Deadpool wrote:
once, for fun, I rode a single stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake that is one single moutain, going up and then descending (not sure which, but I will point it out when you ride it).
I do believe that's the next stage, then a flat day, then happens again...
A monster of a stage as it goes up one side of a mountain, and then back down the other side.
A break went early on of 14 riders, but by the bottom of the climb it was already falling apart.
Soon enough, the worse riders were dropped off the break and caught back up by the steady peloton. The front group dropped to roughly 7 in size before three more riders attacked from the bunch.
This added impetous maintained the breaks lead over the top.
But the gap still wasn't very big, but we could see that the break would succeed in a win as the Relax squad is so weak. So with this in mind, we sent Chainel, who is an excellent descender to help out. Well the Relax squad wouldn't let him get to the front, so he just rode onto the front alone and starting to bring the gap back down. But, due to their rubbish skills, the Relax riders started to let a gap develop, so Chainel sat up.
So again Levarlet with just 12km left took off. Belkov, not wanting to miss out on the fun this time went with him.
With just 3.5km left to go, they caught the break, and with 40 seconds lead it looked like they'd go all the way.
One of the riders who attacked up the climb had a vicious kick, and Levarlet just couldnt get on terms. Unfortunately, some of the main pack could sprint fast enough, and closed the gap on the large break, as some of the riders were very slow sprinting.
Levarlet still took 3rd and few more bonus seconds and points, so a good day for us.
Results:
1 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA 2h53'15
2 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR s.t. 3 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 s.t.
4 Janif Hecht TEAM GLS s.t.
5 Philip Thuaux DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
6 Luis Felipe Laverde CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
7 Jurgen Van Goolen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Hector Orlando Mesa UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
9 Shinichi Fukushima NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA s.t.
10 Freddy González COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t. 11 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 s.t.
45 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 s.t.
52 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 s.t.
123 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 + 7'47
126 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 s.t. 139 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 + 15'07
GC:
1 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 16h24'17
2 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 4
3 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
4 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 20
5 Giovanni Chacón UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
6 Francesco Tizza OTC DOORS - LAURETANA + 2'11 7 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 + 2'46
8 Błażej Janiaczyk ACTION - UNIQA + 2'51
9 Michael Reihs TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 3'07
10 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS + 3'11
11 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 3'15
12 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 3'17
13 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR + 3'23
14 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t. 15 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 + 3'29
16 Philip Thuaux DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM + 3'31
17 Shinichi Fukushima NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA s.t.
18 Janif Hecht TEAM GLS + 3'33
19 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Ivan Seledkov MOSCOW STARS + 3'35 52 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 s.t.
54 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 s.t.
115 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 + 20'20
116 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 s.t.
127 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 + 27'40 139 Sergei Valinin MOSCOW STARS + 38'29
Points:
1 Błażej Janiaczyk ACTION - UNIQA 69
2 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM 57
3 Michael Reihs TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN 51
4 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS 50 5 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 36
6 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 25
By now our riders were getting sick of the views from the tops of mountains, and rightly so. So we have a nice flat day with the biggest hill to get over is a bridge.
Galland went in a break of 5, but after 130km out there he couldn't keep up any longer, and was slowly dropped off the back.
Galland struggling to keep up with the break
And before long, the peloton had him in their sights, and not long after had the rest of the break as well.
With 8km left to go, the break reeled in, Tronet found Radochla's wheel to follow, and instantly started to struggle more than usual.
He had managed to shove off another rider from the wheel (first time ever thats happened to me!) And obviously had run out of testosterone. He managed to still take a top 10 place to keep a couple of points ticking in.
Well today hits the penultimate climbing stage of the tour, and should see a massive mix up of the top 10 as those breakaway riders who aren't good climbers should be dropped.
With that climb in, Belkov and Levarlet will be looking to finish well to secure a good placing going into tomorrows deciding stage.
As usual a break went early on, and with some fighting was eventually let go.
It was a big group, but of no worry to the pack, as with Discovery showing their faces today, we had some big climbers out to work.
As soon as the climb started, the gap, at 4 minutes, started to tumble.
Discovery and Relax started to put some pressure on the front, and at one point, as the group split, Discovery dropped their lead rider and had to go back for him!
The lead group had only 1 minute gap over the top of the climb, and as Discovery busied themselves on the front, that gap was soon over.
A new pack of 32 riders were formed, which kept decreasing in size until we were left with 28. At that point Pagoto, at one point in danger of being dropped, attacked. How I don't know, but he got away for a 30 second advantage with 10km left to go.
But with such sprinters as Vicioso in the pack, as soon as the sprint began the gap was over as soon as it started.
Results:
1 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM 3h44'25
2 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
3 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
4 Yuri Trofimov MOSCOW STARS s.t.
5 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR s.t. 6 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 s.t.
7 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
8 Freddy González COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
9 Niki Ostergaard TEAM GLS s.t.
10 Fabio Duarte SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t. 16 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 s.t.
78 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 + 1'24
83 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 + 3'59
119 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 + 12'30
123 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 s.t.
125 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 s.t. 139 Stephen Wooldridge SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
The final climbing day should hopefully see another re-jig of the classification with Auber 93 maintaining our good position.
A strong group went away today, notably with Steffen Wesemann, the continental leader in there. We'll make sure we keep an eye on how much gap he gets.
