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Nokia - Ekspla: Project Baltic | Vuelta a Castilla y León
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 07-04-2013 17:28
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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I'm back! Had a very nice holiday in fact 
Unfortunately I'm going away again but I'll be back on Wednesday.
Holidaying = not much PCM time; but I've managed to find the time to play the Rund um Koln in the meantime, so that should be coming up soon 
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 07-04-2013 17:31
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21379
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Take it easy and enjoy life, mate 
Hope Koln had a nice result in stock for the team! |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 07-04-2013 17:45
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Ian Butler wrote:
Take it easy and enjoy life, mate
Hope Koln had a nice result in stock for the team!
Haha thanks
We'll see....
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 07-04-2013 17:53
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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 Rund um Köln
A mixture of everything this one - a few steep and a few rolling hills, a cobbled hill that we go over twice (that causes PCM to list cobbled specialists as the favourites for the race) and then a flat finish that should favour a sprinter like our very own Bagdonas
As the race was being televised on German TV,  Juodvalkis decided to try and slip into the break to give us some air time
 Janek Tombak punctured early on, but was able to recover back to the front of the race as the World Tour teams up front were set on denying us some TV time, they seemed to think that Juodvalkis was too dangerous???
Both Juodvalkis and Konovalovas attacked about 3 times each but every single time the teams at the front were immediately onto their wheel, despite them being relatively weak riders and far less accomplished than the ones up the road ( Fabian Wegmann and Dominik Nerz for example)
It was on that short sharp steep hill in between the two cobbled sections that the attacks started to come.  Koen de Kort of Argos was the first one
As we came on to the cobbled hill for the second time,  Saramotins decided it was time to attack. The gap to the break would be fairly hard to bridge without expending too much effort - 2 and a half minutes, but he believed that he could
However, with 30kms to go he became stuck in no-man's land, about a minute behind the break and a minute ahead of the peloton as Europcar mounted a very organised chase
He was back with the peloton with 20kms to go but he'd got us some valuable air-time
Riders going in 3 directions at once!
Just 10km left to go and the gap was holding for the break.  Matteo Tosatto went on the attack as the rain really started to lash it down!
2kms to go now and all the teams seemed rather disorganised, Rabobank were the only one to attempt a train but they didn't have a sprinter at the back of it so it rather collapsed a bit, as you can see here. Meanwhile Tombak was coolly leading out Bagdonas, who for once in a race actually looked in a good position!
Look at this, under the Flamme Rouge and Gediminas has stormed into the lead!
Gediminas Bagdonas has won the Rund um Koln! What a sprint from the Lithuanian, he was put in a great position by Tombak but finished it off superbly with a huge gap to everyone else! (although the fact that  Barredo finished 3rd puts into context the quality of sprinting that was here )
| 1 | | Gediminas Bagdonas | Nokia - Ekspla | 5h07'37 | | 2 | | Danilo Hondo | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 3 | | Carlos Barredo | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | | Fabio Sabatini | Liquigas - Cannondale | s.t. | | 5 | | Paul Martens | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 6 | | Janek Tombak | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 7 |  | Jan Ghyselinck | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | s.t. | | 8 | | Karsten Kroon | Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank | s.t. | | 9 |  | Taylor Phinney | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 10 | | Oscar Gatto | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. |
1 Bagdonas - Grabbed his first win of the season in emphatic style!
2 Tombak - Great lead-out was the foundation for Bagdonas' success
3 Juodvalkis - Very unlucky not to get away early on
Wow what a race for us! Definitely justified its late inclusion in the calendar and we got the TV time we wanted  Gediminas has finally taken his first win of the season after a few months of being pretty close. Victory in a 1.1 race gives us lots of points and shoots up us the rankings as well! We're off to Castilla and Leon now, for the first big mountain stage of the year, should be fun
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-04-2013 18:01
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34002
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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What a Brilliant victory in Germany for Gediminas Bagdonas
Obviously these holidays are doing you good |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 07-04-2013 18:35
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21379
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Wow, great sprint finish!! |
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| FroomeDog99 |
Posted on 07-04-2013 18:37
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4461
Joined: 07-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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I always find Koln easy to win, especially because of the cobbles meaning that the startlist is mostly cobblers.
Congrats nonetheless |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 07-04-2013 18:46
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World Champion
Posts: 10231
Joined: 23-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Congrat's on the win. |
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| Faillu |
Posted on 07-04-2013 20:07
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Domestique
Posts: 416
Joined: 14-02-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Very good win with Gediminas mate.
