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Nokia - Ekspla: Project Baltic | Vuelta a Castilla y León
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 20-02-2013 18:55
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Tour de France Champion
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It was a good race, overall. The TT could've been better, but that's all right  |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 20-02-2013 19:32
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Team Leader
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Not what I expected 
Still only 12 seconds from the podium so overall a good race - it's no shame losing to riders this good.
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 20-02-2013 20:09
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Classics Specialist
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Ian: It wasn't too bad, and the TT didn't go too badly considering my lack of PCM-TT skill 
Atlantius: Overall, pretty pleased, it's only really a warm-up race 
Interview coming up!
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 20-02-2013 21:37
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After narrowly missing out on a podium spot at the recently concluded Volta ao Algarve, Ramunas Navardauskas has taken the time out to talk to us about cycling, and life with Nokia-Ekspla
After holding second spot in the general classification for four days, it must be pretty disappointing to lose it in the time-trial, particularly as it's your speciality?
I suppose you could say that it is a bit disappointing, but 7th place overall, ahead of some real luminaries of the sport, is still a great achievement; and my second place on the first stage was a fluke really! Me and the rest of the guys aren't at our peak fitness yet so we didn't really have any expectations coming into the race. It was a decent time-trial - I'm much better at the shorter stuff, though, as you can see from New Zealand!
You previously raced for the Garmin-Cervelo team in the World Tour , but now you've made quite a switch down to the Continental Tour, do you think that was the right move for your career?
Definitely! The atmosphere around the team is amazing and it's great to have guys around you all from the area - there's a real community feeling in the team! As you can probably see [in the front page of this story] the coaching team have organised a competition to see who is the most valuable cyclist and which country is the best! Lithuania are winning at the moment! And it's also great to be a leader for the team, rather than a domestique at a higher level - I think it will really help my development for the future!
What are your team-mates like? Anybody that you’re getting on well with at the moment?
They’re all great, especially the fellow Lithuanians! Gediminas [Bagdonas] is great to be around with - he’s the defending time-trial national champion but he admits I’m a better time-triallist! [laughs] He’s also a great sprinter and I really enjoy doing the work for him in the train
Goals for the season?
We don’t really have any specific goals that we must achieve, we kinda take every race as it comes. But August is definitely the big month for us and me. First there’s the Tour des Pyrenees, which Tanel [Kangert] will definitely enjoy with its big mountains [Port de Bales, Peyragudes, Col de la Colombiere, and the Col de Joux Plane] and then the Volta a Portugal, the closest we’re going to get to a Grand Tour this year - it’s 11 stages long and features a nice short prologue as well as another time-trial.
And lastly, a word on Peter Sagan?
That guy is a beast! Seriously!
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us
No problem, cheers!
Ramunas sprints to second place behind the dominant Peter Sagan in the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve
Edited by Stromeon on 14-03-2013 21:45
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 20-02-2013 22:18
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21379
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It'll be nice to see him and his mate Bagdonas at the National TT Championship  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 20-02-2013 22:52
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34002
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Nice interview with Ramunas |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 21-02-2013 19:12
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Classics Specialist
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Ian: I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about the NC's - I don't have them in-game so maybe I'll create or download some courses, play them outside the career and then give the champions their jerseys for the rest of the season! But it should be a good battle
sutty: Thanks
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 21-02-2013 19:17
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Team Leader
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Stromeon wrote:
Ian: I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about the NC's - I don't have them in-game so maybe I'll create or download some courses, play them outside the career and then give the champions their jerseys for the rest of the season! But it should be a good battle
In my story I use Chrono des Nations for the TT-NC's for countries without a proper race
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 21-02-2013 19:30
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Classics Specialist
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 Beverbeek Classic: Hamont - Achel
A very flat race means that it's one for the sprinters. We've sent a strong team, as you can see below:
Race favourites:
| *** |  | Andreas Stauff | Team Eddy Merckx - Indeland | | ** |  | Michele Merlo | Team WIT | | * |  | Janek Tombak | Nokia-Ekspla |
A break of two men -  van der Weijst and Nottebohm - was never going to trouble the peloton in this flat race
 Normunds Lasis had a nasty fall midway through the race! (Notice the bike on the right with two riders on it ) He soon recovered, though, and was back with the rest of the team after a little while. However, he didn’t quite feel up to participating in the sprint train at the finish
Suddenly, as we approached the last 10kms, there was a fairly major fall in the middle of the pack, causing several riders to drop down like ninepins! It was a bit too far back for any of the race favourites to be involved, so life carried on at the front as we formed our train with Saramotins in front. Somehow the break still had a minute’s lead, but that wouldn’t last long
The catch was made with 7kms to go as Saramotins drops off the front. A rival train with the other race favourites had formed, but was a bit behind ours. Our train was Saramotins, Mandri,  Bagdonas and Tombak, and next to us we had Stauff, Traksel,  Cronshaw,  Clausen, and Merlo
2km to go and Bagdonas is leading out Tombak at the front as Stauff leads the rest up dangerously
However, it's disaster once again for the sprint as a communication breakdown between Bagdonas and Tombak meant that Janek didn't know when Gediminas was going to release him and didn't step on the gas at the right time!