As the gap increased, and peaked at 8minutes, the break and pack were riding through a valley, heading straight towards the dreaded climb.
Upon reaching the climb, the break was down to a 4 minute lead, and many of the riders couldn't keep up going up the slopes.
As the break was brought back by Discovery's team work, the group slowly spread apart, before the elastic snapped.
It went just over the top, before the final lump on the top, Belkov and Levarlet were of course in there fine. Just over the top of the final bit, Sevilla managed to get away with 3 others as Discovery once more dropped third placed Lowe and went back to get him. Belkov and Levarlet were just sat in, but should have attacked as well/gone hard to catch back up. As it was they didn't so the four would get away for victory. Annoyingly the main group wasn't fast on the downhill, prefering to fanny around and look at the scenary.
Sevilla attacked to a victory, which bumped down our riders a lot. I'm pissed.
Very Very Very pissed.
Extremely Pissed. As this is a story be glad i haven't cheated and given Sevilla and others some kind of injury. Cos i really feel like it. Having got SOMEWHERE for once, and looking to score quite big for once, i get this.
Results:
1 Óscar Sevilla RELAX - GAM 3h55'56
2 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 20
3 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR s.t.
4 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t. 5 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 + 1'49
6 Giovanni Chacón UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
7 Rafaele Ferrara TEAM LPR s.t.
8 Luca Solari TEAM LPR s.t.
9 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
10 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t. 28 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 s.t.
71 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 + 3'06
99 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 + 5'39
127 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 + 13'31
128 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 s.t.
132 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 s.t. 138 Ji Cheng SKIL - SHIMANO + 17'15
GC:
1 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 28h57'05
2 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 32
3 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'25
4 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 1'28
5 Óscar Sevilla RELAX - GAM + 1'38
6 Giovanni Chacón UNE - ORBITEL + 1'56
7 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR + 2'10
8 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 2'18 9 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 + 2'58
10 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 + 3'41
11 Rafaele Ferrara TEAM LPR + 3'47
12 Jakob Fuglsang TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
13 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
14 Egoi Martínez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Jurgen Van Goolen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Fabio Duarte SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 5'04
17 Freddy González COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
18 Francesco Tizza OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
19 Yuri Trofimov MOSCOW STARS s.t.
20 Niki Ostergaard TEAM GLS s.t. 53 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 + 6'28
73 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 + 11'36
122 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 + 44'44
128 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 + 52'04
136 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 + 1h04'06 138 Sergei Valinin MOSCOW STARS + 1h07'35
Points:
1 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM 109
2 Błażej Janiaczyk ACTION - UNIQA 75
3 Michael Reihs TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN 65
4 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS 59
5 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 51 6 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 48
Really really really really (insert a TONNE of swearing) pissed off.
Deadpool wrote:
Question: Are you pissed about Sevilla winning?
I couldn't give a shit about Sevilla winning normally, but the fact the computer lets the breakaways just ride away until I'm in them kinda gets annoying after a while. And you trying to wind me up is gunna succeed.
a flat circuit race MIGHT see a GC contender crash, but that would be too much like equal karma or some such rubbish, so it won't happen to Auber 93.
We really couldn't be bothered with a breakaway, and just prayed that for once another team would pull it back in.
It was formed over several of the first laps.
The circuit nicely kept going over a deep ravine, which for those who don't like heights, was a great treat.
With 50km left to go, the pace was picked up, and even though a few attacks went off the front of the break, nothing serious kept away, and with a lap to go, it was all together.
Tronet again found a strong wheel, but perhaps on the wrong side of the road so he'd waste a lot of energy going the long way around.
He managed yet another 5th place for him and the team, which rounded off our tour on the same note as we'd been performing the whole way around.
Results:
1 Dariusz Rudnicki ACTION - UNIQA 1h53'15
2 Michael Reihs TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
3 Simon Clarke SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
4 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t. 5 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 s.t.
6 Daniele Callegarin TEAM LPR s.t.
7 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS s.t.
8 Stanislav Kozúbek PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ s.t.
9 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
10 Gene Bates SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t. 46 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 s.t.
54 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 s.t.
57 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 s.t.
63 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 s.t.
66 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 s.t.
73 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 s.t. 138 Yasuharu Nakajima NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA + 11'22
GC:
1 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 30h50'20
2 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 32
3 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'25
4 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 1'28
5 Óscar Sevilla RELAX - GAM + 1'38
6 Giovanni Chacón UNE - ORBITEL + 1'56
7 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR + 2'10
8 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 2'18 9 Guillaume Levarlet AUBER 93 + 2'58
10 Maxim Belkov AUBER 93 + 3'41 (that sprint I took paid it's dividends)
11 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 3'47
12 Rafaele Ferrara TEAM LPR s.t.
13 Jurgen Van Goolen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Egoi Martínez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Jakob Fuglsang TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t. 47 Florian Morizot AUBER 93 + 6'28
70 Steve Chainel AUBER 93 + 11'36
121 Steven Tronet AUBER 93 + 44'44
127 Damien Gaudin AUBER 93 + 52'04
136 Jérémie Galland AUBER 93 + 1h04'06 138 Sergei Valinin MOSCOW STARS + 1h07'35
Here's the low down on where we stand overall, surprisingly we didn't lose much on the other teams, nothing that can't be made up with a few good results. We've still got plenty of the season left, and with the majority of Barloworlds riders having ridden 80 races already their fitness is suffering.
