Really appreciate all the nice words! Thanks everyone!
I almost forgot, we've also signed a stagiaire for the remainder of the season. After dominating the U23 races so far this year, we thought that the young Czech ranking leader Karel Novotny was worth giving a shot.
He really has the potential to bloom out in the future and become a good sprinter. At the moment he already has the speed, but unfortunately he isn't that great when it comes to longer sprints. Still, I'd say his secondary stats are quite decent.
I always thought of Smukulis to be a nice addition during the season. Then after Flaksis I was pretty sure you will try if he is without contract. Great addition.
Kwiatowksi is one hell of a rider. Hope he has still some talent left to increase.
The first two on the same second! The margins are on Wiggins' side, handing him the first yellow jersey. Strong start from Valverde as well.
Stage 2: Liège - Seraing
1
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
4h54'21
2
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
3
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 8
4
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
5
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
s.t.
Cancellara takes over the Maillot Jaune from Wiggins while Nibali and Sánchez gain time on the other favourites. Horrible day for Pierre Rolland and Rein Taaramae, who both lose over nine minutes and all GC ambitions.
The amazing Greipel somehow makes it into the early breakaway and wins this rather hard stage out of it - unbelivably! Nibali gains a chunk of time on all the other favourites, especially Valverde at 8 minutes back.
Stage 10: Arc-et-Senans - Besancon (ITT)
1
Bradley Wiggins
Sky Procycling
42'21
2
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 14
3
Christopher Froome
Sky Procycling
+ 19
4
Sylvain Chavanel
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
+ 23
5
Richie Porte
Sky Procycling
+ 26
Surprisingly small gaps for such a long TT. Apart from Purito, none of the GC contenders lose more than two minutes to Wiggins.
Stage 11: Mâcon - Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
1
Sylvain Chavanel
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
5h47'17
2
Laurens Ten Dam
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Kenny Elissonde
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
4
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 26
5
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
The break wins while Nibali, Froome and Wiggins break free as the top three riders more and more.
Stage 12: Albertville - La Toussuire
1
Mikel Nieve
Euskaltel - Euskadi
4h12'27
2
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 16
3
Brice Feillu
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
4
Jean-Christophe Peraud
AG2R - La Mondiale
s.t.
5
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 39
Nibali extends his overall lead, distancing Froome by roughly half a minute and Wiggins by twice as much. Evans' overall race is meanwhile ruined because of an eight minute loss.
One of the world's most awesome riders wins the stage on a rather uneventful last GC day. However, Cancellara is thrown back into the overall top 10 whilst Froome and Van den Broeck gain half a minute on Nibali.
Greipel's headache continues with another breakaway stealing his stage win.
Stage 20: Bonneval - Chartres
1
Bradley Wiggins
Sky Procycling
58'13
2
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 1
3
Christopher Froome
Sky Procycling
+ 5
4
Richie Porte
Sky Procycling
+ 7
5
Michael Rogers
Sky Procycling
+ 7
...
68
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 3'40
Just like in the Giro, Nibali collapses in the final time trial. This time it actually costs him the overall victory - losing out to Froome by 21 mere seconds!
The breakaway can't even let Greipel have the Paris stage win. I don't think the German is complaining though, as he dominantly wins the green jersey!
Final General Classification:
1
Christopher Froome
Sky Procycling
85h46'13
2
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 21
3
Bradley Wiggins
Sky Procycling
+ 1'09
4
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Lotto-Belisol Team
+ 1'50
5
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 2'24
6
Robert Gesink
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 8'14
7
JoaquÃm RodrÃguez
Katusha Team
+ 9'36
8
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+ 10'27
9
Beñat Intxausti
Movistar Team
+ 10'59
10
Thomas Voeckler
Team Europcar
+ 12'23
A bad day at the worst possible time costs Nibali the glory. Froome is certainly happy about it though, especially considering that his team mate Wiggins joins him on the podium. Van den Broeck was probably the third best climber in the race, but misses out because of the TTs.
One man who, on the contrary, probably enjoyed the many kilometers against the clock is Cancellara. In addition with some successful breakaways, it helps Spartacus finish fifth overall! Who would've guessed that?
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 24-11-2012 09:56
Gesink certainly isn't complaining either. For sure the second strongest behind Froome, winning the Morzine stage among other strong performances. Oh, and Marcato won the forgotten WT race, Pologne.
Cancellara's awesome Tour payed him well enough to overtake the WT lead from Vanendert, who still holds second place. Froome, Nibali and Wiggins meanwhile all enter the top ten thanks to their Tour results.
1
Sky Procycling
1092
2
Lotto-Belisol Team
926
3
Radioshack - Nissan
839
4
Orica - GreenEDGE
782
5
Rabobank Cycling Team
768
Sky are now taking over at last, after lurking a bit for the first few months. Remains to be seen whether either one of their two big GT leaders decide to race the Vuelta as well, and thus probably secure them this title.