Traksel beats Clausen to the line by a fairly comfortable margin to gain a surprising victory but it's a Nokia calamity as Bagdonas finishes one place ahead of Tombak in 10th
| 1 | | Bobbie Traksel | Landbouwkrediet - Euphony | 4h00'29 | | 2 | | Patrick Clausen | Glud & Marstrand - LRØ | s.t. | | 3 | | Michele Merlo | Team WIT | s.t. | | 4 | | Matt Cronshaw | Node 4 - Giordana Racing Team | s.t. | | 5 | | Andreas Stauff | Team Eddy Merckx - Indeland | s.t. | | 6 |  | Tomasz Smolen | Bank BGZ | s.t. | | 7 | | Simon Gaywood | Team IG - Sigma Sport | s.t. | | 8 | | Baptiste Planckaert | Landbouwkrediet - Euphony | s.t. | | 9 |  | Michael Friedman | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | s.t. | | 10 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. |
1 Saramotins - Put us in a winning position before we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory
2 Mandri - Another good job as the third man - it was all going so well until the last kilometre!
3 Lasis - recovered well from his fall and helped chase the break when others were unwilling
Well it was just one of those days, wasn't it? Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and go into K-B-K tomorrow with a bit ,ore confidence and hope that Tombak and Bagdonas will put up a better show there. See you tomorrow!
Edited by Stromeon on 21-02-2013 19:31
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 21-02-2013 19:43
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21379
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Sad to see the sprint failing  |
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Posted on 08-12-2025 18:00
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-02-2013 23:42
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Tour de France Champion
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Wasn't nice to see a rival train made up of different teams race against you |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 22-02-2013 19:18
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Atlantius: (sorry my report Zabel'd your comment and I missed it) That's a good idea, I'll go and add that in to the calendar
Ian: It was going so well at one point! I'm still adjusting to sprinting on hard so our best results may come nearer the end of the season
sutty: Bit unfair - it's a conspiracy...!
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 22-02-2013 20:00
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
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Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
Not as many cobbles as most of the other classics or semi-classics but they're still there and there's one very tough cobbled hill (Oude Kwaremont I think...?)
 TEAM NOKIA EKSPLA Aleksejs Saramotins
Janek Tombak
Gediminas Bagdonas
Ignatas Konovalovas
Egidijus Juodvalkis
Ramunas Navardauskas
The World Tour teams have turned out in force and virtually all the best cobbled riders are here, apart from Pozzato, who didn't get invited.
Race favourites:
| *** | | Tom Boonen | Omega - Pharma Quick-Step | |  | Fabian Cancellara | Radioshack - Nissan | | ** | | Andre Greipel | Lotto - Belisol | | | Matti Breschel | Rabobank Cycling Team | | | Alessandro Ballan | BMC Racing Team | | * | | Mark Cavendish | Sky Pro Cycling | |  | Juan Antonio Flecha | Sky Pro Cycling | |  | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega - Pharma Quick-Step |
An exceptionally strong field means that top 20 would probably be a goal for the team
We entered the first cobbled section with a break having not yet formed. Most of our riders were at the front, looking to avoid danger
Suddenly, we came out of the cobbles and there were just 19 riders in the front group of the peloton! All the Nokia's except Ramunas were there, but it looked unlikely to last until the end
Within 20km or so, everyone was back together and a break of 7 collected at the front, some rather surprising names in there like  Moncoutie and Gadret
We soon came onto the Oude Kwaremont which was the only real place where gaps would occur, if any.
