So I decided to give a PCM story a go since I like to write about my progress in careers. My chosen team is, as you can see, Euskaltel - Euskadi. I chose them because they are a rather weak team in the UCI World Tour, but have always been one of my favourites. I am not sure if I get everything right in this story in terms of correct information on Euskaltel, the riders and principles of PCM story-telling, but I give it my best shot. Time will tell, where this story goes. Below is some information you may like to know.

This story will be told through the eyes of a Journalist, who gets the assignment to follow Euskaltel – Euskadi around. I tried to give the character certain views on life and cycling, and hopefully I can deliver. He is sometimes kind of a loose cannon and the style of “reporting” won’t be comparable to official cycling news sites or magazines. The idea of the concept is that a personal blog reports on the adventures and achievements of the team and his own misadventures during his time in the cycling world.
He signs with the letter X, because I can’t be bothered to find a suitable name for this character or maybe he just wants to stay mysterious and anonymous. His go-to source at the team is an unknown Team Manager, who goes by the nick name of Katu.

Mostly I will race UCI World Tour events. If I feel like it, I might throw in some continental one day & stage races now and then, however the focus will clearly lie on the Grand Tours, Monuments and stage races, which are important to the sponsor. So in other words, I might end up, just summarizing lots of stuff that has happened through the eyes of X.
I know that this is probably not the best way of telling a PCM story, but honestly, it should be about fun, for me and you guys. And I personally don`t see a lot of fun in reporting very detail about small races somewhere in Italy, Spain or Uzbekistan. Plus, to maintain a (hopeful) quality over time is pretty difficult, I imagine, and I don’t want to throw the towel already in the first couple of months, for example because February might turn out dull or whatever. Again, we’ll see. But maybe it'll turn out all different and I race every petty little race I can find...

Personal goals for this t(r)eam of mine:
• Always stay in UCI World Tour
• Finish before Movistar in the UCI WT & become and stay the best Spanish team around
• Win the Vuelta at some point
• Win Pais Vasco consecutive times
• Win a cobblestone stage race with a basque rider (no kidding) – either E3, Gent-Wevelgem or - let’s get crazy - RvV & Paris-Roubaix…
• Scout many (generated) riders (in Basque Country, Navarra & Aquitaine) and turn them into decent pros over couple of seasons
• Win San Sebastian (solo) at some point. The chosen one should cheer for at least 1 kilometer. ; - )
• Obtain stable finances in the first two seasons
• Try to keep as many basque riders as possible all along the way
• … and another goal: Win the World Championship with an Austrian rider. ;-)

To keep a steady, believable development of the team, I won’t hire any riders, who are, at average, better than my currently best rider. At the start of the game, this means: No riders with an average rating of 78 or higher. If riders increase over time, like Anton cracks 78 or 79, higher profile riders, with a higher average rating, will become “available”.
As of 2013: Igor Anton has 77.

I keep the hiring of new riders limited to riders from Basque country, Navarra and French Basque, Aquitaine, at first. However, in case, there will be a sponsor change in the future, this “rule” can change.
All current contracts with “foreign” riders will stay intact, but won’t be renewed.
Policy on Spanish riders is similar, however, depending on the squad situation, a contract renewal is possible & more likely than for foreign riders.

Since Euskaltel is folding at the end of this season, it’d be only realistic, if I change the sponsor after a couple of seasons. But this is music of the future, since I am only at the start. Euskadi however will remain the co-sponsor throughout this career, even if I have to edit the database every single day.

I tend to play careers for a long time, and I want to do this with Euskaltel – Euskadi too. However, since this my first try at a PCM story, I might not have the breath and energy to do it all the way through. We’ll see how it turns out and if “these wasted hours will ever cross our minds”.
This is obviously purely for fun. I don’t know how much fun it will be in the next days or weeks, but I’d like to update the story regularly, and I’d prefer it if I manage to do it continuously rather than with large breaks between the updates. This is easier said than done I suppose and as a utterly noob, in terms of PCM stories, I can hardly imagine what is yet to come.

Max. level for any rider is generally 82. Exceptions: Sprinters (Kittel, Greipel, Cavendish) can get up to 83 in sprinting. Tony Martin can reach 84 in TT. Future (generated) greats will be decreased, if they “step over the line”.

