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Lefevere's Blue Army | S3 | Tour de France
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 05-03-2019 05:26
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World Champion
Posts: 12594
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 690.00
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If you haven't figured it out by now, this story will be about Deceuninck - Quick Step starting from the 2019 season.
-DB: World DB 2019, although I've made major edits to the progression (whether it actually affects anything or not, as well as many potentials, and stats, sponsors f.e. )
-Difficulty: Hard (Changed to Extreme for the 2020 Season)
-Crash Ratio: 1.1 (Changed to 0.7 for the 2020 Season)
-Other Rules: I wont abuse the fitness system or the transfer system, I will only make 1 signing per day, I will try to keep signings realistic, will also edit sponsor changes and AI transfers to keep things realistic
This story will not be of the quality you are used to seeing from me (although its been several years), instead it will be more like this. I will play all WT races but non WT races will only get a quick summary if its significant enough. I hope to get through seasons much quicker than a typical story would so one week stage races will also probably be summarized in one post.
Screenshots will also be very uncommon, probably only pictures of race winners, or major events. (I may make fancy posts every once in a while though, perhaps for the classics, since it is Quickstep after all) Essentially, this will be a very casual story. Hopefully, some of you will still follow along, but I understand if some may find it more "boring".
| Giro | Tour | Vuelta | | 2019 |  Enric Mas |  Chris Froome | Enric Mas | | 2020 |  Primoz Roglic |  Julian Alaphilippe | Primoz Roglic |
| MSR | RVV | PR | LBL | Lombardia | | 2019 |  Van Avermaet | Gilbert |  Sagan | Valverde | Gilbert | | 2020 |  Gaviria |  Stybar | Vanmarcke | Alaphilippe |  D. Martin |
Edited by valverde321 on 15-06-2020 18:05
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 05-03-2019 07:45
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21838
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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Like riding a bicycle, huh?
I think it's a great idea and casual updates won't affect the quality of the story, only the pace. And you'd rather have a slow but decent story than quick-paced garbage.
With Quickstep, I agree Hard is the correct difficulty  |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-03-2019 10:11
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11286
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Story!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 05-03-2019 10:16
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 7461
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 500.00
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Story!
Spoiler though we need to get the daily db back on the radar it seems 
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 05-03-2019 10:21
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World Champion
Posts: 12680
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 700.00
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Better start the story soon, you're already 13 victories behind
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| VoetsT |
Posted on 05-03-2019 12:02
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 851
Joined: 29-06-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Good luck, will definitely follow along!!
I'm also planning a story with this team, hope you are ok with it.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 05-03-2019 15:10
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World Champion
Posts: 12594
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 690.00
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@ Ian - Yeah, hopefully! Thanks to PCM Career Explorer I will have the results for basically every race of the season, so even without a lot of screens it should hopefully be easy to read the "important" part of the story, which is the results!
About the difficulty, Im actually quite bad at 18. 15 I would win basically every race, but I think since the switch to the new MO/HIL gameplay Im worse, and will need to get better at it before I move the difficulty up.
@ tsmoha - 
@ Croatia - I was very close to using the Daily db, I think the stats are better from a rating perspective, but I ran 3 test careers beforehand and with how progression works now sometimes riders jump up as much as 3-4 in one stat, so a rider like Kelderman could go from the 30th best climber to the best in a very short time. If things get out of hand, I'll actually probably edit certain riders back down a bit, as I find it too much sometimes. The other reason was I wanted to keep my other workshop dbs installed too, mainly the 1994 DB
@ Ollfardh - Thanks, it probably wont take me too long actually  Although I dont know if I will be able to repeat their cobble results so far
@ VoetsT - Yeah, go for it! I look forward to following it! I think with how I plan to do this, it should be different enough anyway.
