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Ryan Eastman - Bontrager 2013 February
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-12-2012 09:42
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Wasn't the greatest of time trials from Joseph, but at least he is still up there on the GC  |
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 21-12-2012 09:47
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I think it was a pretty good race for you. Top 5, stage win and best young rider. Not bad
Oh, and when do the drug tests come back for Lance?
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 21-12-2012 13:35
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Good luck with the exams and the moving! |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 20:51
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-02-2013 16:33
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As said in earlier posts I had a lot of problems with my savegame as races kept crashing or less riders were in the race later no matter who you nominated...
Thanks to lluuiiggii I was able to "reproduce" my savegame mainly.
This means, all the story teams/transfers/stats from Januar 2013 will be played.
But there is also a big difference, which might be liked by some but surely also not liked by others.
I decided to move back to the continental tour as also several leaders of the team will ride for other teams.
This was necessary imo as it`s supposed to be a one rider story. And Eastman was maximum a better helper and more important he was not on PCT level. Last season was far too successful due to the high stats of Dombrowski, Parker and Boswell in the PPDB. I think it`s more realistic to stay in CT to train all the young talents in races, that suit them more.
This means we will see 9 riders leaving the team again:
Dombrowski (BMC), Goddaert (Topsport), Keukeleire (Cofidis), Parker (GreenEdge), Serry (Ag2r), Berry (Garmin), Stuyven (Lotto), Haas (HIG) and Howes (Kenda).
Kenda btw. will replace my team in the PCT division. They have some very nice riders with Konovalovas, English, Howes...and will be the 2nd US team there next to HIG-Sanofi.
My team is fully focussed on American and Oceanian riders (Atkins, Grenda). That`s why also Stuyven had to leave.
Who is riding for my team now?
Well next to Eastman obviously also Craddock stayed and will be another leader. Grenda as sprinter. Mannion, Rathe, Brown, Atkins, Wilson, Crawford, Leonard, Lawrence, Avis.
So 12 riders including all neo pros which should make it very interesting.
When will I start?
I still have a few exams, so I don`t exactly know when I will start. But surely there will be races again in near future. |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 11-02-2013 16:38
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I like this seasons. Development should stay development teams in PCM. Cyanide should implement that into the game, but it probably takes too much programing. |
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| ste_18 |
Posted on 11-02-2013 19:56
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I understand your choice, it's just like a new start. Great to see this story will continue btw. |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 11-02-2013 20:56
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I think you made a good choice. And it's nice to know this is coming back, your stories are always a pleasure to read 
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-02-2013 22:03
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Thanks for your understanding.
It was going to happen after the season either way. I had this idea for some time already since Eastman wasn`t improving as much as expected. Now with the DB bugs I do it earlie. :-)
And still I have a nice team with Eastman, Craddock, Brown and Mannion. Also the neo pros are more than solid and Grenda proved to be a decent sprinter as well. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-02-2013 22:53
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I think it will work out to be a good decision in the end |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 12-02-2013 17:05
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Whatever keeps this story alive
Glad to see you'll pick this up again! Eastman is the most important anyway. (in my savegame, Eastman signed with BMC in 2013 and is a very promising puncher  )
Edited by Ian Butler on 12-02-2013 17:05
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| roturn |
Posted on 12-02-2013 18:16
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As you can see I will be one of the teams leader. All our riders are maximum 22 years of age and we are supposed to be led slowly to the higher level as pure developing team.
The team`s focus is mainly on the hilly races where we have some options with myself, Mannion and Crawford, who is also a nice stage race talent.
