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Nokia - Ekspla: Project Baltic | Vuelta a Castilla y León
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Posted on 08-12-2025 16:57
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 23-03-2013 16:36
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Miguel: We'll be looking to improve over the next three stages 
sutty: Especially considering we've got all our sprinters here for what is basically a sprinter's stage race
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 23-03-2013 16:47
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 Volta ao Alentejo
Stage 2: Portel - Santiago do Cacem
Short report today, nothing happened 
Today’s stage was very boring and nothing happened until the last few kilometres. As the finish was uphill, we decided it was too much effort to form a train and left  Bagdonas and  Tombak to their own devices.
2.5km to go and  Mumford is leading out Candelario in the centre and  Schumacher is leading out  Reihs on the right, with Tombak a couple of wheels back hidden from sight. Bagdonas has lost position and won’t go for the sprint
Under the Flamme Rouge and Reihs is now leading Cardoso, with Tombak just behind but running out of energy again
Reihs holds on and is victorious, fending off a late burst from the yellow jersey of  Eeckhout. Janek finishes 8th, an improvement on yesterday, but still not great. However, we must bear in mind that neither Janek nor Gediminas are in peak form yet so we’re not exactly expecting stage wins left right and centre!
| 1 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | 4h22'44 | | 2 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 3 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 4 | | Martin Pedersen | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 5 |  | Matt Cronshaw | Node 4 - Giordana Racing Team | s.t. | | 6 | | Roy Jans | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 7 |  | Sam Bennett | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 8 | | Janek Tombak | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 9 | | Vytautas Kaupas | Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de | s.t. | | 10 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. |
Another rather disappointing stage - at least we got into the top 10 this time though! Eyes will be towards tomorrow's stage, where a downhill finish plays into Gediminas' hands
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 23-03-2013 16:53
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At least Janek secured a top ten finish  |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 23-03-2013 17:54
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sutty: Some consolation I suppose
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 23-03-2013 17:56
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Another short report coming up soon - sorry for rushing this race a bit, it's just rather boring and I want to move on further into the season
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 23-03-2013 18:08
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Volta ao Alentejo
Stage 3: Odemira - Ourique
Today is another boring, flat day; with the gloomy weather mirroring the mood in the Nokia camp. There were no mountain sprints on the parcours, so not much action happened in the breakaway.
However, as Efapel were at the front of the pack, which was moving quite sluggishly, with just under 10km to go the gap to the break was still 1'15 - nothing was a foregone conclusion yet.
We had tasked Bagdonas with finding Eeckhout’s wheel - the finish is on a noticeable downhill and Eeckhout and Gediminas are probably the two best sprinters at descending
A big turn on the front from Christina Watches closed the gap, however, and at 3km to go it was all under control; albeit with the slippery roads making life dangerous. Bagdonas had found Eeckhout’s wheel behind Reihs and the Christina train. Meanwhile on the near right  Pliuschin was leading out Kern again, and on the far right there was a strong Efapel train for Felipe Cardoso
However, for some bizarre reason, Bagdonas just refused to follow Eeckhout and rapidly went backwards. Reihs took yet another win, this time ahead of a surprise second place for  Jon Aberasturi - he moves into the race lead now
| 1 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | 3h54'08 | | 2 | | Jon Aberasturi | Orbea Continental | s.t. | | 3 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 4 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. | | 5 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 6 | | Matt Cronshaw | Node 4 - Giordana Racing Team | s.t. | | 7 |  | Wesley Kreder | Rabobank Continental Team | s.t. | | 8 | | Ed Clancy | Rapha Condor - Sharp | s.t. | | 9 | | Sérgio Ribeiro | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. | | 10 | | Sam Bennett | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. |
General classification - several riders like Premont and Lavery are up there due to gaining time from the intermediate sprints by being in the break
| 1 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | 12h13'08 | | 2 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | + 8 | | 3 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | + 28 | | 4 | | Christophe Premont | Wallonie Bruxelles - Crédit Agricole | + 30 | | 5 | | Philip Lavery | Node 4 - Giordana Racing Team | + 32 | | 6 | | Jon Aberasturi | Orbea Continental | + 36 | | 7 | | Daniel Mestre | Carmim - Prio | s.t. | | 8 | | Jasper Bovenhuis | Rabobank Continental Team | s.t. | | 9 | | VergÃlio Santos | LA - Antarte | + 38 | | 10 | | Daniel Silva | Onda | + 40 |
Having had a look at the riders in the top 10 GC due to being in the break, that's given us an idea for tomorrow. Hopefully we can get a rider into the top 10 that way! Join us then for the last oppurtunity to salvage a result from this tour
Edited by Stromeon on 23-03-2013 18:08
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 23-03-2013 18:55
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By the looks of it, the team want to rush it as well |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 24-03-2013 12:18
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sutty:  They don't seem to be putting a lot of effort in, do they?