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 05-03-2019 16:03
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Team Leader
Posts: 6967
Joined: 14-07-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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Good Luck - I will follow as frequently as possible.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 05-03-2019 16:07
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World Champion
Posts: 12594
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 690.00
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Spoiler | Cyclist | Age | Salary | Contract End | Stage Races | Sprints | Puncheur | Cobbles | TT | AVG | | Julian Alaphilippe | 26 | 151,000.00 | 2020 | | | Star | | | 81 | | Elia Viviani | 30 | 88,000.00 | 2019 | | Star | | | | 79 | | Bob Jungels | 26 | 62,000.00 | 2019 | Star | | Star | | Star | 79 | | Philippe Gilbert | 36 | 104,000.00 | 2019 | | | | Star | | 78 | | Yves Lampaert | 27 | 54,000.00 | 2019 | | | | accomplished | Best role | 78 | | Enric Mas | 24 | 46,000.00 | 2020 | Best role | | | | | 77 | | Fabio Jakobsen | 22 | 25,000.00 | 2019 | | Star | | | | 77 | | Zdenek Stybar | 33 | 43,500.00 | 2019 | | | | Star | | 76 | | Álvaro José Hodeg | 22 | 24,000.00 | 2020 | | Best role | | | | 75 | | Tim Declercq | 29 | 22,000.00 | 2020 | | | | Best role | | 75 | | Ariel Maximiliano Richeze | 35 | 22,000.00 | 2019 | | Best role | | | | 74 | | Michael Mørkøv | 33 | 21,000.00 | 2019 | | Best role | | | | 74 | | Pieter Serry | 30 | 17,500.00 | 2019 | | | Best role | | | 73 | | Dries Devenyns | 35 | 17,000.00 | 2019 | | accomplished | Best role | | | 73 | | Petr Vakoc | 26 | 15,500.00 | 2019 | | | Best role | | | 73 | | Florian Sénéchal | 25 | 14,500.00 | 2019 | | accomplished | | Best role | | 73 | | Kasper Asgreen | 24 | 12,000.00 | 2019 | | | | | Best role | 72 | | Rémi Cavagna | 23 | 8,500.00 | 2020 | | | accomplished | accomplished | Best role | 72 | | Iljo Keisse | 36 | 8,000.00 | 2020 | | Best role | | accomplished | | 71 | | Fabio Sabatini | 34 | 7,000.00 | 2020 | | Best role | | | | 71 | | James Knox | 23 | 4,500.00 | 2019 | | | Best role | | | 71 | | Davide Martinelli | 25 | 4,500.00 | 2021 | | Best role | | | | 71 | | Eros Capecchi | 32 | 2,500.00 | 2019 | Best role | accomplished | accomplished | | | 69 | | Remco Evenepoel | 19 | 2,500.00 | 2020 | accomplished | | | | Best role | 69 | | Mikkel Frølich Honoré | 22 | 2,500.00 | 2019 | | Best role | | | | 67 |
The team is full of very strong riders. Experts believe us to be the 2nd strongest team in the peloton after Team Sky. Viviani will be our strongest sprinter and his main goal of the season will be the Giro d'Italia. Our team isn't without other strong sprinters though! Fabio Jakobsen will support Viviani at the Giro, but then be the sprint leader at the Tour de France. Julian Alaphllippe is our top rider and his main objective will be the Ardennes classics and the Tour de France.
Jungels and Mas are our two GC riders. Mas will ride the Giro and Vuelta, while Jungels will ride the Tour! Jungels will also take part in select cobble classics, as he is a massively talented all-rounder.
Speaking of Cobble classics, Gilbert, Stybar and Lampaert will be our three main leaders for the Flanders season. Depending on the day either one of these guys could win.
Our biggest talent is Remco Evenepoel. He is probably the biggest talent in cycling atm, and we will look to keep him with the team for as long as possible. He could develop into a top classics rider, or a GC rider!
The future of the team looks good! We have great GC riders, and very strong Sprinters in Jakobsen and Hodeg to build around. However, Quickstep has long been known for being a classics team, and with Gilbert and Stybar only getting older, we will need to find new riders to ride the classics. The main goal will be to find the next Tom Boonen. Ideally we would like a rider that can sprint, and is one of the top riders on the cobblestones, so if that means a transfer or developing them ourselves that will be the main priority.
