Stijn: Hi, welcome to Binche - Tournai - Binche, since 2010 known as Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke. I opted to show my rainbow colors here for the first time because it's in Belgium and Frank Vandenbroucke inspired me and many others.
Willy: I'll be seeing what I can do here.
The Race
Stijn Van Gent
And there it is! The World Champion jersey! To be honest, I'm mainly here to enjoy this day. I've partied a bit too hard so I don't expect to fight for the win today. Sep Vanmarcke gets the leading role today. After all, he's partly responsible for this jersey!
The amount of respect this jersey gets, it's amazing.
My season is already such a big success and I'm enjoying it right now. But Sep Vanmarcke is another rider, he's always looking for a chance to score, today is no different!
I was caught a bit behind and ended up in a sort of grupetto.
Sep made an impressive solo there. He soon had a 2 minute gap!
I finished the race easily, having a chat with Ronan Van Zandbeek.
Willy Wouters
So unfortunate for Sep, but he got caught about 7 km to the finish, after a 40 km solo.
We were left without a leader this way, so I thought: what the hell? I had a great position for the sprint!
Bagdonas finished it off perfectly! I hung on for a top 10 place and finished 6th!
Well, this was amazing. First day in the World Champion jersey. It was about fun, showing the colors and, of course, greeting the fans after the race. The next and final race of the season, Paris - Tours, will be back to usual business. I can afford to slack one day, but I'm going to go for it again now. I want to finish the season with a win!
Stijn: Last race was all about fun. Now is all about going out with a bang. I want to finish the season with a win and nothing less!
Willy: I will work for Stijn and finish the season injury-free!
The Race
Willy Wouters
I did my work today. I brought Stijn up to the front and was part of the lead-out. That's it for me this season. We'll be bringing you a season overview later, though!
Stijn Van Gent
Beautiful scenery today. We passed some amazing landscape today.
Kreder got a flat at 10 km left to go so our lead-out was short one man. Sep Vanmarcke decided to start the sprint instead, he can be pretty fast!
He did it perfectly and then it was up to me. Let me tell you, a jersey like that does put a lot of pressure on you.
The field was wide open, everyone relying on their own strength.
Goal achieved! I'll be finishing my season with a victory. This year was just perfect!
That's it. Season's over! We'll be reviewing this season later on, but no more racing until 2016! We thank you all a lot for being here with us throughout 2015, it's been an amazing year.
Other Notable Results 2012
Ruta de San Luis: Mountain Jersey
Ronde van West-Vlaanderen: 5th
Dwars Door Vlaanderen: 3th
GP di Stresa: 1st
Tour de Wallonie: 1st + Points Jersey + Young Jersey + 2 Stage Wins
Eneco Tour: 3rd + Stage Win
Overijse Classic: 1st
2013
Ruta de San Luis: Stage Win
Strade Bianche: 1st
Tour de Picardie: 1st + Points Jersey + Young Jersey + Stage Win
Eneco Tour: 1st + Young Jersey + Stage Win
Dutch Valley Classic: 1st
Classic Hamburg: 4th
Overijse Classic: 1st
Classique de Plouay: 2nd
Paris - Bruxelles: 3th
Paris - Tours: 7th
2015
GP de Bessèges: 1st + Points Jersey + Young Jersey + 2 Stage Wins
GP le Samyn: 1st
Paris - Nice: Stage Win
Vuelta a Asturias: Stage Win
Dutch Valley Classic: 1st
Classic Hamburg: 4th
Classique de Plouay: 2nd
World Port Classics: 1st + Points Jersey + Young Jersey + 2 Stage Wins
Paris - Bruxelles: 1st
Paris - Tours: 1st
Team
2012: Lotto Belisol
2013: Team Argos - Shimano
2014: Team Argos - Shimano
2015: Team Garmin - Sharp
2016: Team Garmin - Sharp
I must say I've had the most perfect year ever. I raised my arms over 20 times this year, including 6 times at the Giro and at the World Championships. Only thing I feel to have missed out on this year is a Monument.
Willy Wouters
Here's my career overview so far:
Spoiler
GT Palmares
.
Giro d'Italia
Tour de France
Vuelta a España
2013
10th (1) + Y
2014
3th (3) + Y
2015
3th (4) + Y
Grand Tour Stages: 8
Championships
National Championships
Road Race
Time Trial
2013
23th
2nd
2014
D.N.E.
1st
2015
29th
7th
World Championships
Road Race
Time Trial
2014
25th
1st
2015
5th
8th
Other Notable Results 2012
Ruta de San Luis: 3rd
Ronde van West-Vlaanderen: 14th
Tirreno - Adriatico: 14th
International Cycling Week: 18th, Stage Win
Giro del Trentino: 18th
Tour of Austria: 11th
GP di Arona: 4th
GP di Stresa: 14th
Tour de Wallonie: 3rd + Stage Win
Route of Elk Grove: 10th
Tour of Colorado: 2nd + Mountain Jersey + 2 Stage Wins
2015
GP de Bessèges: 2nd + Stage Win
Paris - Nice: 1st + Points Jersey + Mountain Jersey + Young Jersey + Stage Win
Milano - San Remo: 23th
Tour of Colorado: 1st + Points Jersey + Young Jersey + 2 Stage Wins
World Port Classics: 11th
Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke: 6th
Paris - Tours: 14th
Team
2012: Lotto Belisol
2013: Team Argos - Shimano
2014: Team Argos - Shimano
2015: Team Garmin - Sharp
2016: Team Garmin - Sharp
All in all it's pretty amazing. This year has not been the best, though. I finished 3th in the Giro and won Paris - Nice. Besides that, I haven't done much. I will change my calendar and training methods to get more out of my potential.
