I will write a story about Rabobank.
I will have focus on the Grand Tours and their important stages.
I'm playing with PCM daily database V2 and the difficulty is hard.
I hope you have time to read this story, and enjoy it!
Rabobank chose to not add any riders to their squad for the 2008 season. They think their squad is strong and talented enough.
We got a flying starter on our season, thanks to Tom Leezer, a talented sprinter, 23-years old from Holland. He won the general classification in Bay Cycling Classic. Though, he didn’t win any stages. Julien Dean was the dominating sprinter, winning 3 stages, but a strong side wind on stage 4, let him back with no chances of winning the GC. Tom was top 5 on every stage, and he gained enough bonus seconds to win the GC with 2 seconds on Patrice Halgand.
Tour Down Under
Oscar Freire, captain and sprinter Tom Leezer, lead-out man Matthew Hayman, lead-out man Bauke Mollema, gain experience William Walker, teammate Marc de Maar, teammate Rick Flens, teammate Robert Gesink, gain experience, mountain jersey
The first Pro Tour event was the Tour Down Under. Oscar Freire said before the season started that he wanted a couple of stage wins in this race. But, it was not only a couple of stages he won, he won the first 4 stages easily. In every stage, he got a perfect leadout from Hayman and Leezer. On the decisive stage, and the decisive hill, Willunga Hill none of the favourites attacked and Freire could easily take his fifth win in a row. He made the tour complete with winning the last stage also! It was a fantastic starter of Freire and a fantastic starter to the team. Of course, he also won the points jersey.
To complete the tour, Gesink won the KoM jersey!
Summary
It was a fantastic month of the team, mainly due to Freire and Leezer, and their fantastic sprinting. The only thing I missed was a stage win in Bay Cycling Classic for Leezer, but I can’t get everything. And with Freire dominating the Tour Down Under, I can't be disappointed with my team.
Edited by ember on 28-05-2008 15:40
Not the best month for Rabobank, we only got 2 stage victories and 1 general classification win, though; it was in the toughest race of the month, Amgen Tour of California.
Bauke Mollema, captain, gain experience Oscar Freire, sprinter, gain fitness after a month without training Sebastien Langeveld, team mate Grischa Niermann, team mate Tom Leezer, team mate, gain experience Paul Martens, team mate Jan Boven, team mate Michiel Elijzen, team mate, time trial specialist
Sensationally it was not one of the famous guys who won it. It was Bauke Mollema, another youngster at Rabobank, a very talented rider; he can win the Vuelta in the future I think. He beat Jens Voigt with 2 seconds in the GC, taking 2 bonus seconds on the intermediate sprint on the last stage, and secured the GC in that way. He also won the prologue, and Freire made his start of the season even better with one stage win in this tour.
The other races this month wasn’t as well as Amgen Tour, but Menchov started his season in Volta a la Communitat Valenciana, though, he didn’t make any good results.
Summary
A great Amgen Tour of California, and very fun that Mollema won it, though his fitness was around 90 all the tour. Except of that, it was a disappointing month, and hopefully we will do better next month, with P-N, T-A and the longest classic of this season; Milan-San Remo.
We got a flying starter of March, with the sympathic and wonderful team mate, Bram Tankink won the Vuelta a Murcia, after a amazing mountain time trial. Menchov also rode this race, he was the originally captain, but with Tankink’s great riding he ended as team mate to Tankink and his moral become low.
In the last years Pro Tour race, Paris-Nice, Rabobank brought a strong team:
Thomas Dekker, team leader,, start his preparations to M-SR and the Ardennes classics. Mauricio Ardila, team mate in the mountains Juan Antonio Flecha, team mate, preparations for his big goal of the season; Paris-Roubaix Robert Gesink, team mate, gain experience Pieter Weening, team mate Laurens Ten Dam, team mate Pedro Horillo, team mate Bram de Groot, team mate
The prologue was great to Rabobank, Dekker got 4th place, and Gesink only lost 21 seconds to the winner, Jose Ivan Gutierrez from Caisse de Epargne. Gesink beat the big favourite, Frank Schleck with 3 seconds on the prologue.
Stage 2, 3 and 4 didn’t gave Rabobank anything, but a crash of Dekker. Dekker had to abandon from the race and our doctor said he would not be back before late in April. It changed our planes not only for Paris-Nice, but also for all the Ardennes Classics. Gesink will be our leader both in P-N and in the Ardennes.
Stage 5, was the kingstage, the riders should climb Mount Ventoux. At the flats before Ventoux Team CSC sat a violent pace, even Gesink become tired. The man himself, F. Schleck attacked with 8 kilometres to the finish, everyone tried to counter, but none could follow Schleck. 1,58 behind Schelck a group with Kirchen, Gesink, Voigt and Cobo reached the top with Kirchen in second and Gesink gained a fantastic podium. He showed that he wanted to have a podium place in Nice!
Stage 6 and 7 was the same as stage 5, Schleck was superior to all other, behind him Kirchen, Gesink, Voigt and Cobo.