Edited by valverde321 on 06-03-2019 15:50
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-03-2021 21:44
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Bot Agent
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Joined: 23.11.09
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 05-03-2019 16:33
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21838
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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A very fun team to play with. Will be interesting to see how you develop Evenepoel
One little remark: Jungels has star in three disciplines, yet Gilbert only has star in cobbles and nothing else in puncher? Not even accomplished? Or am I misinterpreting what you mean? |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 05-03-2019 16:52
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World Champion
Posts: 12594
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 690.00
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@ Tamijo - Thanks! Glad to have you on board.
@ Ian - Good catch, I hadn't noticed that. Its just what Career Explorer gave him. Gilbert is actually a 78 in HIL which is 9th best in the db. Its probably to do with their roles in the game. Gilbert's is Northern classics so it probably just says star for Cobbles in CE, while Jungels is stage races so maybe CE can interpret that as star in all 3.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 05-03-2019 18:48
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World Champion
Posts: 12680
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 700.00
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Indeed a bit weird, here Keisse is a sprinter rathen than a cobbler also.
14 wins behind
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| purepasd |
Posted on 05-03-2019 21:01
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Domestique
Posts: 537
Joined: 23-01-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Looks exciting, I will definitely follow. It's always nice to follow a career. |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 05-03-2019 21:14
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Team Leader
Posts: 7474
Joined: 28-05-2009
PCM$: 300.00
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A valverde story... oh man I am following this!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 06-03-2019 00:27
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 9438
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 600.00
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Interesting to see a story following such a dominant team, but if it means a classics focus from a great story writer I'm in  A very fun team to play with as well with super cool riders.
And so as it always is, the hunt for the next Boonen is on!
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| VoetsT |
Posted on 06-03-2019 06:18
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 851
Joined: 29-06-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Searching for a new Boonen is like searching for the holy grail. I hope you will find him sooner or later
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-03-2019 14:42
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34416
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Nice to see some of the regular faces back in the story section
Good Luck with this mate |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 06-03-2019 15:48
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World Champion
Posts: 12594
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 690.00
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@ Ollfardh - Yeah, not sure why some ratings are weird like that.
@ purepasd - Thanks!
@ the hoyle - Great to see you here! Thanks for following!
@ jandal - Yeah, I never used to be as into the classics as the grand tours, but in the last few years I've enjoyed classics a lot more, so I thought I'd try a classics focused team, and Im also a very big fan of Alaphilippe since his Etixx days and Jungels.
@ VoetsT - I hope so too!
@ sutty - I agree! Thanks!
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 06-03-2019 18:03
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World Champion
Posts: 12594
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 690.00
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Tour Down Under 2019
Stage 1
| 1 | John Degenkolb | Trek - Segafredo | +00:00 | | 2 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 3 | Fabio Jakobsen | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 |
Stage 2
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | John Degenkolb | Trek - Segafredo | +00:00 | | 3 | Max Walscheid | Team Sunweb | +00:00 |
Stage 3
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | Primoz Roglic | Team Jumbo - Visma | +00:00 | | 3 | Philippe Gilbert | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 |
Stage 4
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | John Degenkolb | Trek - Segafredo | +00:00 | | 3 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 |
Stage 5
| 1 | Omar Fraile | Astana Pro Team | +00:00 | | 2 | Michal Golas | Team Sky | +00:00 | | 3 | Jack Bauer | Mitchelton - Scott | +00:00 |
Stage 6
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 3 | John Degenkolb | Trek - Segafredo | +00:00 |
Final GC
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | John Degenkolb | Trek - Segafredo | +00:20 | | 3 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:36 | | 4 | Primoz Roglic | Team Jumbo - Visma | +00:40 | | 5 | Philippe Gilbert | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:42 |
The season opener in Australia went decently well for the team. Jokobsen started to find his form in the sprints, taking a podium on Stage 2, and 2 more Top 5's. Gilbert did very well on the toughest stage of the race on Stage 3, also grabbing a 3rd place, however it was not enough to drop Fernando Gaviria the former Quickstep rider, who dominated this years edition of the race! In the end a 5th in the GC is a good result, but we will hope to see less of Gaviria this season or else it could end up being quite a long season!
