrans | Orica - GreenEdge | + 22 | | 3 | Michael Rogers | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 4 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 5 | Jack Anderson | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 6 | Matthew Lloyd | Lampre - ISD | + 1'06 | | 7 | Matthew Goss | Orica - GreenEdge | + 2'52 | | 8 | Nathan Haas | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 9 | Jonathan Cantwell | Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank | s.t. | | 10 | Mitchell Docker | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. |
The ITT NC didn't went so well. Our best rider was again Michael Matthews in 6th place. New Champion is Cadel Evans.
Top 10 - ITT NC Australia
| 1 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | 57'18 | | 2 | Jack Bobridge | Orica - GreenEdge | + 1'31 | | 3 | Michael Hepburn | Orica - GreenEdge | + 2'08 | | 4 | Luke Durbridge | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. | | 5 | Cameron Meyer | Orica - GreenEdge | + 2'15 | | 6 | Michael Matthews | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 2'34 | | 7 | Michael Rogers | Sky Procycling | + 2'51 | | 8 | Stuart O'Grady | Orica - GreenEdge | + 3'10 | | 9 | Rory Sutherland | UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team | + 3'26 | | 10 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | + 3'51 |
I am really happy for Michael, as he is a really nice guy. This also means he will most likely lead the team in the Tour Down Under, as he seems to be in a great shape already.
He was so proud of this victory. I think he is wearing his new jersey 24/7 now
This is him training the day after the NC's
Bye for now
- Steven -
What do you guys think of the layout - Do you like that all the text is centered or should I stop doing that?
I will try to keep race reports from races Steven isn't in as short as possible to get to his races faster, but I at least want to do a short report on every race the team participates in even if it takes a bit longer like that. I hope that's fine with you all. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 05-09-2012 12:55
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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I like the lay-out, keep it
Reports about the team will be interesting!
Maybe only from WT races? but it's your call, really |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 05-09-2012 12:56
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World Champion
Posts: 10497
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Great report style. I like this already. |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 05-09-2012 13:08
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1467
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Very nice report, the result is even better
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
