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Team Maxbo Bianchi - An adventure comes through.
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| ember |
Posted on 24-10-2008 16:49
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Team Leader
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I will write a story about the norwegian team, Maxbo Bianchi. I am using PCMSpain and I am playing on hard.
I have played season 1 and will start writing from season 2.
Maxbo Bianchi had done it, they become a ProTour team, they had made it. Edvald Boasson Hagen had been the point-picker above them all, he had won the ContinentalTour ranking with 1152 points, he had 15 victories, but he decided to leave the fantastic team, he wrote his name to a Euskaltel paper. Their manager was tempted to do the same as their star number one was gone. But he didn't, he decided that Maxbo Bianchi should be the best ProTour team in the world within 2 season. That was the goal above all goals. |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 24-10-2008 17:15
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Sprinter
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Good Luck! 
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| ember |
Posted on 24-10-2008 17:20
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Team Leader
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Thanks Larsson, next update will hopefully be tonight, and it contains at least one surprise in the signings.. |
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| untal |
Posted on 24-10-2008 17:33
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Sprinter
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Good luck! |
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| ember |
Posted on 24-10-2008 17:53
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Team Leader
Posts: 6866
Joined: 27-03-2008
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Even though Maxbo Bianchi was in the ProTour for the first time in the history, their sponsors demanded some heavy goals:
Their manager, Ember found out that some good signings wouldn't be wrong
He started with some scouted spanish talents, but then it only went upwards. And the last signing was one of the best in this sport, it was "Don Alejandro," Alejandro Valverde signed for the little, promoted norwegian team!
He will definately aiming for Le Tour, and maybe for the Ardennes, but the Tour and a podiumplace their, is the biggest for Valverde this season.
But Maxbo must have had some good riders their first season too, lets have a look at them now, when they are starting season 2:
Konovalovas was brought to the squad before the first season, thanks to some wildcards at the end of the season, he gained a lot of experience and made a decent statsincrease. He will be the leader in the Ardennes as long as Valverde only is aiming for Le Tour.
 
Steensen and Pliuschin are very similar to each other, one of them will be captain in the Giro and the other in the Vuelta. They will also aim for those small tour's, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico....
The last signing before the 2008 season was a sprinter named Lucas Haedo. The team lost Boasson Hagen to Euskaltel and are hoping that Lucas can do something of what Boasson Hagen did last year.
The full squad contained a lot of youngsters and hot prospects for the future. Hopefully some of them will shine already this season, and be great helpers to Steensen, Pliuschin and Valverde. |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 24-10-2008 18:07
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Sprinter
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You've got a nice squad
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| ember |
Posted on 24-10-2008 19:23
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Team Leader
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I will not be reporting much from races which not are ProTour....
Our season kicked off with Tour Down Under.
Lucas showed that he will be there in the sprints this season with sprinting to the podium already at the first stage, only Sacchi and Dean was in front of him.
But from stage 2, the tour was just downhill for us. Already at stage 2 all our riders were dropped/crashed and we had no chance for the overall in this race. Haedo couldn't continue with top 8 spots and afterall we had nothing, but a podium at stage 1 for Haedo from this year's Tour Down Under.
Our best rider in the GC was Joakim Gunnerud at 29th.
Edited by ember on 24-10-2008 19:24
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2008 13:18
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Team Leader
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Amgen Tour of California and Tour of Langkawi was the only races for us in February, we didn't make any great results; Zabriskie was our best with 8th in the overall of the Amgen. Now over to the real races
It was the Paris-Nice, the first ProTour event of the season. The big guns were there; last years winner J.I.Gutierrez, our own Valverde, Schumacher, it was going to be a great P-N, which ended with a mountain time trial up Col d'Eze.
We sended a mix of youngsters (to gain experience) and Valverde.
Valverde was the leader, he wanted his first race days of the season, Konovalovas will be a super-domestique in the hills, all the rest are here for enjoying the tour.
The traditional prologue opened it all. The former dopehead Botero, now riding for Quickstep, sat a great time early on in his national jersey.
(7th-12th +16)
Then our own Pervis did his best for the stage win, but it wasn't good enough.
(2nd +1)
Bradley Wiggins, the experts of prologues made a great ride and took a podium place.
(3rd +8)
But no-one could touch Valverde's former team mate Gutierrez, he took the victory, and the first ProTour points on offer.
(1st +0)
I was satisfied with the prologue, Pervis showed he will be a man to follow in time trials later in the season, and Valverde's loss to Gutierrez was around 30 seconds.
Forgot to export. |
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| Ad Bot |
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| Halvor |
Posted on 25-10-2008 13:53
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Sprinter
Posts: 1951
Joined: 18-09-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Can you please change the language in-game?
Nice squad, and nice results |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 25-10-2008 14:01
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
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Nice 2nd place with Pervis!
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2008 14:06
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Team Leader
Posts: 6866
Joined: 27-03-2008
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Of course I can Dessel, I'm just so jused to norwegian
Thanks Larsson. |
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2008 16:40
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Team Leader
Posts: 6866
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The second stage was all about a mass sprint, but Brian Vandborg from Discovery tried his luck in a solo break
It did come down to a mass sprint and Corioni from Unibet.com took the win ahead of Cavendish and Lloyd Mondory.
I really don't know where my screenshots from this stage is, anyway I can't find them
Stage results
1 Claudio Corioni UNIBET.COM 4h08'06
2 Mark Cavendish LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
4 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
5 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 Paride Grillo TEAM MILRAM s.t.
8 Allan Davis PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
10 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Bernhard Eisel GEROLSTEINER s.t.
