Sponsor Goal *

1.1 Paris - Canembert Lepetit - Top-10



The team:

Johan Mombaerts - Leader
Marco Barthes - Free
Miriano Ferrero - Free
Alexandre Blain - Helper
Guillaume Blot - Helper
Mickael Metz - Helper
Christoph Castelain - Helper
Sylvain Magne - Helper

Mombaerts is our leader for today and he's in great shape. Most of the team is actually.

The race

11 guys in this mornings breakaway. One of them is Castelain.
Oh.. And what's that? Oh yeah the Continental ranking leader Ferrero ;-)



With 100 km to go the break has 5 minutes.
60 left and the gap is down to 3'23.
50 km to go and Castelain takes off as the gap gets under 3 minutes.
He can't get away.
Albasini(OGE) attacks with 19 km left. Mombaerts follows him.
He can't follow him but is forming a group with Gatto(VIN) & Lavieu(LPM).



10 km to go and he's catched by the peloton.
Wow.. Castelain who was in the morning breakaway still has energy left. And he's wellplaced in the peloton.
He launhes an attack with 8 km to go.



He reaches the front group. Albasini is still in front.
Castelain keeps going and launches yet another attack.
He gets outsprinted by most of the frontgroup. Can he get a top-10 placement?
Albasini wins the sprint in front of Rojas.
Castelain comes in 7th. What a performance.



Results:

I didn't export the results but as mentioned Albasini won.

Sponsor Goal ****

1.1 Tro-Bro Lean - Top-3



The team:

Miriano Ferrero - Leader
Guillaume Blot - Free
Mickael Metz - Free
Mathieu Perget - Helper
Aurelien Passeron - Helper
Christophe Castelain - Helper
Tarcisio Ambrosino - Helper
Sylvain Magne - Helper

A really tough sponsor goal. Ferrero is in excellent form and hopefully he can come out succesful.

The race

After many attacks todays breakway is formed. 4 people including Blot.



There's a strong wind and we're considering breaking up the peloton. unfortunately it's coming from behind until later in the race.
120 km to go and the break has 7'21.
As the peloton head into the first cobbled section. FDJ.fr leads the peloton for Offredo.



137 is left in the peloton after the first cobbled section.
75 km left in the race. It's not as windy as at the start of the race. We'll not try to split the peloton. The break has just under 4 minutes.
Ferrero is feeling good and is sitting comfortably in the front of the peloton.
It's crunchtime. With 35 km to go the Belkin train is pulling in the break. Tjallingi(BEL) must be in good form.



It's on. Offredo(FDJ) and Bozic(AST) attacks. Ferrero lets them ride.
15 km to go and Ferrero is waiting for the second to last cobble section.
5 riders are in front. Pietropolli(LAM) in the lead has just over half a minute to the peloton.
7 km to go Ferrero takes off.
With one km to go he's 24' in front of Mourey(FDJ) and 37 seconds in front of a chasing peloton.



Ferrero has been in excellent form this season. Will this be his 3 victory as a neo-pro?
There's a strong headwind. He might have gone too early.
He holds up the peloton. Barely, but he does.
It's Ferrero's third win this season. He's really turning some heads!



Results:

1	Miriano Ferrero	Credit Agricole	4h32'05
2	Anthony Ravard	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
3	Steve Chainel	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
4	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	s.t.
5	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
6	Dimitriy Muravyev	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Michael Schär	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
8	Maarten Tjallingii	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
9	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
10	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.

April update:

2.2 Tour de Bretagne

Two stage wins. A team time trial on stage 5 and Mombaerts on a hilly stage 6. Mombaerts ends up 4th overall. Castelain also wins the mountain jersey.

Conclusion:

A good month for the team. We completed 3 of 3 sponsor goals and had some decent results this month.

In the continental ranking we're second with 666 points. Ferrero still leads the individual ranking.

Sponsor Goal ****

2.HC 5 Jours de Dunkerque

The team:

Miriano Ferrero - Leader
Johan Mombaerts - Free
Christophe Castelain - Helper
Mickael Metz - Helper
Mathieu Perget - Helper
Guillaume Blot - Helper
Aurelien Passeron - Helper
Sylvain Magne - Helper


A really tough sponsor goal. Ferrero & Mombaerts will share the captain. I'll simulate the stages.