As for other riders: I like to have a “living” career mode. This means, that I don’t want Froome to win five times the Tour de France, or any other rider as a matter of fact. I want different victors, and I want that competitor’s rise from the ashes at the age of over 30 or so… you know. No one needs a second Horner though, but how about a late win for Purito at Age 38? I guess, you kinda get the idea. This is why I tend to edit the database every year, here and there. In case, I change the database, I will make sure to notice you. The updating mostly takes place in terms of rider potential. Basically, if they perform well over several seasons, and thus “catch my eye”, they can get an increase. If they perform too well, they might have to suffer a decrease in order to keep racing exciting. Age of Decline is slightly increased for some Superstars in the game (Spanish trio, Boonen, Cancellara, some others cbs-riders). If riders are lucky they can get a late form boost in the autumns of their careers, which allows them to maintain a high-level of racing after suffering the Age of Decline for a couple of seasons. I use the Post-TdF Update DB from PCMDaily for this story.
All modifications will be rather small, and don’t happen all at once. So far, I’ve increased the stats of:

Start of the career, at the top of my head… not sure if I remember everything correctly:
Contador, MT +3 (82)
Kelderman (Potential), MT and TT +2
Fuglsang (Potential), MT +1 (81)
Froome, max potential TT -1 (80), MT potential -1 or 2 (82)
Nibali, Hill Potential -1 or 2 (79) – FYI, so his focus will be Grand Tours. Nibali tends to switched to simple one-day racing after a couple of seasons in my last career.
Valverde, sprint +2 (70)
Kwiatkowski, MT potential -1 (78)

Note for all readers out there: If I can keep this going and you guys notice some talent in the story and think they deserve a boost or older riders need to suffer a decrease, just say the word. :-)

I will also try to keep top riders in the World Tour teams as much as possible. I dislike these unrealistic PCM transfers and any competition that gets lost on the way in some mystic fog of continental teams just makes playing this game slightly more boring and dull.

Obviously I won’t edit any stats of my own riders, but I guess this goes without saying.

Thanks for reading so far, and hopefully we both enjoy this story.
//Shonak

Euskaltel Line-Up:
Egoi Martínez
Jure Kocjan
Pablo Urtasun
Garikoitz Bravo
Ricardo Mestre
Jon Aberasturi
Adrian Sáez de Arregi

The Santos Tour Down Under is the first race in the seasons, besides the national championships in Australia and New Zealand. Many teams come back from their training camps and are looking forward to test their riders. Because the race often lacks big-named favourites it is a welcome chance for riders, who normally don’t get much chance to ride for themselves, and young talent to shine. The images of the vast Australian outback are easily as nice as the first fights for any World Tour points and prize money, and the race functions as a set-up for the exciting things yet to come.

The team arrives without much preparation to the Tour Down Under. Although all riders aim for an early classics form, they certainly feel the lack of a decent training camp. The plan is to let the guys ride the first days a bit and hope that they get a good race form over the stage race, so they dare to attack and have a chance to succeed. I am not sure if this is the right decision by the team management, but alas, I am not here to judge.

There are no big names in the peloton, however Matti Breschel (TST), Schär (BMC) Matthews (OGE), Visconti (MOV), Meersman (OPQ) and Kennaugh (SKY) are probably the main favourites for an overall victory. Since big names are missing, these might be their chance to snatch a couple of victories for an early season success.

Stage 1: Prospect – Lobethal: 134.2 km
First day of action: It’s already a World Tour event as the season traditionally kicks off in January. I was in the airplane, and fell asleep most of the time. Still learning my basque vocabulary. Gora, Euskadi, Gora! At least, I can shout that so far.


On this first stage, there’s not much too much going on. An early breakaway sees no rider from Euskaltel in it. Hondo (RTL), Ratto (CAN), Graziato (LAM), Kuschinyki (KAT) form it. Keisse (OPQ) tries to catch up, but just kinda hangs in there between the breakaway and the peloton.


Euskaltel – Euskadi didn’t go to a training camp this season. “No money for luxury”, says Katu. Maybe next year, I reply and he rolls his eyes. I suppose, he thinks I am just too hopeful. But I am in sunny Australia, here where the cycling circuit kicks off its season. How couldn’t I be happy right now? And who needs a training camp anyway when you can enjoy the sun of Australia for free?


Honestly, with only 20 kilometers to go, everything looks set for a mass sprint. Euskaltel riders though have no idea what they are doing up front, I think. Certainly, the squad isn’t in good early form. Their attempts early on, to get into the breakaway, failed. However, the breakaway is close to be caught, so I suppose, it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.


