- Renshaw, Stannard & Vandenbergh have joined the team, we're glad to welcome them, while we say goodbye to the world champion and his sprint train.
- Andy Schleck won the Cyanide Trophy, it's something the UCI is trying out, hopefully this cup will be an annual thing. People from all around the world could vote on 10 nominated riders. Cancellara was second and Thomas De Gendt 3th, after a smashing season. He may be the biggest discovery of 2012, which is good, because we can stay in the role of outsider a bit longer that way.
Well, now we'll sit down and discuss schedules. Stijn really wanted to race in Australia, but Renshaw will probably be the main sprinter there. We'll see what the management says. One things for sure: the WC profile looks something for Eric, let's hope we can put that in his schedule.
First of all I want to say that the youth rider programma of Lotto-Belisol has been cancelled. The programma had a lot of success last year, but they decided the best way to learn is to watch and assist the pros while doing it.
I'll start racing in Oman, where I have one mountain stage for myself. I'll work for Stijn at the flat stages. Then it's Strade Bianchi, followed by Tirreno - Adriatico, where I'll race my first ProTour race as a leader (like De Greef last year).
After a small break I'll assist Vanendert in the four hilly races.
Well, I originally wanted the Tour Down Under, but I'm co-sprinter with Renshaw, and he's Australian. He'll also ride Milan - San Remo. But I'm real happy about the National Championship. With a flat profile, I believe I have a shot!
Tomorrow the entire team leaves for Mallorca, on a big training camp. Renshaw will be the first rider of the team to race, as his National Championship is already nearing.
Hello, we are now February 2012, and here's how the season opened:
Cameron Meyer was able to extend his National Title with another year. He's turning into a very good rider.
Levi Leipheimer will retire after this season. He'll be missed, no doubt.
Not really news, but when looking at the transfers that happened during the winter, BMC is a team to fear now. With Gilbert and Cancellara they can pretty much dominate anything in the first part of the season. And they have Tour-winner Cadel Evans for the Tour, although he's getting old. Van Garderen is also a strong rider, as we saw last year. Quite a team.
Also Saxobank is getting to be a very strong team. Besides Contador they now have world champion Greipel, who'll give them many victories, without a doubt.
Of course, our team still stands.
Our team started in the Tour Down Under, mostly counting on a stage win by our sprinter Renshaw. His formed proved to be quite bad and he never sprinted top 5, too bad! Though Meersman came close in the hilly race, finishing second, right behind Gilbert. He ended up 18th on the overall. But this promises to be his season!
@sutty: I hope so, too I think for Eric it'll be harder, since he's riding Tour instead of Giro, and helping VDB instead of riding his own race. But we'll see.
@JuanMotr: I wasn't too sure about the schedule, I wanted them to ride more races together, but this way the season will last longer (more reports), however, I won't do reports on every race now (for example the flat races in tirreno, where Eric is). Stijn worked hard in the winter and should be able to even top his achievements of last year!
First some more newsflashes:
- Van De Walle will retire at the end of the season. We hope we can give him a beautiful finish here at Lotto-Belisol.
- Freire will also retire, he'll be a true loss to the cycling sport.
- De Gendt focuses all his energy on this year's Tour De France. We're curious how the Giro 2012 winner will hold up against our talent Jurgen.
- Renshaw continued his bad shape into Qatar and only got one top 5 place (4th)
- Jelle Vanendert opened his season quite decently, with an 8th place in Mallorca.
- Jurgen Van Den Broeck had a great start, with a 4th place in Algarve, well done of him!
- We rode Tour of Oman:
Stijn Van Gent
Well, the season started for us. I was off to a very bad start. The evening before the start I came down with some fever, but I decided to race anyway. However, as soon as we started I realized I wasn't getting any results, so the first 3 races, I let Kenny Dehaes sprint. I just tried to recover in the peloton.
The fourth race I felt a bit better, but the hills really took out a lot of my energy. This is the profile.