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 24-03-2013 12:39
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Volta ao Alentejo
Stage 4: Mertola - Grandola
A final flat day today. Could we improve on our poor results so far? At least the weather had finally taken a turn for the good - the sun appeared for the first time in the race!
Since (as you can probably tell) we were all a bit pissed off with the sprinting, we decided to put a rider in the break and see what happened. Mandri was the man, and he had ten companions with him!
He's a decent sprinter, and so was easily able to overcome the rest of the group in the intermediate sprints, giving him 18 valuable bonus seconds!
Suddenly, as we came up the Serra de Grandola, today's only categorised climb, an attack was initiated by Julian Kern of all people! He was then followed by Eeckhout! What on earth was going on? Surely they should be saving themselves for the sprint?
5km to go and all the Christina domestiques had blown out chasing the attack but the gap still kept growing to around 30 seconds or so. Reihs had to resort to chasing them himself, with Bagdonas close behind
Finally, after a herculean effort from Reihs, the small group was brought back. Bagdonas tried to switch wheels but ended up getting hopelessly lost again as Ribeiro kicked off the sprint for Efapel
But suddenly, he somehow found himself right up at the front as the group concertina'd around a sharp right hand bend just before the 1km mark. It was him against Schumacher (middle), Kern (left) and Candelario (behind Schumacher)
Candelario powers past everyone with an impressive turn of speed to claim the victory but is that a Bagdonas sprinting to second place I see before my eyes? Indeed it is! A result at last!
| 1 | | Alex Candelario | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | 3h35'09 | | 2 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 3 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | s.t. | | 4 | | Stefan Schumacher | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 5 | | Roy Jans | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 6 | | Martin Pedersen | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 7 | | Daniel Mestre | Carmim - Prio | s.t. | | 8 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 9 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. | | 10 | | Vytautas Kaupas | Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de | s.t. |
Well, Mandri's efforts in the break and Bagdonas' good sprint at the end mean they lift themselves to 6th and 7th in the GC respectively - a pretty good result considering how disappointing the tour has been for us.
| 1 | | Michael Reihs | Christina Watches - Onfone | 15h48'17 | | 2 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | + 8 | | 3 | | Julian Kern | Leopard - Trek Continental Team | + 20 | | 4 | | Alex Candelario | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | + 28 | | 5 | | Christophe Premont | Wallonie Bruxelles - Crédit Agricole | + 30 | | 6 | | René Mandri | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 7 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | + 32 | | 8 | | Philip Lavery | Node 4 - Giordana Racing Team | s.t. | | 9 | | Jon Aberasturi | Orbea Continental | + 36 | | 10 | | Daniel Mestre | Carmim - Prio | s.t. |
Reihs holds on to take the overall after Eeckhout failed to gain any bonus seconds on him in the sprint after that mad attack.
1 Mandri - Great sprinting for all three of the inter-sprints lifts him from 81st to 6th!
2 Bagdonas - At last ends our sprinting woes with a great kick at the end to come past Kern and Schumacher
3 Juodvalkis - Did a good job shielding Gediminas from the strong winds today
So on paper it doesn't look too bad, two riders in the top 10 and I suppose we'll be satisfied. Still room for improvement, though, as always Next we'll have a little review of March, and the goings on - and a look at one particular rider who has dominated the month in the upper echelons - winning 3 stages and 4 races!
Then after that we're off to the Winter Olympics! Yes, introducing Sochi, where we'll go for a difficult week-long stage race with two testing hilly stages - should be a good opportunity for Kangert to flex his legs!
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 24-03-2013 12:43
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The last day was the best day. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 24-03-2013 17:24
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Gediminas was so close to the stage win today |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 25-03-2013 09:36
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Miguel: Maybe it had something to do with the weather magically becoming better
sutty: Yeah, would have been a nice way to end it wouldn't it?