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2019
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | John Degenkolb | Trek - Segafredo | +00:00 | | 3 | Adam Blythe | Lotto - Soudal | +00:00 | | 4 | Danny Van Poppel | Team Jumbo - Visma | +00:00 | | 5 | Jean-Pierre Drucker | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 6 | Nikias Arndt | Team Sunweb | +00:00 | | 7 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 8 | Oscar Gatto | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 9 | Jacopo Guarnieri | Groupama - FDJ | +00:00 | | 10 | Mark Renshaw | Team Dimension Data | +00:00 |
Not a great race for us, Gaviria takes another win...
Tour of Oman 2019
Stage 1
| 1 | Elia Viviani | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 2 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 3 | Jasper De Buyst | Lotto - Soudal | +00:00 |
Stage 2
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 2 | James Knox | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 3 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | +00:00 |
Stage 3
| 1 | Elia Viviani | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 2 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 3 | Alexandre Geniez | AG2R La Mondiale | +00:00 |
Stage 4
| 1 | Romain Bardet | AG2R La Mondiale | +00:00 | | 2 | Daniel Martin | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:28 | | 3 | Alexandre Geniez | AG2R La Mondiale | +00:28 | | ... | | 8 | Julian Alaphilippe | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:49 |
Stage 5
| 1 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | +00:00 | | 2 | Romain Bardet | AG2R La Mondiale | +00:00 | | 3 | Sergio Luis Henao | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | ... | | 8 | Julian Alaphilippe | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 |
Stage 6
| 1 | Elia Viviani | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 2 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 3 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | +00:00 |
Final GC
| 1 | Romain Bardet | AG2R La Mondiale | +00:00 | | 2 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | +00:26 | | 3 | Daniel Martin | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:35 | | 4 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | +00:44 | | 5 | Vincenzo Nibali | Team Bahrain Merida | +00:44 | | 6 | Julian Alaphilippe | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:53 | | 7 | Sam Oomen | Team Sunweb | +01:05 | | 8 | Tom Dumoulin | Team Sunweb | +01:05 | | 9 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Team Bahrain Merida | +01:24 | | 10 | Pierre Latour | AG2R La Mondiale | +01:36 |
Points
| 1 | Elia Viviani | Deceuninck - Quick Step | 85 | | 2 | Geraint Thomas | Team Sky | 85 | | 3 | Pascal Ackermann | BORA - hansgrohe | 83 |
The Tour of Oman was probably our best race of the year to date! Viviani restored some faith in the team that letting go of Gaviria and replacing him with Viviani was a viable solution. On the steeper finish stages, Alaphilippe was our man, and he took a great win on Stage 2, with the help of Knox, who even held on for 2nd place, probably the biggest result of his career thus far. Stage 4, Julian limited his loses, a great result considering it was a mountain stage and Stage 5 Julian finished in the lead group, consolidating his GC position of 6th. Viviani finished the tour with another win, also putting him into the lead of the points jersey (actually a tie for the lead, but won thanks to his stage wins being the tiebreak).
UAE Tour 2019
Stage 1 (TTT)
| Groupama - FDJ | +00:00 | | Mitchelton - Scott | +00:03 | | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:10 |
Stage 2
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | Álvaro José Hodeg | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 3 | Magnus Cort Nielsen | Astana Pro Team | +00:00 |
Stage 3
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | +00:00 | | 2 | Daniel Martin | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:08 | | 3 | Vincenzo Nibali | Team Bahrain Merida | +00:44 | | 4 | Tim Wellens | Lotto - Soudal | +00:56 | | 5 | Bob Jungels | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +01:37 |
Stage 4
| 1 | Tim Wellens | Lotto - Soudal | +00:00 | | 2 | Vincenzo Nibali | Team Bahrain Merida | +00:00 | | 3 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | +00:00 |
Stage 5
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 2 | Álvaro José Hodeg | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 3 | Arnaud Démare | Groupama - FDJ | +00:00 |
Stage 6
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | +00:00 | | 2 | Vincenzo Nibali | Team Bahrain Merida | +00:00 | | 3 | Daniel Martin | UAE - Team Emirates | +00:00 | | 4 | Bob Jungels | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 |
Stage 7
| 1 | Christophe Laporte | Cofidis, Solutions Crédits | +00:00 | | 2 | Arnaud Démare | Groupama - FDJ | +00:00 | | 3 | Sonny Colbrelli | Team Bahrain Merida | +00:00 |
Final GC
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | +00:00 | | 2 | Vincenzo Nibali | Team Bahrain Merida | +01:16 | | 3 | Daniel Martin | UAE - Team Emirates | +01:16 | | 4 | Bob Jungels | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +02:17 | | 5 | Tim Wellens | Lotto - Soudal | +02:27 |
Hodeg and Jungels were our leaders here, and Gaviria again stuck it to us on the second day. Hodeg was able to grab 2nd, in a very tight sprint, half a wheel length between the two, but in the end 2nd place. Jungels was feeling under the weather for the first half of the stage race, so his results on stage 3 given that fact were remarkable! Froome was simply too strong! Jungels managed to finish in a large lead group on stage 4, 8th place on the day, but rather a quiet day from him. Stage 5 was yet again the Gaviria show, with Hodeg taking 2nd again, a win would be nice but Hodeg still getting great results! Stage 6 Jungels finished in the leading group of 4 riders. He was the weakest in the group, but getting the same time was crucial for moving up in the GC, which in the end put him in 4th overall, behind 3 great riders so a solid result altogether.