So I was lucky to strand on a 10th place. But I still wasn't healed properly and it was a mistake to try and sprint.
My actions had consequences and I had to throw in the towel the next day. I hope I'll be fully recovered for the Omloop!
Eric Lombaerts
I was just here to build up form for Tirreno - Adriatico. There was one mountainous stage.
Willems and Stannard rode excellently and I think the sponsors liked this, considering the loss of Greipel is really obvious now. The team's off to a bad start this year.
I tried to remain at the front during the climb and I pretty much succeeded in that. I came in 4th, which was good enough for a 13th place overall and the young jersey.
Well, the main thing is I built up form. I hope Stijn will be alright for the Omloop, where he'll start as leader (he'll be co-leader throughout the whole cobbled season, with Roelandts)!
Last year Boonen took the win, Roelandts came in 3th and Stijn came in 7th, would we repeat this, or even do better?
Stijn Van Gent
Willems was part of the breakaway, which gave us the liberty to just sit back and watch other teams chase them.
Everything went well, until...
I stayed on the ground a couple of seconds too long, and the peloton was gone. Vandenbergh waited for me and worked his ass off to get me back. I left him behind after 5km, he was out, but he had brought me quite close! What a fine helper.
I chased the peloton very hard, but it was difficult getting back because the peloton was breaking up on the cobbled sections. I passed many riders, though.
I passed more beaten riders, like Ballan, who wasn't looking too good, laying on the cobbles.
This is the point where I realized I wasn't going to make it. They stayed ahead of me but I didn't come any closer, as they were preparing for the sprint.
3 riders avoided the sprint: Hushovd won, Cancellara was second and Boonen came in third.
Roelandts won the sprint for the fourth place, at least that's good for the team!
I came in, nearly dead, on a 26th place.
Result
1
Thor Hushovd
Orica-GreenEDGE
5h02'03
2
Fabian Cancellara
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
3
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Jürgen Roelandts
Lotto-Belisol
+ 1'39
IanButler
5
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
6
Sebastian Langeveld
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
7
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
8
Niki Terpstra
Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Sylvain Chavanel
Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Lloyd Mondory
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
Spoiler
11
Marcus Burghardt
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
12
Bernhard Eisel
Sky Pro Cycling
s.t.
13
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
14
Stijn Devolder
Radioshack Nissan Trek
s.t.
15
Yoann Offredo
FDJ-BigMat
s.t.
16
Johan Vansummeren
Team Garmin-Barracuda
+ 2'34
17
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Pro Cycling
s.t.
18
Björn Leukemans
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
19
Pablo Esteve
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Matti Breschel
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
21
Kristof Goddaert
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
22
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Pro Cycling
s.t.
23
Nick Nuyens
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
24
Frederik Willems
Lotto-Belisol
s.t.
IanButler
25
Thomas Voeckler
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
26
Stijn Van Gent
Lotto-Belisol
+ 3'34
IanButler
27
Stuart O'Grady
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
28
Martin Elmiger
Ag2r La Mondiale
+ 4'06
29
Klaas Lodewyck
BMC Racing Team
+ 4'32
30
Nikolas Maes
Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
s.t.
31
Ian Stannard
Lotto-Belisol
s.t.
IanButler
What a bummer, again. The rain and the cold didn't do my illness good, too. However, I'm practically recovered so I should be able to ride for victory tomorrow! Let's stay optimistic. See you tomorrow for Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne!Edited by Ian Butler on 25-08-2012 12:38
I was just taking a look at the profile of Tirreno - Adriatico. I think I have a good shot this year, as there is only an individual time trial. The team time trial has been replaced with a hilly stage!
Would the world champion be able to defend his win here in Kuurne? Or would we try to keep this win here in the team?
Stijn Van Gent
It was a rainy day again, and only between 0 - 1° C, so a hard day to race. Vandenbergh took a pretty bad fall and will be out for months. The most optimistic viewpoint is that he'll return just in time for Paris - Roubaix.