Stage 8, and Gesink and Cobo had to resign to Kirchen and Voigt in the fight for the podium places, but still Gesink managed a fourth place in the GC, very impressin of a 21 years old rider.
Oscar Freire, sprinter, making his last preparations for Milan-San Remo. Sebastien Langeveld, team mate Joost Posthuma, team mate, try to win the time trial, first lead out man Koos Moerenhout, team mate Gerben Lövik, leadout man Tom Leezer, leadout man Denis Menchov, team mate Michiel Elijzen, time trialist
This year Tirreno-Adriatico become a one-man-show. The man was, as in Tour Down Under, Oscar Freire. He won all the stage, outside the TT. The TT was won in a solid way of Fabien Cancellara.
Oscar Freire’s fantastic sprinting resulted into a second place in the GC, a fantastic T-A for Freire, which now has 13 wins this season.
Oscar Freire, captain and sprinter Robert Gesink, team mate, free role on Poggio Mauricio Ardila, team mate Matthew Hayman, team mate Joost Posthuma, team mate Sebastien Langeveld, team mate Juan Antonio Flecha, team mate, free role on the flats in front of the hills Michiel Elijzen, team mate
Milan-San Remo become a boring race for the neutral spectators. No breakaway, and no attacks on the flats before Cipressa and Poggio. On the Poggio though, Bettini started the ball with a powerful attack, Gesink followed him quite easily, but he knew that he had to ride away from Bettini before the sprint. He couldn’t do that, so he sat up on Bettini’s wheel. Bettini wasn’t happy with pulling Gesink to the finish line, so he sat up too.
The peloton sat a very fast pace up Poggio, all the sprinters except Freire and Zabel fell behind in the peloton and Rabobank’s train with Langeveld-Flecha-Freire was in perfect position with 5 kilometres to go. With 4 kilometres to the finish Gesink and Bettini was caught. 2 kilometres to the finish, and Freire opened his sprint. Zabel couldn’t follow, and it was a supreme win for Freire. He secured his 14th win of the season!
Summary:
A fantastic month of Rabobank, great win for Tankink, and very good performances from Freire and Gesink. Gesink aims for the Giro, where he wants to be captain instead of Menchov. It will be very interesting to watch Rabobank’s squad and captains in the Giro.
The month of the classics has arrived, and Rabobank will have riders with capacity of doing a top 5 in every classic. The plan on the cobbles is Flecha as the definitely leader, but Langeveld will get his chances if the race allows him.
Rabobank sended this team for all the 3 cobbled classics:
Juan Antonio Flecha, captain fitness: 94 at Ronde van Vlaandern Sebastien Langeveld, free role, super team mate 93 Oscar Freire, team mate, co-leader in Gent-Wevelgem 89 Matthew Hayman, team mate 91 Rick Flens, team mate 83 Joost Posthuma, team mate 88 Jan Boven, team mate 79 Bram Tankink, team mate 92
Ronde van Vlandern was as usually the first classic. On the paper, it was the classic which suited Flecha and Langeveld best. It became a very exciting race. When the breakaway was reeled in, 50 kilometres before the finish, the pack slowed down. On the flats before the two last cobbled sections, Devolder attacked. Flecha followed immediately. Those two guys were cooperating good, even though Devolder did most of the job. On the flats, while the cobbles were finished, you could see there was a reason why Devolder did most of the work. His pace was so high that Flecha cracked. Luckily, Flecha had 3,25 to a group of 6 riders; Boonen, Cancellara, Ballan, Langeveld, Hoste and van Avermaet.
Devolder took a superb solo victory in the end, 1,45 in front of Flecha. To make the day very good for Rabobank, Langeveld attacked with 6.5 kilometres to go, and he got a gap, which was big enough for him to held Boonen on a wheel’s distance in the sprint. He secured a 2-3 for Rabobank!
Gent-Wevelgem:
The pack took it very slow until they reached the first small hills. With a side wind of 69 m/s, the pack was separated into many groups. The decisive split happened between the climbs of Kemmelberg. All the favourites were in the front group, and 2 kilometres before Kemmelberg Ballan attacked. He was joined by Hammond, Flecha, Cancellara, Burghardt, Gilbert, Nuyens and Devolder. Neither Langeveld nor Freire could follow all these stars. They kept together until 20 kilometres before the goal. Then Ballan attacked again, and none could follow. Ballan rode his own pace, and he won Gent-Wevelgem 2008. Flecha hit the wall, right when the sprint was going to start, and he ended last of those 7 riders who fought for second place. Hammond surprised everyone with his sprint from the front of the group, he took second place. Cancellara finished off the podium. Flecha disappointed me with his eight, but it is Paris-Roubaix which really counts.
Freire won the sprint in the pack and got 10th.
Paris-Roubaix:
It was of course raining. Flecha had a fitness form of 99 and a daily form of +5, everyting was perfect when we hit the Aremberg forest. When the pack turned out of the forest they could only see a long line of orange riders. Rabobank sat a high pace in and out of the forest. The pack separated into two parts. The front group was 21 riders, with 8 Rabobank’ riders in it. It was not the only thing, Cancellara and Hoste missed the split!