That’s only fitting; Matthews (OGE) wins the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under. Urtasun finishes 7th. He certainly did better than I gave him credit for. I am still getting to know this team, and I think it might take me a while. I know the big riders, Sammy Sanchez and Igor Anton and so, but alas, I didn’t even know that they had a guy from Morocco in their squad. I mean, what are the chances? It may be a sign of a necessary found openness, or a desperate attempt to stay in the World Tour. Maybe they just like some real good talent though.



Stage 2: Mt Barker – Rostrevor: 113.1 km

“Quite some windy roads”, I tell Katu, at the finish line. “Where were you guys?”
“We tried, we always try. It's not meant to be.” I think, Katu might have a serious problem, concering his attitude and view upon life. Always so grubby. It was a sunny day. Another victory for Michael Matthews, in front of his teammate & fellow australian Brett Lancaster. No euskaltel riders to be seen at the finish line.




Stage 3: Uniley – Stirling: 136.6 km

A circuit around Longwood Road, with a early mountain category at Mt Barker Road. It features many small, short ramps. It may look easy on paper but the curvy roads of Australia’s towns might become a hassle for riders who underestimate the possible action throughout the race.


Martinez trying to break away, but alas, on the bumpy, curvey road, there’s not much chance for a rider in his current shape. The real breakaway has already 1:30 to 2 minutes lead. It wouldn’t be easy to catch up anyway.
This is more a build-up, I think, than a real racing from Euskaltel. “Our important races start later…”, Katu explains to me. D’oh! I knew that of course, but I suppose I had hoped for a little bit better results for my first race. You know, like 4 straight wins, that’d be something.


Martínez finally breaking loose? He certainly is motivated, and this ramps around Landwood Road, might suit him – if he has a good day.


Martínez catches up to Malori, the breakaway in front of his eyes. He sees the finish line, but it’s still 83 km to go… Alas, look on the bright side, I think, it’s enough time to get a lead on the peloton.


Peloton catches up to the breakaway. It’s a very fast race. The breakaway never got more than 2 minutes lead to the peloton, and it seems that Matthews really wants his third victory in a row in his home country.However, since no breakaway is in the lead, this will give riders enough encouragement to try their own luck.


After several breakaway attempts, Kolobnev goes into the last 25 kms as the race leader. Burghardt (BMC), Geschke (ARG), Casar (FDJ) are his closest persuers. Schär (BMC) paid his price for pacing Burghardt up the Hill. Martínez (EUS), meanwhile, tries his luck – once again back in the peloton. However, having missed the decisive split, he is already up to 2 minutes behind. He later gets caught, together with Giovanni Visconti (MOV), at the 15 kilometer break. Kolobonev looks ready to take the victory. What an early shape! “So that’s what training camps I good for, eh?” I say jokingly to Katu.
“He’s from Russia. I doubt they can even get outside their house without freezing their ass off. Of course, they need training camps up there.” An explanation from a real wordly man, I think.


Geschke and Casar don’t want to be fooled by the two BMC riders and attack. Will they catch up to Kolobnev up front?


So, 7 kilometers to go. Casar and Geschke were caught by the peloton. Just as Martínez, already several kilometers ago. This gave him enough time to conserve energy though. Since all breakaways riders were already caught, this just ranks Kolobnov’s performance even higher, since he is able to maintain his gap of around 2 minutes to the peloton. Breakaway attempts by Kennaugh (SKY), Marcato (VCD), Dupont (AG2R) and many others, including yours truly Martínez fail at the short ramps of the circuit. Euskaltel will prepare Urtasun for a finish up the hill.


A great ride by Kolobnev sees a winner who can’t even raise his arms anymore. Completely exhausted, he smiles later in the cameras. Maybe he just paced even the last kilometer full because he knows, that after this performance, he might be the clear favourite to win Tour Down Under. Back there, we can see the riders sprinting up the last kilometer. Urtasun snatched the backwheel of Stetina, not the smartest move, one might say. He finishes on a (maybe disappointing, maybe good, I can't tell) 10th place.

Today sees maybe the queen stage. At least, in case you give any stage race a Queen stage. From Snaper Point the stage follows the road to Old Willunga Hill. Two Times. Considering the lack of an early form by many riders, this can prove a challenge to them, that shouldn’t be underrated. Any rider who wants to have a shot against Kolobnev in the GC, or just wants to win this “Queen stage”, will try something today.



Not giving a crap! Kocjan is the first to attack, a few meters into the race. David Millar (GRS) is right behind him. Together with Clement (BEL), Puccio (SKY) and Soupe (FDJ), they form an early breakaway. Kocjan might not be a basque rider, but he surely has the ability to attack like one.