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 25-03-2013 10:28
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 | Le Tour de Langkawi | | Steven Kruijswijk | | | | Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen | | Leif Hoste | | | | De Vlaamse Pijl - Stannah | | Stefan van Dijk | | | | Vuelta a la Region de Murcia |  | Simon Spilak | | |  | Strade Bianche |  | Peter Sagan | | |  | GP Ville de Lillers - Souvenir Bruno Comini |  | Steele von Hoff | | | | Trofeo Zssdi | | Francesco Reda | | | | Paris - Nice | | Sylvain Chavanel | | | | Benat Intxausti | | | | Jens Voigt | | | | Tirreno - Adriatico |  | Fabian Cancellara | | | | Bradley Wiggins | | | | Robert Gesink | | | | Ronde van Drenthe | | Daniele Bennati | | |  | Tour de Taiwan | | Julien Simon | | | | Paris - Troyes | | Samuel Dumoulin | | | | Kattekoers | | Staf Scheirlinckx | | | | Dorpenomloop Rucphen | | Bert de Backer | | |  | Trofej Porec |  | Reinardt Janse van Rensburg | | | | Nokere Koerse | | Frederic Amorison | | | | Istrian Spring Trophy | | Ramunas Navardauskas | | | | Handzame Classic | | Kenny van Hummel | | | | Milano - Sanremo | | Mark Cavendish | | | | Matthew Goss | | | | Peter Sagan | | | | Classic Loire Atlantique | | Adrien Petit | | | | Tour de Normandie | | Stephane Poulhies | | | | Cholet - Pays de Loire | | Davide Appollonio | | | | GP San Giuseppe | | Franco Pellizotti | | | | Volta ciclista a Catalunya |  | Roman Kreuziger | | | | Maxime Monfort | | | | Rui Costa | | | | Settimana Coppi e Bartali | | Daniel Moreno | | | | Dwars door Vlaanderen | | Fabian Cancellara | | | | Volta ao Alentejo | | Michael Reihs | | | | E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke | | Fabian Cancellara | | | | Filippo Pozzato | | | | Tom Boonen | | | | Criterium International |  | Vasil Kiryienka | | | | Gent - Wevelgem | | Fabian Cancellara | | | | Sylvain Chavanel | | | | Filippo Pozzato | | | | KBC-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde |  | Edvald Boassson Hagen | | | | Route Adelie de Vitre | | Davide Appollonio | | | | Gran Premio Miguel Indurain | | Pablo Lastras | | | | Volta Limburg Classic | | Davide Appollonio |
UCI World Tour Rankings - Individual
| 1 | | Fabian Cancellara | RadioShack - Nissan | 273 | | 2 | | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega-Pharma - Quick-Step | 172 | | 3 | | Rui Costa | Movistar Team | 139 | | 4 | | Peter Sagan | Liquigas - Cannondale | 134 | | 5 | | Mark Cavendish | Sky Procycling | 122 |
UCI World Tour Rankings - Team
| 1 | | RadioShack - Nissan | 576 | | 2 | | Sky Procycling | 354 | | 3 | | Movistar Team | 345 |
Continental Rankings - Individual
| 1 | | Julien Simon | Saur - Sojasun | 316 | | 2 | | Leif Hoste | Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's | 213 | | 3 | | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, le credit en ligne | 191 | | 4 | | Danilo Napolitano | Acqua & Sapone | 187 | | 5 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | 149 | | ... | | 18 | | Ramunas Navardauskas | Nokia - Ekspla | 88 |
Continental Rankings - Team
| 1 | | Saur Sojasun | 630 | | 2 | | Landbouwkrediet - Euphony | 594 | | 3 | | Cofidis, le credit en ligne | 456 | | 4 | | Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's | 399 | | 5 | | Team Europcar | 335 | | ... | | 13 | | Nokia - Ekspla | 167 |
Sorry for the huge number of results above, it's just nice to put all of them down and the World Tour ones are highlighted in bold to make them stand out. March 2012 has obviously been The Month of Spartacus - not only did he win Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem, he also managed to secure an astonishing victory in Tirreno Adriatico. He was at the fore as RadioShack won the opening TTT, and then attacked on stage 4, building up a minute's gap on most of his rivals. He then hung on up tp Prati di Tivo as Joaquim Rodriguez claimed an emphatic win, before triumphing in the final time-trial.