Also some cobbled races will be focussed with Craddock and Rathe and some sprinter classics for Grenda.
| 31.01. |  The Emerald Race | UCI 1.2 | | 19.02. - 26.02. |  Tour of South Africa | UCI 2.2 | | 04.03. |  Trofeo Zssdi | UCI 1.2 | | 15.03. - 18.03. | Istrian Sprint Trophy | UCI 2.2 | | 04.04. - 08.04. |  Tour of Sochi | UCI 2.2 | | 15.04. |  Tour of the Battenkill | UCI 1.2 | | 24.04. - 29.04. |  La Tropicale Amissa Bongo | UCI 2.2 | | 02.05. | Memorial of Oleg Dyachenko | UCI 1.2 | | 13.05. - 20.05. | Amgen Tour of California | UCI 2.HC | | 21.05. | Florida GP | UCI 1.2 | | 02.08. - 04.08. | Tour of Elk Grove | UCI 2.2 | | 07.08. - 12.08. | Tour of Utah | UCI 2.2 | | 20.08. - 26.08. | USA Pro Cycling Challenge | UCI 2.HC | | 29.08. - 01.09. |  Tour of East Java | UCI 2.2 | | 15.09. | Univest GP | UCI 1.2 | | 22.09. - 23.09. |  Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon | UCI 2.2 | | 28.09. |  Piccolo Giro di Lombardia | UCI 1.2 | | 30.09. | Giro del Lazio | UCI 1.2 |
My main focus is on the races in the USA. We were invited to the biggest races there and surely the highlight will be the Tour of California and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
But also I want to do well in South Africa and in the late season where I will have some nice races as well in Europe.
We are a very young team and we can`t expect to be as successful as the last season. We lost some of our best riders but this is exactly what our team is about and we can be proud that so many riders were signed by teams of a higher division. In especially of course Dombrowski, who will surely be doing good on World Tour level.
So my personal goal is to improve a bit more this season. Within the next 2 seasons I want to draw attention of the bigger teams and hopefully find a nice team in this time.
Our team goal must be to ride very aggressive and try to be in the breakaway very often. Also we have already proved that some of us can also doing good in stage races.
I don`t know when the first race will be reported due to my exams. It can be next week but it can also be in March. But surely I will continue this story with the mentioned changes.
Edited by roturn on 12-02-2013 18:17
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 12-02-2013 18:34
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Nice looking calendar for Ryan |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 12-02-2013 18:58
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A fresh start! Just to be clear, the long-term plan includes a move to a bigger team, though? |
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| ste_18 |
Posted on 12-02-2013 19:43
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Interesting calendar for Ryan, like the choice to focus on the American ones. Hope he could do very well in Tour of California and in the Pro Cycling Challenge. |
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| roturn |
Posted on 13-02-2013 20:06
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Hi from Solvang, California.
We are here for our pre season training camp. It will help us to get a good base for a long season as well to become familiar with the new team mates.
Well, actually one of them, Ben Grenda, can`t be here as he is preparing for the Australian Nationals in his home country. But the rest of us is here.
The terrain here is perfect for cycling. We have some tough mountains, hilly roads and also some flatter parts. Obviously I prefer the hilly terrain the most but as I want to become a good allrounder I need to train everywhere.
This morning we went on a training ride into the mountains. Up to 1600m and even though it`s around 10°C in Solvang, it definitely feels much colder the higher we went. But it was a nice feeling after the last two months with less cycling to be on my bike again, in especially together with my team mates.
Just like last season Lawson Craddock is my room mate here and it`s always a lot of fun together. In our free time we joke around, watch TV or play on his playstation.
The new guys are all very nice and are nice additions to our teams. In especially Crawford proved his strength already today when leading our group in the mountains and without exception all of us suffered a lot to follow him. I think we can expect quite a lot of him this season. This guy has lots of potential and is one of the biggest talents in the USA.
Next week some of us will move to Argentine for the Tour of San Luis, while the others including myself will stay here for another week before starting our season later.
My first race will the The Emerald Race in Australia in late January and until then I still need to train a lot to reach my race fitness level.
See you soon with my next blog.
Ryan |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 13-02-2013 21:39
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Nice update from Ryan |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 13-02-2013 23:24
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Sounds like Ryan is enjoying himself |
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| roturn |
Posted on 14-02-2013 16:51
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(To clarify: I haven`t used a pre-season camp. I just wrote it here in the story. Forgot to mention this. My chances are equal to all other teams this way.)