It looks good for the breakaway. Already 2:30, yet there’s still a long way to the finish. Obviously, if Kocjan wins the stage, he probably still couldn`t afford this yacht, but the calm racing gives me an opportunity to… enjoy the view.

100 kilometers to go. 6 Minutes lead. People cheering on the side. Thanks Cadel, we say, one can really experience the passion for cycling on your continent.

What’s up with Australia and all these circuits? 5 kilometers flag, it’s still 67 kilometers to go. Plus two times up the Old Willunga Hill. Sun is hot as hell, but the wind is okay. There’s a good chemistry in the group but the peloton slowly catches up to them nonetheless.


Up to the Old Willunga Hill, one can see quite some obscurities such as this tree. Kocjan wants to get into a good position for the mountain sprint. If he manages to snatch 16 points, he has a chance of wearing the mountain jersey tomorrow, maybe even winning the category. The lead meanwhile decreases fast…


Favourite picture: He snatches the whole 16 points. Since he already has 6 points, he is now leader with 22 points. Well, the win might be tough, but winning the Mountain jersey would be more than worth it, and compensate for this little adventure in January.



At the foot of the Old Willung Hill, 3 kilometers from the finish line, the peloton is only 30 seconds away. Kocjan paces for the breakaway and follows attacks by Clement and Puccio. It’s not enough, and it’s getting tight in here. Marcato passes by Kocjnac. Martínez and Urtasun meanwhile try to get into a good position.


Bart de Clerq snatches the victory. Can you spot Martínez, Urtasun and Kocjan in the crowd of riders? For the GC, this doesn’t change much. Bart de Clerq and Marcato profit from a small gap to the main field and move upfront to rank 3 and 4. Kocjan takes proudly the Mountain Jersey.



Stage 6
On the last stage, Kocjan wants to secure his mountain jersey. Euskaltel doesn’t have any false hope for the GC, or a stage win as a matter of fact. But getting the MT jersey would be a nice early success. The only real question, I have left to ask: Seriously, what’s up with Australia and there damn circuits?


Matthews’ treble. Nothing more to add. Clearly the best sprinter at the Tour Down Under.




Overall Classifications, Final




1. Alexandr Kolobnev (KAT)
2. Michael Matthews (OGE)
3. Bart de Clerq (LTB)

Mountain Jersey: Jura Kocjan (EUS)
Points Jersey: Michael Matthews (OGE)

So, that was quite something for the start, eh? Not sure what I expected of my first World Tour race, as a travelling companion for the Euskalte-Euskadi team. That Kocjan won the mountain jersey surely is nice, but it’s only January and there’s still much to do. I like the attitude of Egoi Martínez, he attacked several times, but his form just wasn’t up to it. Better luck next time.
There was one other race for Euskaltel – Euskadi. GP de Marseilles, or something like that. I couldn’t be bothered to show up and rather paid a visit to my family. I told them about my current assignment. My dad was super excited. Honestly, I think I’ve never seen him this… well, proud? I don’t know how proud parents look like, haha. Just kidding. My brother wanted to know how much I get paid, I replied with a Euskaltel saying “It’s about pride”, and my girlfriend asked, if she can come with me someday. I told her, that I first have to get used to this new life. It’s still new and fresh and I wouldn’t like to take this touch of my job by already showing everybody around my new workplace – which is all around the world, so that’s kinda sweet.

So long,
X.

We kicked off at the 1st February with the Etoile de Besseges. Among the riders was Samuel Sánchez, who was looking for some early racing to come into shape for the more important races later on. Marcel Kittel took 2 stage wins and the points jersey for Team Argos. Taylor Phinney won the race ahead of Lars Ytting Bak (LT) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY). The race wasn’t even finished yet and we got some guys to the Vuelta a Mallorca and I went along with them. Alejandro Valverde (MOV) won it ahead of Julien El Fares (SOJ) and his teammate Rubén Plaza (MOV). Igor Antón was at the race, but his attempts at two hilly stages failed, since he was too only building up his form.

Some impressions from the road:



Antón close to the victory of 3rd stage Vuelta a Mallorca. Utimately he was caught 4 kilometers in front of the finish.



Talk about some serious Sky dominance, still they failed to take the win. It belonged to Valverde (MOV).



Two Euskaltel riders in the breakaway is always a nice look. Nearly 5 minutes to the peloton. Unfortunately their competition lists elusive names like Ten Dam, Bennati and Coppel. “Don’t put too much effort into the breakaway”, must have been Katu’s advice.