Omega Pharma - Quickstep is being changed into Sforza. Its actual sponsor is Sporza, but I guess there's some dyslexic working the UCI office. The team is weaker than ever, but is still supported by (an aging) Tom Boonen.
IGN
ING - IGN, who will tell the difference? Main thing is that this team is the old Watmar, which was the old Radioshack. A strong Belgian leading section with Vanendert, Van Den Broeck and Monfort.
2016 News
There's not much we can tell yet, but some profiles have been revealed already. Here's what we do know:
- The World Championships profile is extremely hilly, so Stijn has absolutely no chance of defending the jersey. On the other hand, the Individual Time Trial is completely flat, so that rules out big chances for Willy.
- The Tour De France 2016 will be an absolute paradise for sprinters. No less than 12 potential mass sprints, I guess we know where World Champion Stijn is going to spend big part of his year.
- The Belgian National Championships will have the same profile as Geel 2012. We'll see a flat time trial and a flat road race. Maybe Stijn can conquer a national jersey for when he has to give up the rainbow stripes in September.
That's all we know now. One conclusion? Stijn will be 26, which is probably one of his top years. Add that and 12 flat stages in the Tour together and what do you get?
Let's find out.
We'll see you in 2016, thanks for all the support!
Stijn & Willy
First off, congrats to the World Champion title. Amazing! Also, the best report I've read on this forum in a long, long while. It felt like one was there Nice work with all the interviews as well.
Then, of course, fantastic year. Nice review, and the palmares of both are extremely impressive. Can't believe it's been 4 seasons already
Oh and:
Spoiler
Ollfardh wrote:
"that's what she said" ?
Ian Butler wrote:
What does that mean? I've heard it before but don't know where it originates from and what it actually means?
"That's what she said" is used to put a sexual innuendo in every day language. It's kind of silly, but can also be very funny. You say it when someone says something in another context than can be also used in a sexual sense. Like, you're walking through a park and someone says "Wow, that's a big stick", and you say "That's what she said", of course not refering to the actual stick laying there in the park ... I guess you know what I mean
Ollfardh wrote:
Sporza? How can a public tv station sponsor a cycling team? Surely there must be laws against that?
The German public TV station (ARD) was also a minor sponsor at T-Mobile for a while, but stopped after the Ulrich doping thingy. And, after all, it's not that different from US Postal, is it? I mean, that was a public company as well.
Edited by cunego59 on 16-05-2013 14:01
Ollfardh wrote:
Sporza? How can a public tv station sponsor a cycling team? Surely there must be laws against that?
The German public TV station (ARD) was also a minor sponsor at T-Mobile for a while, but stopped after the Ulrich doping thingy. And, after all, it's not that different from US Postal, is it? I mean, that was a public company as well.
Well, I wouldn't like to see my tax money being used to main sponsor a cycling team. Plus, how can they report races in a neutral way now? (especialy since they're competing with another World Tour cycling team)
Ollfardh - Isn't Sky a tv station? Or do you mean that it's taxpayers money?
cunego59 - Thanks a lot for those words! I've put a lot more time and energy in that report than I've ever done. The race was exciting and the outcome was just so fantastic it deserved a grand report, something more special. I won't do every race like that now, though, that would be too much. But I'll definitely do it like that again in more important races (I think I'll try something like that in the Monuments this year).
Oh, I see (about the stick)
PCM rulezz - Me, too. It's a great variant I downloaded here with a lot of flat stages, some TTs and mountain stages. Almost no hilly stages (my least favorite in GT)!
Ollfardh - Well, maybe that's why it's "Sforza". They made a new "company" under a different name to sponsor the team
sutty68 - Only 25 years old, too Thanks for the continuous support, mate!
Thanks to everyone who comments and follows this story!
And now it's puzzling time. I'm going to start making schedules and I'll probably present the calendar's this evening. Let the puzzling commence!
Meanwhile, I'd like to ask everyone a question, too.
With PCM 2013 coming out at the end of June, would you like to see this story continue, even though it's an older version of PCM, or would you like to see a new story with PCM 2013?
I'll definitely make a story on PCM 2013, though. But my plan is to continue this one here first, until their retirement. Unless you don't want to. So give me your opinion if you'd like
A Paris - Tours victory was a great way to end the season
Nice review as well. Sforza & IGN still hurt my eyes, though
Nice to see that a Dutch team is added.
Spoiler
British Airwash, bwahahaha
Also, both guys did a great job at the rankings, Stijn winning the CQ ranking, is certainly nice!
Wilco Kelderman did good on those rankings(well, WT one) as well
It has been a good year for the guys, but they're now on an age that they should be able to win a Monument(Stijn) and a GT(Willy).
Come on guys, it's gonna be your year!
Man, it's already 2016, time flies
Edit: @Question: Depends a bit on the motivation of course. I'll be honest, I check the PCM 12 stories section more than the PCM 11 stories section. That will probably be the same(PCM13 more than PCM12) in the next game, but I can absolutely make an exception for this story(Like I did for Dienblad's story f.e as well)
I'd say, continue at least 2 seasons from now. At least Willy should win the Tour and Stijn should do a RvV+PR double. Before that, you're not allowed to quit Edited by Jesleyh on 16-05-2013 15:53
a tough, long race.
thanks!
Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke 
Paris - Tours 2015 