With 35 kilometres to go Devolder attacked, he wanted his second classic win of the season. Ballan followed. It looked promising for them, until Langeveld started relaying on 99%. He rode himself, Flecha and Nuyens up to the front duo. Flecha counterattacked immediately, and none followed! With 28 kilometres to the line he held a lead of 1,15.
Flecha continued in his own, high pace and his advantage just increased. When he finished his lap of honour on the Velodrome, he realized that he won Paris-Roubaix with lots. He won it with 2,48 to Nuyens, who had managed to ride away from Devolder and Ballan. Ballan outsprinted Devolder to round of the podium.
Flecha had done it! He won Paris-Roubaix in a superior way. Soloing on the Velodrome
I have actually made the screenshots nowbut I can't get them from photobucket and over to the forum. I don't know how to get the photo from photobucket to my post.
In photobucket click your mouse in the IMG text bar (bit called "IMG code"
It should highlight, and a little label pops up saying copied to your clipboard.
Then paste into your story at the right point, and bingo, when posted you'll be able to see the pictures.
The Basque Tour showed a super strong human, of course, it was Frank Schleck who definitely had continued his spring season in top shape. He outclassed everyone, he won the GC with 6,34 to Kirchen. Rodriguez from Caisse took the last podium spot, 11 seconds behind Kirchen. Gesink did a very well Tour, he ended fourth, only 3 seconds behind Rodriguez. He also gained a stats boost, he now had 80 in mountains and 80 in hills. A great stats boost in front of the Giro!
Rabobank send a strong squad for the Ardennes.
Robert Gesink, captain fitness at 88 Sebastien Langeveld, team mate 98 Bauke Mollema, team mate 89 Oscar Freire, team mate 86 Laurens Ten Dam, team mate 92 Mauricio Ardila, team mate 88 Pieter Weening, team mate 96 Bram Tankink, team mate 94
Amstel Gold Race became a very exciting race. It seemed like F. Schleck had peaked too early this season, he was underperforming in AGR. He actually dropped from the pack with 120 kilometres to go to the finsish line. He was maybe hurted. At the flats before the ending hills, Bettini attacked. None of the favourites followed him, so Langeveld decided that this was his only chance of a podium place in AGR. But it wasn’t meant to be. The pack did of course reel them in, as Bettini was a real threat to the win. 30 kilometres from the finish Rebellin attacked. He was followed by Gesink, Kirchen, Nocentini and Rodriguez. On the penultimate hill, Rebellin attacked once more, and he got a gap to Rodriguez, who was the only one that tried to follow him. Gesink, Kirchen and Nocentini was riding their own pace behind them. In Cauberg Rebellin could shout out his joy, as he won the Amstel Gold Race in front of Rodriguez. Gesink, Kirchen and Nocentini sprinted for the last podium place, and it was Nocentini who got it, in front of Kirchen and Gesink. A great fifth of Gesink.
La Fleche Wallonie
I think La Fleche Wallonie is the classic which suites Gesink best, because the Muur is quite a long and steep climb.
La Fleche was a boring race, nothing happened before the pack hit the penultimate climb, approximately 30 kilometres before the finish. As in AGR, Rebellin attacked, but this time, nobody could follow him. Behind him a group of Gesink, Bertagnolli and Nocentini formed. On the Muur, Rebellin only increased his lead, winning another super solo victory, very impressive of the Gerolsteiner rider. Behind him, Gesink had learned from his fault in AGR, where he was last when the sprint started. With 2,5 kilometres to go he attacked and got the front position in the sprint. But, Bertagnolli was too strong for him and took second, but he got a great podium place.
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
The pack took the first 200 kilometres with ease, but from then and to the finish a mad speed was sat. When the pack hit the Cote de la Redoute, with 3 miles to go, it was obviously that Schleck wasn’t out of form. He attacked! Gesink, Rebellin, Kirchen, Bertagnolli and Bettini followed though. On Côte de la Roche aux Faucons though, Schleck attacked again, and this time nobody could follow. Gesink though, was setting a very hard pace in the group behind Schleck and he managed to ride away from the other 4.
Frank Schleck won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in front of Gesink, who was nearly caught in the sprint, and Kirchen who won the sprint about third place.
Gesink had done great in the Ardennes, now I am seriously considering him as captain in Giro instead of Menchov.
Tour de Romandie.
Denis Menchov did great in Romandie. He secured his overall win without winning any stages, but he smashed Cunego at the time trial. Cunego ended second, in front of Di Luca. The favourites for the Giro were starting to show their teeth.
Summary
A great month actually. Flecha was great on the cobbles, winning Paris-Roubaix on a solo run. Robert Gesink also did very well in the Ardennes, though he didn’t won any of them, he gained one second and one third place. To round of the month, Menchov took a solid GC win in Tour de Romandie.
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but I can't get them from photobucket and over to the forum. I don't know how to get the photo from photobucket to my post. 