However, the breakaway was caught at the last small climb, when many riders attacked. Urtasun and Antón both tried to get Valverde’s backwheel, but the spaniard once more took the stage win, as well as the overall classifcation at the Vuelta Mallorca.

Tour Méditerranéen, Stage 4, February 2013



So, I thought I’d skip the Tour Méditerranéen but it turns out, that Bilbao is surprisingly good. I am unsure if I should go, but Katu tells me, “What’s up with you? You go to some race where Antón builds half-serious his form for the upcoming races, but don`t wanna go, when we can actually win something?”. Okay, I think, this convinced me to drop by. I get there at 6 o`clock in the morning after driving the whole night. I am completely exhausted and manage to catch up some sleep in a room with Tamouridis. Basically, I lie on the floor, but hey – I don’t want to complain, after all I don’t have to ride a tough climb today. Later on, they get me up to date… Bilbao rode a great race so far. He was in breakaway in the first stage and got 3rd place. He didn`t lose too much time on Malori in the TT and was now equal with the Italian after 3 stages. It’s very close, and since there are bonus seconds up to the 3 best riders (20, 12, 8 seconds), everything is up to grab for Euskaltel – Euskadi, as well as the other teams.


We remember this guy, don’t we? Kolobnev is in the breakaway. He has shown at the Tour Down Under that this he’s a rider who can win a small stage race from a breakaway. Obviously, the breakaway shouldn’t get too far away, but it’s a long way to go and Euskaltel – Euskadi, although having 3 riders in Top 10, sees so far no reason to chase the pack.



Surprisingly, FDJ does most of the work back there. The lead has over 4 minutes. Casar is their best rider in the GC and he must definitely feel up to the job today. Since the time gaps overall are very small, a strong performance today can secure the overall victory at the Tour Méditerranéen.



Tamouridis fails to manage to hang on to the peloton. Quickly, over a small hill, the time gap is all too convining to bury any hope for a good classification, or even helping Bilbao or Izagirre to win. He will surely lose his good 10th rank overall today, but judging by his style of riding, he doesn’t really care. It was obvious that he wouldn’t stand a chance today anyway – no false hope.


Only 4 Euskaltel riders left in the peloton, when it catches up to the breakaway. All around them a true phalanx of Lampre riders. They truly want this win. The attacks afterwards are all countered by a strong riding performance of the Lampre Team. Meanwhile, Izagirre and Bilbao try to save their energy for an important attack.


As the race goes into the final 5 kilometers, and into the final, deciding climb of this Tour, the 3 Euskaltel riders have a perfect posiition in the first rows of the peloton. Chérel (AGR2R) and Casar (FDJ) managed to break away in the downhill. Movistar set the pace for Amador, Euskalte riders are looking good.


We knew that Casar would try something today, and he looks set to take the stage win. Meanwhile, Bilbao tries to drop Malori, but we are not quite successful at that. Look at me, I am already writing in first person plural. I suppose, it took me less two months, to identify with them… Gora Bilbao!

In the end, however, it just wasn’t enough. Casar took the overall win, together with the stage win. We tried to play it too safe and in the end couldn’t hold up. Still, Bilbao gets a good 3rd place overall, and signals his good early form. Izagirre finishes 5th overall. It’s a bit bitter that Bilbao is 0 seconds behind, and loses the best young rider jersey to the italian too.

Next up are the Tour du Haut Var and Vuelta a Andalucia. The team decides to skip Tour du Oman and Volta ao Algare. Igor Antón will bring some nice race attentance money to the team by riding the Tour of Andaluciá. Maybe he can also snatch a victory along the way?

While the Tour du Haut Var remains largely unimportant to us (and sees a real podium victory by Movistar; Giovanni Visconti wins it ahead of his teammates Capecchi and Ventoso), I suppose it’d be nice to show the people from Andalucia what a basque cycling team is made of. So, Igor Antón and Ion Izagirre definitely want to prove themselves. After the first time trial (stage 1), Anton is around 16 seconds behind, Izagirre ranks at 8th with 7 seconds behind, and the best young rider jersey on his shoulder. Martinez is on a good 12th rank, 11 seconds behind. I am sure to keep my eye on these three, since they are Euskaltel’s best climbers at this race. Tough competition is to be expected from Rui Costa (MOV), Gasparatto (AST), Fuglsang (AST), Rogers (TST) and Hesjedal (GRS), but this early races tend to have victors, one wouldn’t normally expect.