As said earlier, Ben Grenda was in Australia to prepare for the Nationals. It was also the first time that we met Dale Parker again who is now riding for Orica GreenEdge.
The hilly parcours and the time trial is not really Grenda`s best terrain. Still he wanted to participate here. But as expected he couldn`t have any impact on the race outcome as Orica quite early took full control and made the race very difficult.
RR:
| 1 | Simon Gerrans | Orica GreenEdge | | 2 | Cameron Meyer | Orica GreenEdge | | 3 | Michael Rogers | Sky Procycling | | 4 | Luke Durbridge | Orica GreenEdge | | 5 | Matthew Goss | Orica GreenEdge | | ... | | 9 | Dale Parker | Orica GreenEdge | | 42 | Ben Grenda | Bontrager Livestrong Team |
TT:
| 1 | Jack Bobridge | Team Jayco - AIS | | 2 | Luke Durbridge | Orica GreenEdge | | 3 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | | 4 | William Walker | Drapac Cycling | | 5 | Damien Howson | Team Jayco - AIS | | ... | | 28 | Ben Grenda | Bontrager Livestrong Team |
This years version (Thanks MarghNorway) was far more mountaineous than the year before where I won the KoM jersey. So I decided to skip this race and stay in Solvang.
Our three leaders for this race were Austin Crawford, Nathan Brown and Gavin Mannion. All three of them are not the best stage racers and in a field with guys like Daniel Martin, Moreno, Le Mevel, Millar, Horner, Zaugg or Pinotti the expectations were quite low.
Crawford would get the chance to ride for a good personal result just in his first ever pro race as he surely is the best climber even though the form obviously isn`t very well yet.
For the sprints Ben Grenda joined the team after the Nationals to sprint against Kreder, Bozic, Gallopin, Damiani, Keough, Kristoff and lots of other good sprinters.
Stage 1: Tony Gallopin - RadioShack - Nissan
Stage 2: Borut Bozic - HIG - Sanofi
Stage 3: Tony Gallopin - RadioShack - Nissan
Stage 4: David Millar - Garmin - Sharp - Barracuda
Stage 5: Oliver Zaugg - RadioShack - Nissan
Stage 6: Daniel Martin - Garmin - Sharp - Barracuda
Stage 7: Michel Kreder - Garmin - Sharp - Barracuda
GC
| 1 | Tony Gallopin | RadioShack - Nissan | 24h29'08 | | 2 | Paul Martens | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 48 | | 3 | Linus Gerdemann | RadioShack - Nissan | + 52 | | 4 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Sharp - Barracuda | + 1'11 | | 5 | David Millar | Garmin - Sharp - Barracuda | + 1'18 | | ... | | 33 | Austin Crawford | Bontrager Livestrong Team | + 5'52 | | 42 | Nathan Brown | Bontrager Livestrong Team | + 6'54 | | 43 | Gavin Mannion | Bontrager Livestrong Team | + 9'33 |
Crawford missed the aimed top 30 only by a bit but seeing the guys ahead of him this surely isn`t too bad. The Tour of San Luis is one of our biggest races this season as it`s rated 2.1. He at least showed some nice potentil and we will slowly develope him over the season.
Grenda is not yet in form and couldn`t sprint into the top10. A 12th and two 18th in the sprints were the maximum for him as the route often was too hilly and the pace by Garmin and HIG too fast.
As conclusion we are quite happy with the outcome. Looking at the opponents and the early form, we acchieved the maximum here. Crawford showed that he is capable to fight and will surely do better in 2.2 races.
All 12 of us are meeting in California again before I will start my season in Australia for the Emerald Race in a few days. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 14-02-2013 17:49
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A decent result from the team early in the season. Gallopin with a strong race, though!
Edited by Ian Butler on 14-02-2013 17:49
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 14-02-2013 18:32
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Orica were dominating in their National Championships |
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