12 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Tom Veelers LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Jesús Del Nero RABOBANK s.t.
16 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
17 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
18 Martin Mortensen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
19 Javier BenÃtez TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
20 Jimmy Casper CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
21 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
22 Gert Steegmans LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
23 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
24 Alejandro Valverde TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
25 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 47
As you can see, a timegap was created between Valverde and Gutierrez, the fact that it was 47 seconds is CYA's fault. But I'm still happy. Then Valverde moved to 5th in the GC, only 8 seconds behind Vaitkus:
1 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h16'29
2 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2
3 Mark Cavendish LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 4
4 Tom Veelers LIQUIGAS + 7
5 Alejandro Valverde TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI + 8
6 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 13
7 Martin Mortensen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 16
8 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 17
9 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 21
10 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM + 24
A smart move of Valverde that he sprinted in the sprint, suddenly he and the 23 riders in front of him opened a gap to all the GC-contenders, and every second counts! |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 25-10-2008 16:57
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Sprinter
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Nice that you won 47 seconds
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 25-10-2008 17:18
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World Champion
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Cav at Lampre Those 47seconde could help you to win the overall rankings
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2008 18:46
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Team Leader
Posts: 6866
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Stage 3 was the very first test for the GC contenders. Because of Valverde's lack of form, he will not try to attack, only counter what he thinks are dangerous men in his fight for the GC.
Nothing happened until Colom surprisingly attacked at the flats between the two big mountains of today's stage. He held a lead of around a minute when the final mountain started, but was eaten when Chavanel attacked.
Konovalovas tried to follow him, but they were both eaten up of Liquigas which made an enormous pace at the front of the field. Even the pace up front in the peloton was very high, Joly attacked, he was followed by Grivko (Milram), Garate (QSI) and Chavanel(COF, don't ask where he got his power from). Valverde decided it was time to follow as Nibali seemed to had used all his teammates. Then Nibali also attacked when Valverde, Joly, Garate, Chavanel and Grivko had to sit down. Luckily he had to drink exactly the moment he was going to flew away from Valverde.
The elite group of 6 did never get a good lead, Valverde didn't want to take his turns, it was only Nibali who did, and he didn't very hard.
With 1km to the top Joly attacked away from the front group and Valverde followed. But as the elite group they wasn't allowed to sail away.
It was all together with 15km left and Valverde prepared himself for the sprint. It was a very chaotic sprint, Valverde was struggling with holding Capecchi's wheel, Capecchi was clearly the best sprinter in the group. Capecchi just flew away and Valverde had to concentrate about the other podium places.
Capecchi was in his own class and could celebrate on the line.
Behind him Paolini made the day complete to Liquigas as he settled for second.
Behind Paolini, Valverde looked safe about the last podium place, but on the last 50 metres he was overtaken by Ivanov.
Stage:
1 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS 5h30'58
2 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
4 Alejandro Valverde TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
7 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Jesús Del Nero RABOBANK s.t.
9 Andriy Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
General Classification:
1 Alejandro Valverde TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI 9h47'35
2 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS + 12
3 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 17
4 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 23
5 Jesús Del Nero RABOBANK + 24
6 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM + 31
7 Luis León Sánchez QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 32
8 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 39
9 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Rubén Plaza CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 40
13 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 42
14 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 43
15 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS + 44
16 Ignas Konovalovas TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
Thanks to Liquigas fast pace up the mountain Valverde was the new race leader. He had showed that he was able to follow the attacks and fight for the overall! |
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| Are |
Posted on 25-10-2008 19:04
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good storie |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 25-10-2008 19:12
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Sprinter
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Great to see Valverde leading Paris Nice!
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2008 19:13
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Team Leader
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Thanks |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 25-10-2008 19:20
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World Champion
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I was wright those seconds really helped you Now I'm sure that you will win the Paris-Nice.
Your sponsors are probably very happy with the yellow jersey.
Great job
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| ember |
Posted on 25-10-2008 20:24
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Team Leader
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Stage 3 had a very tricky hill near the finish line. I expected everyone to attack there, Valverde had to follow the right attack, if not, he will be in big troubles because we don't have a good enough team to bring seriously GC threats back to the peloton.
We managed to put Belkov in the break of the day. He was together with Ardila (RAB, Brandt (PRL), Bellotti (GCE), Fernandez (EUS) and Knees (Milram).
The peloton had to work hard to catch the breakaway, and when the pack hit the bottom of the last climb, they still hold a lead of nearly 2 minutes. But at the bottom Cris Horner from Discovery immediately attacked.
After a while Nibali followed and then Valverde had to follow too.
Nibali was just too strong for everyone else on the hill, and when the descent started, he held a lead of 20 seconds down to a group of 8, Valverde was behind there again, dragging the peloton what he could to minimalize the losses.
Nibali was going to win the stage, would he take the jersey?
I thought so, Valverde was 57 seconds behind him at the official watch.
But then, when the results lists came, they were given the same time!!! Wonder how much Valverde paid the timekeepers for that.. But I didn't complain, it was great news.
But it will be hard to defend the jersey in the upcoming stages, Nibali looks in great shape, Valverde is not, but we will se.
Stage:
1 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 3h52'17
2 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
3 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
4 Chris Horner DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Francesco Bellotti CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
7 Christian Knees TEAM MILRAM s.t.
8 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
9 Alejandro Valverde TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
10 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
Overall:
1 Alejandro Valverde TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI 13h39'52
2 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS + 12
3 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 17
4 Luis León Sánchez QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 32
5 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS + 38
6 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 39
7 Rubén Plaza CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
8 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 40 |
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