Even though he has been absent from racing for two months, Evaldas still remains in the top three! Veelers and Van Rensburg have pulled clear again, probably more or less deciding that this crown will go to one of them. The biggest improvement is Tiernan-Locke, who is now fourth after some strong results. Overall victory in Tour de Beauce to name something.
1
Itera - Katusha
1752
2
Team Argos - Shimano
1744
3
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
1251
4
An Post - Sean Kelly Team
1147
5
Team Europcar
1085
Must be a real slap in the face for some teams that Katusha's development team are the best team more than halfway through the season! Argos are clearly too strong for CT, while the Irish An Post team impresses. We haven't dropped further down than 7th, still with a top 5 in reach.
No big differences compared to the WT ranking. Cancellara is a bit more dominant here though, and Nibali is in front of both Wiggins and Froome.
1
Lotto-Belisol Team
6272
2
Sky Procycling
5969
3
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
5444
4
Radioshack - Nissan
5412
5
Orica - GreenEDGE
5230
An excellent Tour from Van den Broeck and an insane Tour from Greipel has given Lotto a ton of points, in addition to those Vanendert took in the classics season. Therefore they're now a bit ahead, together with Sky.
Greipel is now at the top after six Tour stage wins, while Van Rensburg remains in second - now ahead of Valverde. It's kind of cool how similar this ranking is to the real life one at this point of the season.
1
Lotto-Belisol Team
36
2
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
35
3
Sky Procycling
34
4
Orica - GreenEDGE
31
5
Movistar Team
27
Lotto have also jumped into the team classification lead. OPQS and Sky aren't far off at all tho, so this is still looking interesting for the rest of the season.
And lastly, I've added our calendar for the remainder of the season! Check the first page of this thread!
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 03-11-2012 23:20
Before the racing resumes, I'd like to show how much Paillot has improved since the start of the season. Oh, and I'll also throw in the craziest developed guy of all - Dombrowski!
TT, hills and above all, secondary stats have really increased over the past few months. Soon he'll actually be a real contender in short races that includes a time trial and not too much climbing. Lookin' good!
The insanely talented young American has really worked on his timetrialling, and it has certainly payed off! In addition to even more strength on the climbs and already impressive backup stats. He's already a top class stage racer!
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 04-11-2012 09:04
After two months away from racing, it feels great to back be back! This is the perfect place to start things up again. Just two days, not too hard and also on home soil. One flat stage and one hilly is what we're up against.
The main thing will be to just make sure that things start rolling smoothly again. The form isn't there for any rider in the squad, so it would be quite pointless to hope for any results. Evaldas will still give the sprint a go, while Koretzky will tackle the harder second stage. Also nice to have Novotny joining.
A rather weak startlist. Pelucchi and Ventoso are my two picks for the overall, as they're both capable of taking bonus seconds on both stages. If the second stage turns out harder than it looks, then I'm thinking Hivert for the win.
Both grown stronger. Dombrowski his TT increased radically!
Greipel seemed unstoppable in the Tour.
Good to see the strong men standign there on top, Froome, Nibali, VdB, Wiggins...
Pan flat stage, so we jump to the finish immediately. OPQS and Radioshack take control inside the final five ks, helping Andy Fenn and Robert Wagner to a good position. Evaldas manages to squeeze himself in just behind Fenn.
For once, the organized leadouts actually work out to perfection, and it's Wagner vs. Fenn all the way to the line, with the Briton just about netting the victory. Evaldas' form isn't quite there yet, and can't do better than 12th.
1
Andrew Fenn
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
3h53'49
2
Robert Wagner
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
3
Matteo Trentin
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
s.t.
4
Mickaël Delage
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
5
Matteo Pelucchi
Team Europcar
s.t.
2.1: Paris-Corrèze - Stage 2
Thanks to a perfect daily form (+5), Koretzky manages to stay at the front of the peloton over the final climb of the day, while many others really struggle. No one is really able to distance the peloton with an attack, so it's a group of 30 that approaches the finish together.
Koretzky jumps onto Matteo Trentin's wheel once the sprint is kicked off, and gets rewarded with a free lift up towards the front. It's a very chaotic sprint though, and even stage one winner Fenn is in the battle.
The very same Fenn charges ahead under the kilometer mark, with Koretzky swiftly jumping into his slipstream. Several other riders are coming up from behind in the meantime.
Wagner pulls the longest straw in the end and takes revenge for missing out the day before. Koretzky shocks everyone, including me, with an amazing finish to cross the line in second place! Pablo Urtasun from Euskaltel completes the podium on this strange stage.
The overall also goes to Wagner, thanks to the bonus seconds. Fenn and... Koretzky (!) joins him on the podium, turning this race into a major success for us. Needless to say, I'm not complaining after realizing that the sponsors expected a Top 10 here. Talk about luck!
Good start from the team after being away from racing for so long. Btw. the team have had some great signings i think. You'll have a very descent team next year
Great addition.
UWT: Tour de France