The World Champion, Greipel, seemed in a pretty good shape. We noticed that Saxo Bank is building a very strong team, with Contador (who'll ride the Tour this year), Greipel, Steegmans and Seeldraeyers.
I nearly fell when Bookwalter hit the ground. I was just able to avoid his bike, but it was close!
After the final cobbled section, we had four riders left in a medium-sized peloton. Willems, Bak, Roelandts and I. Because of my illness and just to play on the safe side, we put all our cards on Roelandts today.
Stijn Devolder, now riding for Radioschak, tried to surprise the peloton and avoid a mass sprint. For a minute there, it seems like it was working.
But then we came with the big guns, setting up a decent sprint train for Roelandts.
And it only got better when Roelandts finished off all our hard work! What a victory! I finish 10th, and that's better than my result of last year, so I'm not complaining.
Result
1
Jürgen Roelandts
Lotto-Belisol
4h21'45
IanButler
2
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Tony Gallopin
Radioshack Nissan Trek
s.t.
4
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
5
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
6
Fabian Cancellara
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Heinrich Haussler
Team Garmin-Barracuda
s.t.
8
Gert Steegmans
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
9
Matti Breschel
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Stijn Van Gent
Lotto-Belisol
s.t.
IanButler
It's been a hard day and a bad start of the season for the team, so we're extremely glad about that first win of the season. Hopefully this is a sign that everything will be better now!
My next race is in Paris - Nice, but Eric will be here first, for Strade Bianchi.
Roelandts was our biggest hope today, so I decided to help him by getting into the breakaway of the day.
They reeled me back in and I went again, this time on the typical white roads. It's harder to react for a peloton on those small roads.
I joined a group of four that hadn't been reeled in and we formed the breakaway of the day.
Nearing the end, I felt like I had a chance. I kinda felt like Gilbert in 2011, my legs could do anything! So I went.
I took along two riders and we were heading straight for the finish line.
Unfortunately, we got caught in the final 2km, victory was so close!
Van Avermaet passed me with an incredible sprint and I was unable to follow him, I ended up on the 9th place, which is still pretty good, considering I was in the attack all day.
Result
1
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
4h35'18
2
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
3
Michael Albasini
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
5
Filippo Pozzato
Farnese Vini Selle Italia
s.t.
6
Sebastian Langeveld
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
7
Michael Schär
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
8
Assan Bazayev
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
9
Eric Lombaerts
Lotto-Belisol
s.t.
IanButler
10
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 38
11
Damiano Caruso
Liquigas-Cannondale
s.t.
12
John Gadret
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
13
Jürgen Roelandts
Lotto-Belisol
+ 2'33
IanButler
14
Luca Paolini
Katusha Team
+ 5'40
15
Tomas Vaitkus
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 5'51
16
Egor Silin
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
17
Luca Celli
Farnese Vini Selle Italia
s.t.
18
Klaas Lodewyck
BMC Racing Team
+ 9'10
19
Taylor Phinney
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
20
Paride Grillo
Farnese Vini Selle Italia
s.t.
21
Brent Bookwalter
BMC Racing Team
+ 9'35
22
Mauro Facci
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
23
Michael Hepburn
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
24
Sander Cordeel
Lotto-Belisol
+ 10'51
IanButler
25
Manuel Quinziato
BMC Racing Team
+ 13'16
This promises for Tirreno, I'm hoping for a top 10 place again, maybe even more!
Tomorrow, Stijn starts in Paris - Nice, with the prologue. Knowing Stijn, he will give it his all to get a stage win there! I wish him the best of luck.
I hope you'll be able to catch up on the story
Thanks! (you'll see their schedule on the previous page, if you're interested, and the first post has been updated with their main results of 2012)
I'm having a hard time making a schedule, it's giving me a headache 