Stage 1



Mourey wins the stage. Miriano Ferrero ends 4th on the stage. Mombaerts loose 13 minutes and is out of the GC.

Results:

1	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	3h58'59
2	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 21
3	Dominique Rollin	FDJ.fr	s.t.
4	Miriano Ferrero	Credit Agricole	s.t.
5	Johnny Hoogerland	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

Stage 2



Arnaud Demare wins the sprint. He passes Ferrero in the general.

Stage results:

1	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	4h09'38
2	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	s.t.
3	Benoit Drujon	BigMat - Auber 93	s.t.

Overall GC:

1	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	8h08'05
2	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 41
3	Dominique Rollin	FDJ.fr	+ 45
4	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	+ 53
5	Miriano Ferrero	Credit Agricole	s.t.

Stage 3



The stage ends in a masssprint and Demare takes the win again. Ferrero drops to 6th.

Stage results:

1	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	4h10'07
2	Yauheni Hutarovich	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
3	Daniel Schorn	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.

Overall GC:

1	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	12h18'12
2	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	+ 33
3	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 41
4	Dominique Rollin	FDJ.fr	+ 45
5	Jan Ghyselinck	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 53

Stage 4



The deciding stage of the tour. With Mombaerts hopelessly behind in the GC we have slim hopes of succes. Ferrero will attempt to sit with the favourites for as long time as possible.

Marczynski wins the stage and Ferrero end up 18th after massive help from Passeron and Perget. That means he's 5th in the GC after the stage.

Stage results:

1	Tomasz Marczynski	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	4h19'20
2	Christophe Kern	Team Europcar	s.t.
3	Marco Marcato	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 8

Overall GC:

1	Jan Ghyselinck	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	16h38'48
2	Marco Marcato	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 1
3	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	+ 23
4	Davy Commeyne	Accent Jobs - Wanty	+ 24
5	Miriano Ferrero	Credit Agricole	+ 28

Stage 5



Hoogerland and Ferrero has the same time in 5th and 6th place. Ferrero needs to end up better than Hoogerland to be sure to get the 5th place.
He does. And Demare gets another stage win. Ferrero yet again secure our team a result.

Stage results:

1	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	3h21'56
2	Julien Simon	Sojasun	s.t.
3	Stéphane Poulhiès	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.

Overall GC:

1	Jan Ghyselinck	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	20h00'44
2	Marco Marcato	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 1
3	Francis Mourey	FDJ.fr	+ 23
4	Davy Commeyne	Accent Jobs - Wanty	+ 24
5	Miriano Ferrero	Credit Agricole	+ 28

Sponsor Goal ***

2.1 Tour de Picardie

The team:

Aurelien Passeron - Leader
Emilien-Benoit Berges - Free
Damien Monier - Free
Alexandre Blain - Free
Miriano Ferraro - Free
Guillaume Blot - Free
Mathieu Perget - Helper
Mickael Metz - Helper

I simulated the race to get a good flow in my career.
I set 6 riders to participate in breaks as we do not have a sprinter strong enough.

Stage 1:

Greipel wins the stage in a mass sprint.

Stage 2:

Greipel wins the stage in a mass sprint

Stage 3:

A breakaway makes it to the finish line.
Berges is in it.
He ends up 2nd... Damn..
However.. He wins the GC! And the polkadot jersey.
Not quite but the sponsors wanted, but I'll guess they'll live with the GC ;-)

Results GC:

1	Emilien-Benoît Bergès	Credit Agricole	10h59'31
2	Julien Antomarchi	La Pomme Marseille	+ 4
3	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	+ 7
4	Flavien Dassonville	BigMat - Auber 93	+ 20
5	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	+ 37

Sponsor Goal *

1.1 GP de Plumelec-Morbihan - Top 10

The team:

Mathieu Perget - Leader
Aurelien Passeron - Free
Vincent Castaing - Free
Christophe Castelain - Free
Rosario Salvatori - Helper
Damien Monier - Helper
Sylvain Magne - Helper

I simulate the race as I'm certain we can sim and still get a top-10.