[/b]Stage 2

It`s a calm race that day, and the breakaway gets up to 7 minutes lead. However, since no real climbers are featured in it, the peloton and favourites remain calm. Things start to get shape at the 3.-cat mountain, when Rogers attacks with Le Mevel and they quickly gain time on the slow peloton. Up to 2 minutes is their lead, when they hit the mountain, Puelo de las Palomas. And they gain even more time on the peloton, paced by Rui Costa’s Movistar, who is in the leader’s jersey.


From here Antón looks rather calm, biding his time to make a move.



When he attacks, with 5 kilometers to go, no other riders follow him. He quickly gains time on the peloton. However, regardless of his stellar performance, he doesn’t quite manage to catch up to the breakaway in front. At the mountaintop, he is still one minute behind them, however having gained nearly 2 minutes to Rui Costa and his teammates, this move definitely feels right.


It starts to rain when Antón catches up to the breakaway. Hopefully, this is not a bad sign. The lead quickly diminishes as Movistar does some serious damage to the peloton back there on the flat. Since none of the other riders want to help Antón, he decides to attack as soon as he feels ready for it. Only Beltran (EPM) wants to follow him.


It’s a real small lead that Antón has on his chasers. Euskaltel meanwhile prepares already for a masssprint, while Igor still doesn`t give up hope. It’s a downhill to the finish, so there might be a chance, he can get away.


“Noooo!” I scream in Katu’s ear. Antón got caught at the last meters, while his teammate Urtasun nearly managed to get the win, but was only beaten by Vicisio (KAT), who also takes the leader’s jersey off Costa`s shoulder, thanks to the bonus seconds. Maaan… no other words.

Stage 3 finishes in a small uphill sprint by the peloton. J.J. Lobato gets a 3rd place. Very good, I think. This only leads one place on the podium left untouched. Better get in on the last stage. There are no changes in the GC though, as Vicisio remains in the leader’s red jersey.

Stage 4

Andalucia was good to Euskaltel so far, and this stage looks like something for the likes of these basque riders. It’s a sunny day on the road to Rincon de la Victoria, and since Euskaltel features many riders, who could have a shot, I feel all bright and fuzzy.

Martinez tries his luck. Maybe Euskaltel see no other option, maybe they want to build him up as a relais station. He has shown good performance in January at the Tour Down Under, maybe he wants to go for the win himself. He quickly gains time on the peloton, and seeing as the break is far away and there are no other riders with him, there’s a long road alone ahead of him.


He drives over Moreno`s name. His lead has decreased significantly and he couldn’t quite catch up to the break. In the downhill, they rode away and gained time on him again. He will surely make it up in the climb, but will the peloton catch up to him meanwhile?

It’s kinda funny. Just as he catches up to the remains of the breakaway, two riders left in front of him, he gets caught himself by the peloton. Since he lost some energy on the way, he will now try to protect Izagirre as soon as the time is ready. Katusha and Movistar have a high pace though, so making a good attack on the last climb of the day, won’t be easily done. I cross my fingers as Katu shouts his commands into the microphone.


Who else but Antón would be the first to attack at such a climb?


His attempt seems to be successful as he gains time on his rivals. Meanwhile, attacks in the peloton by Costa, Hesjedal & Moreno might decrease his chances of a victory, but riding past his basque fans, he definitely looks like he feels up to it. The waving ikurrinas, those wonderful basque flags, must give him an extra boost of motivation.


And yes, he’s the first over the 2.-cat climb (Puerto de la Pasa). Behind the motorcycle, there’s already Rui Costa, but having a lead of 40 seconds for the last 13 kilometers of downhill, this might be enough.
In the downhill, Izagirre attacks from the small peloton of only 14 riders and tries to catch up to Moreno. He can see him, but he is out of reach so far. Hesjedal meanwhile is close to catching up to Costa, 7 kilometers to go. Antón’s lead is good, 30 seconds.

Gora Igor, Gora Euskadi!

In the end, the lead is enough for Antón! People cheer on the side, people cheer in the team car. He wins his first victory this season, and the first for Euskaltel. And he takes the overall classification. Rui Costa and Hesjedal complete the overall podium. A great day for the team, and I jump around in excitement. “This is how we do it!”, I sing, or rather scream. 4 riders in the Top 10 at the Vuelta a Andalucia shows a great team performance and this is finally a good sign for the upcoming races in March and April.

The remaining 3 one-day races (unitl Paris-Nice kicks off) deliver other good results, although the team fails to make an lasting impression on these races.