That 3 counted a lot for us and after that i was afraid to send more becuase i thought the UCI will choose the unimportant and reject again theimportant. But nevermind, in the second part ill send a lot. Btw, you can speak with your connection at the UCI for some favours
1st stage of this years Tour of Gabon is over and I've decided to report our actions of the day, which involves absolutely nothing. We were riding for Jorge today, but he didn't have the best day and this mean't that we were given an anonymous role today. Tomorow the team will ride for me and I do hope to get my first Podium there, I feel great at the moment and today really gave me more focus for this week.
We don't have the largest squad possible at the moment and nor the best, but I think that we have a strong enough sprint train to fight along the likes of Movistar and MTN. The table above will be updated after each stage and I will hopefully bring back a picture of me winning the stage tomorrow!
We started with a win last year, but it was hard to repeat this year. We did start with putting Maarten Wynants in the breakaway, but the peloton brought him back. The next group got clear though and made it to the finish. We left the chasing to the other teams because of that, but we may have played it a bit too hard, as the GC seems out of reach already. Well done to NetApp though, Hagg played that very well.
Stage 2 was a bit better, until a few guys were caught napping at the back. Only Jorge Cristobal Riquelme managed to stay in te first group and sprint his way to an unlucky 4th place. His best stages are coming up now though. We hope he can inprove his GC a bit and maybe get a stage win.
We had to wait 4 days more compared to last year, but we're happy with it nonetheless! To quickly recap, on stage 3 we had another sleepy performance from Belkin, with Jorge Cristobal Riquelme missing the final attack. He made up for it the day after, where he had a great ride, took back some time and finished 2nd on the stage and into the top 10 of the GC.
But then we had stage 5, Tom-Jelte Slagter joined the break and showed who's the boss on the hills. We had hoped for a good GC for him, and perhaps this is his way of making up.
The break works together well, and the peloton won't be back in time. With 5 kilometres to go, he decided not to risk a sprint, but go solo. With an impressive attack, he loses the rest of the breakaway.
And he still has time to celebrate, excellent ride from him, and our first win of the season! Honourable mention to Mangere Kaha who still managed to get 10th, picking up the first points of his career!
1) This is the Belkin HQ, if you want to argue, do it somewhere else.
2) Your applications were very, very bad, most of them were 1 short sentence. In retrospect, I probably should've canceled more, but you got lucky some races were very empty.
Ollfardh wrote:
1) This is the Belkin HQ, if you want to argue, do it somewhere else.
2) Your applications were very, very bad, most of them were 1 short sentence. In retrospect, I probably should've canceled more, but you got lucky some races were very empty.
1)I am gonna write it at part 2 or PM you,then
2)But this doesn't change the fact you got all your wildcards accepted and I thought your team strongness in the race is more important.
And can somebody whose wildcards got all accepted can write an example of an application?
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan' Gracias Alberto.
A good application is one that focuses on why your team should be there, not which rider in your team 'might' get a good result.
I could apply to Gabon saying Sagan could win there, but that is no reason for Cannondale to be invited there. If I had an African rider, even a crap one, that would be a good reason for my team to be invited.
Strade Biancheidn't Gasparotto finished 2ndin Montreal beat Sagan in that race in EPIC 2013?
Dwars door Vlaanderen:I send Degenkolb because it will finish in a sprint of cobblers likely,and Degenkolb is 76 COB.And Turgot also can get a surprise result in a sprint of cobblers because he has 70+sprint stat.
I have no answer for the others though but I still think I should also get Kuurne because it will finish in a sprint if not breakaway
Oh,and you can take away Omloop,I don't mind
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan' Gracias Alberto.
@TSF: Strade Bianche maybe has simply better wildcard contenders. Even OPQS(we have Kwiatek who won it irl) and La Bestia couldn't make it. Maybe because my application wasn't much better as yours. At least I got some belgian races.
BTW: wouldn't it be better to talk about that in another thread. This is the Belkin HQ and since it has nothing to do with Belkin it should be moved.
EDIT: Yes, Gasparotto was second, and he did beat Sagan, who was attacking like a moron. Thats why he didn't win it. I reported the race.(Secretly i tipped the result and I was right with Gilbert winning. I like Gilbert. But I didn't manipulate anything(maybe it sounds like that))
Edited by Paul23 on 13-02-2015 14:11
Nothing special to report after the last stage of the Tour de Gabon. Again, the breakaway won. Most importantly, we managed to keep Jorge Cristobal Riquelme safe in the chaos, he even moved to a nice 7th overall after a few riders ahead of him had some bad luck. Yet we did learn a few things in this race.
1) Pay attention, even on flat stages.
Too many times, we were at the wrong side of the gap. Kudos to Movistar for working hard, but we just need to pay more attention when they do that. We had 6 quality riders here, they need to show that by being in the front. Especially Slagter and Martens could've been useful if they stayed in the front group.
2) That sprint train isn't going to form itself.
With Martens, Hofland, Cristobal Riquelme and Kaha, we shoud've done better in the sprints. Obviously we still need to adapt to Khan, as he's new in the team, but it definitely should go better next race. There's no point is signing a young sprinter if you don't bring him in position.
3) If you don't want to work, get in the break
There were 5/7 succesful breakaways this race, and we only managed to be in them once, where we won. We definitely have the guys who can handle this, so join. With 6 riders, we can't control the race (as we noticed), so take turns in making the break, so it's up to the other teams to work.
This has been a very frustrating week, where weather and unpredictable moments have filled the team, but we did manage to get a stage win from here, just not by myself. We weren't coordinated and there were no one to cover me and protect me from the harsh weather.
I didn't get the backup I needed to perform to my full ability and the core idea of the race was chaos, which is something we sprinters don't want and when I was talking to some of the other sprinters, I realized that I wasn't the only one feeling this way.
Now I'm busy getting on the plane to Australia, where my connection to Mark Renshaw will prove it's full potential here Down Under and to be fair Moreno wasn't the best helper, which is understandable since I kinda took his role in the team, but he works better as the lead sprinter.
I hope to improve, as I can't blame the whole team for my mistakes and I think TDU will be an succesfull race for us!
Only one race for us in February, so we want to make this one count. Quite a few riders making their debut here. First of all, Marcel Kittel. Though his goals are later in the season, this will be his first chance to shine in his Belkin shirt. Another rider to make his debut for us is French local Warren Barguil. Again, his goals come much later in the season, but he needs to get the legs going as well. Jasper Stuyven will also ride his first race in the Belkin jersey, he'll start as domestique to get the season going. Next we have 3 guys you already know, including our superstar Sep Vanmarcke. He needs to get ready for the Belgian opening weekend, and we think this is a good race for that. Paul Martens hopes to recover from a poor performance in Gabon and Mark Renshaw wants to show he is the world's best leadout.
Warren Barguil Marcel Kittel Paul Martens Mark Renshaw Jasper Stuyven Sep Vanmarcke
(mainly ask this because my part2-3 plans)
Brotherhood
.
Those applications are the best one I've ever seen 
Warren Barguil
Marcel Kittel
Mark Renshaw
Jasper Stuyven