Large gaps did appear and it separated the in-form riders from the out-of-form riders! Fabian Cancellara was obviously not at peak fitness as he dropped a long way off the back. Flecha, Chavanel and Cavendish also dropped back, but only by about a minute and a half
As we arrived at the final cobbled section, with the peloton swelling back up to about 100 or so - all the favourites except Cancellara - Saramotins decided to attack, since he wouldn't do so well in a sprint. The gap to the break was under 2 and a half minutes with 40km to go
He was stranded in no-man's-land, 30 seconds ahead of the peloton, for a while before the first of the big guns decided to attack. Chavanel was followed by Flecha and the Rabobank duo of Breschel and Boom
Both Saramotins and the break were caught in a flash as the attacking group swelled in numbers. The instigators were joined by Vansummeren, Hushovd, and de Waele
However, all these efforts were futile as the other teams stepped on the gas and we were all back to square one with 12km to go, meaning a mass sprint was likely. Bagdonas was the only Nokia-man who didn’t seem to be completely devoid of energy, so he would sprint for as high a finish as he could get
3.5km to go and suddenly from nowhere Chavanel launches a very pugnacious attack
Bagdonas somehow manages to get onto Boonen's wheel ahead of anyone else! Good place to be for a sprint
Suddenly Chavanel's attack looked like it was going to work and a group of 5 hastily attacked to join him as the sprint started behind
Sylvain Chavanel can celebrate as he coasts to victory! Flecha took second just ahead of Boom as they stayed out of the reach of the peloton. Bagdonas got a bit swamped by the pace at the end and could only manage 34th, though that wasn’t a bad result and he beat both Greipel and Cavendish in the mass sprint
| 1 | | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | 4h24'07 | | 2 | | Juan Antonio Flecha | Sky Procycling | + 37 | | 3 | | Lars Boom | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | | Sébastien Hinault | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 5 | | Davy Commeyne | Landbouwkrediet - Euphony | s.t. | | 6 | | Tom Boonen | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 7 | | Anthony Ravard | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 8 | | Sébastien Turgot | Team Europcar | s.t. | | 9 | | Stijn Devolder | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 10 | | Alessandro Ballan | BMC Racing Team | s.t. |
1 Saramotins - His punchy attack after the last cobbled section took a while for Sky and OPQS to reel in
2 Bagdonas - Kept pace with the front of the peloton the longest
3 Konovalovas - Did some good work at the front after the split to try and keep some of the favourites out of contention
Although 34th may sound a little disappointing, Bagdonas was 10th amongst both ProConti and Continental riders, so it’s pretty good. Overall, an encouraging performance that bodes well for some of the 2.2 cobbled races coming up, like the Trofej Porec
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 22-02-2013 21:14
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Tour de France Champion
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Good experience for Bagdonas, he will be back next year for the win |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 23-02-2013 10:00
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21379
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Chavanel was impressive
The team did well! |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 24-02-2013 12:26
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
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sutty: Definitely a good experience for him!
Ian: He was attacking all day and then got away right at the end, very good riding indeed Yep nothing to be ashamed of really
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 24-02-2013 12:28
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
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February review coming up before we're off to the 3 Days of West Flanders (cancellation of real-life K-B-K means more time to play PCM today )
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 24-02-2013 12:49
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Classics Specialist
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| Etoile de Besseges |  | Vasil Kiryienka | | | | Vuelta a Mallorca |  | Peter Sagan | | |  | Tour of Qatar |  | Matthew Goss | | | | Tour Mediterraneen | | David Lopez | | | | Giro della Calabria | | Marco Frapporti | | |  | Volta ao Algarve | | Peter Sagan | | |  | Tour of Oman | | Lars Boom | | | | Tour du Haut Var | | Jeremy Roy | | | | Trofeo Laigueglia | | Leonardo Bertagnolli | | |  | Tour of South Africa | | Paul Voss | | | | Vuelta a Andalucia |  | Pavel Kochetkov | | | | Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | | Tom Boonen | | | | Beverbeek Classic | | Bobbie Traksel | | | | Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne | | Sylvain Chavanel | | | | GP di Lugano | | Daniel Moreno | | | | Clasica de Almeria | | Marcus Burghardt | | | | Le Samyn | | Marcus Burghardt |
UCI World Tour Rankings - Individual
| 1 | | Simone Ponzi | Astana Pro Team | 104 | | 2 | | Mikhail Ignatiev | Katusha Team | 86 | | 3 | | Timothy Roe | BMC Racing Team | 74 |
UCI World Tour Rankings - Team
| 1 |  | Astana Pro Team | 104 | | 2 | | Katusha Team | 86 | | 3 | | Orica - GreenEDGE | 84 |
Continental Rankings - Individual
| 1 | | Davy Commeyne | Landbouwkrediet - Euphony | 138 | | 2 | | Marco Frapporti | Team Idea | 104 | | 3 | | Danilo Napolitano | Acqua & Sapone | 91 |
Continental Rankings - Team
| 1 | | Landbouwkrediet - Euphony | 342 | | 2 | | Saur - Sojasun | 189 | | 3 | | Endura Racing | 176 | | ... | | 18 | | Nokia - Ekspla | 43 |
Best placed CQ rider: 115th Ramunas Navardauskas 51 pts
Best placed Continental rider: 33rd Ramunas Navardauskas 25 pts
February hasn't been the greatest of months for us - although having said that Ramunas did a fantastic job in the Algarve - but I think our slide down the rankings is mainly due to lack of race days, only seven this month. Victory eludes us at the moment, but we'll be looking to get that monkey off our back in March, where we have 5 more stages than in February.
Elsewhere, Matty Goss has been in great form, winning 3 stages in Qatar en route to an overall victory, and also winning two stages in Oman, ahead of Mark Cavendish.
This year's Omloop was a cracker, showing us what might come in the next couple of months, as Boonen outsprinted Cancellara, third placed Hushovd was more than a minute behind the duo.
Davy Commeyne leads the Continental rankings after coming 5th in both the Omloop and K-B-K, while also coming 5th in the Tour Med and Haut Var
Edited by Stromeon on 24-02-2013 13:04
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 24-02-2013 16:27
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Tour de France Champion
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Sagan looking strong already |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 24-02-2013 19:27
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21379
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Goss with his breakthrough year maybe! |
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