I shouldn't have. Perget ends up as team best at 23rd.

Results:

1	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	4h15'48
2	Mikel Landa	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 8
3	Rémy Cusin	IAM Cycling	s.t.
4	Giovanni Visconti	Movistar Team	s.t.
5	Simon Clarke	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.

April update:

2.2 Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour

Rosario Salvatori ends up 3rd on the king stage and thus ends up 3rd overall. Castelain takes the mountain jersey.

2.2 Royal Smilde Olympias Tour

Castelain ends 5th and Ambrosino 6th in the GC. Both riders have a top-5 on a stage. De la Fuente takes the polkadot jersey.

Conclusion:

We completed only 1 of 3 sponsor goals this month. Although we did win the GC in Tour de Picardie instead of getting a stage. An decent month overall. The sponsors are still very happy, so am I :-)


In the continental ranking we're third with 808 points. Ferrero has dropped to second in the individual ranking.

2.1 Route du Sud

The team:

Rosario Salvatori - Leader
Mathieu Perget - Free
David De la Fuente - Free
Alexandre Blain - Helper
Johan Mombaerts - Helper
Christophe Castelain - Helper


Stage 1 & 2 ends up in a mass sprint. We'll be jumping in on the king stage of the tour. The winner today will win the race. Our hope is Perget or Salvatori.



Stage 3 is packed with climbs. 4 category 1 and one category 2.
It's a small peloton. Only 101 riders. We need to keep an eye on Nocentini(AG2), Dupont(AG2R), Amador(MOV), Jeanneson(FDJ) and Gautier(EUC).
A break containing mentioned Amador takes off. They have 1'37 to the peloton which is lead by FDJ and us.



With 85 km to go the break has 3'12
Credit Agricole and UnitedHealtCare is upping the tempo up the third last climb of the day.



Salvatori crashes. Ou best bet is Perget now.
There's only 20 riders left n the peloton.
The lead is down to 1'34 as we closes in on the last climb.
Salvatori haven't given up he risks it all going downhill.



We're backing off in front of the peloton. Hopefully Salvatori can catch up.
We can't catch Amador if we slow down. After 10 km downhill we pick up the pace again. Salvatori is sacrified.
5,5 km from the top Perget attacks. He need to get going if he wants to wheel in Amador.
A group of 11 is in the lead with 15 km to go.



Perget takes off with 4 km to go. He's feeling fresh but isn't the fastest guy around.
With 1 km to go he's in front. Can he last or will he run out of juice?



Unfortunately he ends up 2nd behind Bonnafond(AG2). He manages to throw his bike in front of Capecchi(MOV) who ends up 3rd.



Stage 4 ends in another mass sprint and Perget ends up 2nd overall.

Overall GC:

1	Guillaume Bonnafond	AG2R La Mondiale	18h28'03
2	Mathieu Perget	Credit Agricole	+ 8
3	Eros Capecchi	Movistar Team	+ 12
4	José Gonçalves	La Pomme Marseille	+ 14
5	Anthony Charteau	Team Europcar	+ 16

June update:

Conclusion:

Besides the mentioned Route du Sud no big results in a quiet month of cycling. A couple of top-25 finishes in the national championships.

Transfer update:

Bodrogi, Mombaerts, Barthes and Passeron has been handed contract extensions. De la Fuente will retire and Ambrosino is gonna get released.

The sponsor says we'll get a huge increase in budget next year. Approximately double the money from this year. We're gonna get in some young profiles and hopefully one or two big signings.

Transfer update:

We have completed our first 2 signings for the new season.

Patrick Gretsch - 2.000€

A very good teammate with the ability to win races on his own due to his time trial abilities.

Elia Viviani - 5.500€

The young italian was tired of working for Sagan all year long. He's a beast and will secure us a ton of points in the mass sprints. Cheap too :-)

Transfer update:

Another signing is ready for next season.

Ryan Trent - 2.000€

An amazing talented sprinter. He's number 1 in the world U23 rankings.

His palmares for 2013 speaks for itself:

Stage 1, 3 and GC in Grand Prix de Portugal
Stage 2, 3 and GC in Ronde de l'Isard