Hi all, been playing pcm 2006 for a little while now and also reading the stories on this website. I finally decided do one myself so I could keep a career going for longer than Febuary, well thats the plan anyway Here are my sponsor goals:
And the team that has to accomplish them:
My main guys will be: Janek Tombak My sprinter for slightly hilly courses. Tanel Kangert Up and coming hilly rider only 19. Zdenek Stybar For cobbles and slighty hilly courses. Jukka Vastranta Hilly sprinter rider, expecting alot out
of him. Sven Vanthourenhout Cobble helper. Gert Omloop Another cobble helper, getting on abit
now. Dennis Flahaut Pan flat sprinter. Tony Gallopin Hilly helper and hopefully good for the future.
Okay theres the start then, will post my first race up in a min.
No races in Jan but I thought I would let you see who was winning what:
Now onto my first race:
Thats the team and the main aim is get someone in the break and set Vastranta up for the final hill.
The break of the day included Hivert, Cappelle, Kaupas, Brouzes, Jegou, Renshaw, Lefloch, Lisabeth, Balciunas. This break was never gonna survive because they kept attacking all the time, the biggest gap was 5:46 at 60km remaining.
T-Mobile and Agritubel deffinately wanted a sprint finish and led the peloton all day. This is two teams leading the peloton down the other side of the Col de l'Espigoulier. (No I don't know how to pronouce that )
I didn't get Vastranta up the group fast enough on the final hill so he had to get on Klimovs wheel. Which at the time looked a bit to far back.
But Klimov did a real strong sprint and pulled me up to a decent 7th place not bad for the first race, hopefully get better and better.
Second race of the year, and also the first goal. The Etoile de Besseges is the race and the aim is for a top 5 finish at the end of 5 stages.
Team is the same as the first race, and the plan is, Flahaut for the flat sprinters stages and Vastranta to do something in the big hills to hopefully secure a top 5.
I messed stage one up and clicked past the watch replay so no pics sorry. Nothing big happened just a sprint finish. I got Flahaut on the favourite Caspers wheel but he couldn't hold on and I managed another 7th place.
Rank Name Team Time
1 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM 3h14'24
2 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
3 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL s.t.
4 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
5 Jeremy Hunt UNIBET.COM s.t.
6 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t. 7 Denis Flahaut JARTAZI PROMO FASHION CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
9 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Jean-Noël Wolf STOREZ LEDECQ MATÉRIAUX s.t.
11 Steve Schets CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
12 Gregory Henderson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Mikel Gaztañaga AGRITUBEL s.t.
14 Stefan Schreck T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Juri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
16 Wesley Van der Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
17 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
18 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
19 Sergei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
20 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
Another sprinters stage so protect Flahaut and have some guys work on the front to keep break at check was the name of the game today.
The break consisted of Delpech, Pantanchon, Prengel and Renshaw. The biggest gap they got was 7.22 with 101km left to go.
Pantanchon was strongest in break and managed to edge Renshaw out on all three intermediate sprints today.
Jartazi did their fair share of the work on the front of the peloton.
Although in hindsight I think they did a little to much and in the last 30km couldnt keep up with the peloton.
Okay sprint time and once again managed to get on favourites wheel, this time Dekkers with Casper in the gold leaders jersey right behind me.
Dekkers left me for dead and Casper shot past on the left. On the right a sneaky Haddou was catching up, but Flahaut really wanted that 3rd place.
Unfortunately Haddou wanted 3rd just as much and got it on the line.
Rank Name Team Time
1 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL 3h20'53
2 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
3 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t. 4 Denis Flahaut JARTAZI PROMO FASHION CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Angelo Furlan CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
6 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Jeremy Hunt UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Gregory Henderson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
11 Mikel Gaztañaga AGRITUBEL s.t.
12 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Sergei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
14 Stefan Schreck T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Steve Schets CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
17 Ludovic Capelle ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
18 Charles Guilbert BRETAGNE ARMOR LUX s.t.
19 Jean-Noël Wolf STOREZ LEDECQ MATÉRIAUX s.t.
20 Juri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
Well three top tens in three races, hope I can keep this going. (p.s If I am doing anything you don't like on the write-ups please speak your mind then I can improve. Cheers)
Not to sure what to do today the hill is more than enough to make Flahaut struggle and perhaps wreck his sprint but at the same time it is not close enough to the finsh for Vastranta to have a go, so I will see what happens.
A few breaks went at the beginning of the race but nothing to important and then low and behold.
The hill had Flahaut struggling along with the rest of my team, all apart from Vastranta who didn't understand what they were complaining about .
I thought this was surprising, one of the main GC contenders Leif Hoste was fine up the climb, then after the descent he just slowed right down?? All his teammates who survived the hill came back for him and eventually dragged him up to the peloton.
As I thought Flahaut was wrecked and found it hard just staying on a sprinters wheel so I didnt even try to sprint with the best.
Here are my sponsor goals:
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