I'm considering if I should sign him too. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 16:56
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 08-04-2013 09:08
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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sutty: Well I'm taking another mini-one now so hopefully I can come back with another win
Ian: At last, victory in the sprint! It was victory by quite a large margin in the end
FroomeDog: Yeah the startlist was full of cobblers and if Rabobank had actually had a sprinter at the back of their train instead of Barredo they would definitely have won
Miguel: Thanks
Faillu: He's a very good all-round and versatile rider, above 70 in all stats apart from MO, RES and REC I think, which is very useful - he'd be a good signing
Edited by Stromeon on 08-04-2013 09:09
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| krisa |
Posted on 08-04-2013 09:09
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3892
Joined: 12-04-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Nice victory
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 08-04-2013 13:07
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7542
Joined: 11-04-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Nice win
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 10-04-2013 19:39
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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krisa and Jakstar: Thanks
First stage of Castilla y Leon will be up tomorrow I think (sorry for slow progress recently) and I'll have a clear run until Monday where it will slow down a bit
I've also had this great idea for a story which I think would be fun, and quite different but I'll save it for PCM13 - not revealing anything yet Don't worry though, I'm still very motivated for this story and I want to get to the end of the year at least
Edited by Stromeon on 10-04-2013 19:40
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-04-2013 19:22
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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VUELTA A CASTILLA Y LEÓN
 TEAM NOKIA - EKSPLA
Leader: Tanel Kangert
Sprinter: René Mandri
Free Element: Kjell Carlstrom
Team-mate: Jussi Veikkanen
Team-mate: Ramunas Navardauskas
Team-mate: Raivis Belohvosciks
A mixed race, with a flat stage, a hilly stage, and a mountain stage; but it's going to be quite difficult and there's a strong startlist. Stage 2 will offer some difficult hills but the real test is Stage 3, three 1st category climbs! Kangert will be looking to do well here, it's his first real opportunity to show us what he's made of
Favourites:
| *** | | Michele Scarponi | Lampre - ISD | |  | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ - BigMat | | ** |  | Simon Spilak | Katusha Team | | | Wilco Kelderman | Rabobank Cycling Team | | | Paolo Tiralongo | Astana Pro Team | | * |  | Andrey Amador | Movistar Team | |  | Fabio Duarte | Colombia-Coldeportes | | | Tom-Jelte Slagter | Rabobank Cycling Team |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 19:24
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34002
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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The race looks perfectly suited for Nokia - Ekspla |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 19:26
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World Champion
Posts: 10231
Joined: 23-06-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Kangert for a top 10. |
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-04-2013 19:36
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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sutty: Maybe... but the hilly stage won't suit Kangert so he'll have to try and limit his losses there I think 
Miguel: Would be a great result, so hopefully he can pull it off!
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| Stromeon |
Posted on 11-04-2013 19:37
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3507
Joined: 06-10-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
Stage 1: Salamanca - Salamanca
Stage 1 is one for the sprinters, and Mandri gets a go as main sprinter for the first time this season. However there are some good sprinters here - Farrar, Bozic and Modolo the pick of them; so he'll have his work cut out today
There was a five-man break, and it was a tight sprint for the mountain points but Kevyn Ista just edged it ahead of Adrian Saez de Arregi and Adrian Palomares
However it looked to be fairly short-lived as the peloton, controlled mainly by Lampre and Movistar, set a high pace throughout and the gap was down to just a minute with 20km to go
5km to go and Saur were the ones setting up a train for their Continental ranking-dominating sprinter Julien Simon. Sacha Modolo had just sneaked his way past an inattentive Tyler Farrar to grab Steve Chainel's wheel, who was behind Simon.
Mandri, in the far left of the picture, feeling fairly good, was battling Geoffrey Soupe for Farrar’s wheel
But then for some unknown reason (PCM logic...) Mandri decided that he was completely unaware of the order to follow and struck off himself down the road, using up all his energy
However it seemed to be paying dividends, as Simon fought off a late challenge from Chainel to register yet another win, Mandri was battling it out for fourth place
He finished fifth, behind Meersman, a very impressive result considering he beat other more well-known sprinters like Modolo, Bozic, and a completely out of sorts Farrar, who finished 19th
| 1 | | Julien Simon | Saur - Sojasun | 3h42'37 | | 2 | | Steve Chainel | FDJ - BigMat | s.t. | | 3 | | Elia Favilli | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. | | 4 | | Gianni Meersman | Lotto Belisol Team | s.t. | | 5 | | René Mandri | Nokia - Ekspla | s.t. | | 6 | | Pablo Lastras | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 7 | | Geoffrey Soupe | FDJ - BigMat | s.t. | | 8 | | Sacha Modolo | Colnago - CSF Inox | s.t. | | 9 | | Borut Božic | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 10 | | Stéphane Poulhiès | Saur - Sojasun | s.t. |
1 Mandri - Great sprint from the 'Frog'
No one else did anything today so no points for anybody except Mandri!
A really pleasing result, actually. René has shown us his talent that he's obviously got and let's hope he can sustain this when he next gets an oppourtunity to be a main sprinter in a race.
Tomorrow will be difficult for the team, I think. Kangert is far better on the mountains than he is on the hills and the difficult descents tomorrow are well complemented by his awful descending See you there!
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 20:07
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World Champion
Posts: 10231
Joined: 23-06-2011
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Not bad. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 09:35
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34002
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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A Good start for Rene |
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