Omloop Het Niewsblad 2019
| 1 | Peter Sagan | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 2 | Wout Van Aert | Team Jumbo - Visma | +00:00 | | 3 | Michael Valgren | Team Dimension Data | +00:00 | | 4 | Oliver Naesen | AG2R La Mondiale | +00:00 | | 5 | Matteo Trentin | Mitchelton - Scott | +01:02 | | 6 | Jens Debusschere | Team Katusha - Alpecin | +01:02 | | 7 | Ramon Sinkeldam | Groupama - FDJ | +01:02 | | 8 | Dylan Van Baarle | Team Sky | +01:02 | | 9 | Mads Pedersen | Trek - Segafredo | +01:02 | | 10 | Michal Kwiatkowski | Team Sky | +01:02 | | 11 | Greg Van Avermaet | CCC Team | +01:02 | | 12 | Zdenek Stybar | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +01:02 | | 13 | Tiesj Benoot | Lotto - Soudal | +01:02 | | 14 | Bert De Backer | Vital Concept - B&B Hotels | +01:02 | | 15 | Silvan Dillier | AG2R La Mondiale | +03:05 |
The cobble season opener was not a great one for us. crashes broke up the race and Stybar missed the decisive move made by the leading 4 riders, and did most of the work to chase them down, but in the end his group-mates went past him in the sprint.
Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne 2019
| 1 | Caleb Ewan | Lotto - Soudal | +00:00 | | 2 | Dylan Groenewegen | Team Jumbo - Visma | +00:00 | | 3 | Peter Sagan | BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00 | | 4 | Elia Viviani | Deceuninck - Quick Step | +00:00 | | 5 | Thomas Boudat | Direct Energie | +00:00 | | 6 | Timothy Dupont | Wanty - Groupe Gobert | +00:00 | | 7 | Michal Kwiatkowski | Team Sky | +00:00 | | 8 | Mathieu Van der Poel | Corendon - Circus | +00:00 | | 9 | Christophe Laporte | Cofidis, Solutions Crédits | +00:00 | | 10 | Tim Merlier | Creafin - TÜV SÜD | +00:00 |
KBK came down to a sprint, and Viviani was close to the win, but he mistimed his sprint somewhat and was just narrowly passed on the line by 3 other very strong sprinters.
Strade Bianche 2019 PREVIEW
Favourites
***
Alaphilippe, Valverde, Kwiatkowski
**
Thomas, Woods, Bardet, Sagan
*
Wellens, Moscon, Pozzovivo, Formolo, Molard, Gilbert
One of the most exciting races every year, and this year should be no different! Alaphilippe and Gilbert will both be here for our team to try and take the win! Valverde should be the biggest favourite, and you cant count out Michal Kwiatkowski as well as a two time winner of the race in the past.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 06-03-2019 18:10
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11286
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Gaviria is giving you some headaches, right?
Still some first wins and solid GC results as well. Looking forward to Strade.
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