Elsewhere it was a good month for Sylvain Chavanel, finally realising his ambition of winning Paris-Nice (although the field wasn't particularly strong this year) and coming as close as anyone's got to Cancellara this month in Gent-Wevelgem.
Milano-Sanremo was a bunch sprint (as it always seems to be in PCM) and the Manx-Missile took his second victory there over the defending champion Matty Goss.
Surprise win for Kreuziger in Catalunya, where Andy Schleck managed to finish! 
After a great victory in Croatia from Navardauskas, he moves up to 18th in the Continental Rankings and we as a team move up to 13th - we'll be pretty happy if we stay around about there for the rest of the season I think.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 25-03-2013 10:35
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Did you edit Schleck's stats? Cause if you didn't, it's not a surprise. Anyhow, good results, let's hope that April it's as good or better. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 25-03-2013 10:39
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Cancellara majorly strong |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 25-03-2013 11:34
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Totally agree Cancellara is looking awesome |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 25-03-2013 19:33
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Miguel: No I haven't edited them but it just looks weird
Ian and sutty: Quite scary isn't it, although he might have peaked a couple of weeks early if he wants to win the Ronde and/or P-R
Computer's been playing up a bit - raced the first couple of stages in Sochi but then the screenshots mysteriously vanished; so I've had to play them again which has taken a bit more time and is rather annoying.
On the bright side, however, I happened to pause the game just at the right moment to capture a hilarious screenshot - look forward to it in stage 2 
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 25-03-2013 23:03
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The screenshot problem has happened to me too, its very annoying indeed 
Cannot wait to see the funny screenshot |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 26-03-2013 11:23
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sutty: We didn't do very well at all on the stages that vanished so it wasn't too bad
 Grand Prix of Sochi
 TEAM NOKIA - EKSPLA
Leader/Sprinter: Gediminas Bagdonas
Free Element: René Mandri
Free Element:  Gatis Smukulis
Team-mate: Tanel Kangert
Team-mate: Ignatas Konovalovas
Team-mate: Normunds Lasis
A tough stage race, with stages 3 and 4 being particularly gruelling. There's a strong field here so Gediminas, although in a little better shape than in Alentejo, probably won't be challenging for the stage wins. Kangert is here too, building up form for his first big outing of the season when we climb the Puerto de Navacerrada next week I think.
Edited by Stromeon on 26-03-2013 11:24
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 26-03-2013 12:33
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Grand Prix of Sochi
Stage 1: Krasnodar - Anapa
A rather unnecessarily long stage for a mass sprint today in my opinion - 190kms but there we go. The downhill finish suits Bagdonas more than others today so he'll be hoping for a good result
The fight for KoM points in the break was close, but Ivan Kovalev won the last sprint with the help of a bush to move into the lead in the mountains category
Three and a half kilometres to go and Bagdonas had been completely swamped and was somewhere towards the middle of the peloton, confused. In fact most of the teams were a bit out of place, apart from WIT, who had got their sprinter Merlo into an excellent position
Under the Flamme Rouge, Merlo had failed to capitalise on his team's lead-out and was struggling for position. On the right hand side Smukulis had found himself up near the front of the peloton and had tried to go for a long one but was running out of energy fast. On the right, Guldhammer was just releasing Furlan - a bit late perhaps?
It didn't matter as Angelo Furlan proved to have the strongest kick at the end, fighting off an impressive  Tomasz Smolen. Bagdonas finished 20th, extremely disappointing - he will have to work very hard on his positioning for tomorrow!
| 1 | | Angelo Furlan | Christina Watches - Onfone | 4h27'47 | | 2 | | Tomasz Smolen | Bank BGZ | s.t. | | 3 | | Alex Candelario | Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | s.t. | | 4 | | Arran Brown | MTN - Qhubeka | s.t. | | 5 | | Michele Merlo | Team WIT | s.t. | | 6 | | Pieter Ghyllebert | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 7 | | Nico Eeckhout | An Post - Sean Kelly | s.t. | | 8 | | René Obst | Team NSP - Ghost | s.t. | | 9 | | Filipe Cardoso | Efapel - Glassdrive | s.t. | | 10 | | Rasmus Guldhammer | Christina Watches - Onfone | s.t. |
Well, we'll look forward to tomorrow's stage and hope for a bit of a better result. It is a strong field, so we shouldn't be worrying too much at this stage, but it would be nice to improve on 20th! Tomorrow is a shorter, flatter stage before the tricky hill stages later on. See ya there
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