sorry i've been away for a few days. been making the most of some rare sunshine here in England by eating way too much BBQ food and drinking a bit more then any racing cyclist ever should
Tirreno-Adriatico:
Stage 4:
An important stage today because of the steep finish. any contender not in top form could loose alot of time in a shaort distance today. As for us we just want to get into the break again. Again it's Wegmann who goes away with a large group. However theire are some riders only a few seconds down so the peloton chases them down again.
Wegmann is determined today though. He launches a new attack on the descent from the first KOM sprint and gets a gap.
We were hoping that a few other riders would go across to him but everyone seems happy to sit in the peloton today. So Wegmann is on his own all day. Some good publicity for the sponsors with the German Champion out on his own, but no real chance of him staying away.
He was reeled in before the peloton reached the first of the big climbs at the end. Sanchez and Millar jumped out of the peloton and got a gap over the first climb.
By the time they reached the foot of the final climb they had been joined by a few others. The winner would come out of this group.
It was Ballan who had the legs to make a move on the punishing gradient. His short burst got him a gap that would be enough to take the win.
So Ballan takes the win and my team are scatered about down the hill.
With 3 stages to race Terpstra is still in the hunt for the KOM jersey though Ballan has overtook him in second. It's a hilly TT tomorrow before the queen stage where i'll try to get Terpstra at least into the break. In the GC Gutierrez is the new leader. Ballan is down in 30th after loosing time on a previous stage.
The last stage of this years Paris-Nice see the peloton going over some pretty tough terrain. Gerdemann and Fothen will be happy to get this week over wit i think but they're still gonna try something today. Both Gerdemann and Fothen try to get away but both are reeled in quickly. The peloton is in no mood to let anyone get away today.
In the end it's Knees who is allowed to go away with Ardila. Even then the gap never really gets above 3 mins.
The break is quickly brought back and then the real names begin to make their moves. Gerdemann and Fothen have resigned themselves to the fact that they aren't going to get into the top 10 and just roll in with the peloton. At the top of the last climb Voigt has made his move and has a nice gap.
Behind him a group of 6 riders has formed including Cunego and Kreuziger. Can Voigt stay away?
As he goes under the 1k to go banner a huge smile spreads across the big German's face as he realises he has won the stage.
So that was the Paris-Nice. A huge dissapointment for us as Gerdemann and Fothen we're outclassed and clearly out of shape. Fothen takes 15th and Gerdemann 17th. In the GC Cunego holds on to the leaders jersey while Voigt moves up from 5th to 2nd.
Our return from the week is 1 Pro-Tour point for Gerdemann. A very dissapointing week. Hopefully Gerdemann will be in better form at the Tour.
Edited by ringo182 on 01-06-2009 19:15
A hilly TT for the riders today. For my team it's a bit of a rest day but Terpstra puts in a great ride to finish 14th on the day. Cancellara shows his class by winning by over a minute to ride back into GC contention and Hincapie takes the overall lead.
i keep getting invited to BBQ's. Thats 3 in the last 2 weekends and I had to turn 1 down cause I was already going to another 1Edited by ringo182 on 01-06-2009 19:48
sorry, just no time to play at all at the moment. It was taking me too much time to play a stage and then report it. i've carried on playing it a bit without reporting it and am currently just about to start the cobbled classics. however with work, my training, my gf and other commitments i haven't had time to play it at all in the last week or so.
plus my brothers home from uni and is always on the computer.
for now the story is dead but as i'm still playing it it might make a comeback if i ever get time to play it consistently. but with PCM 09 due out I doubt people will be interested in an old 08 story so chances are it won't come back at all.
thanks for reading and sorry it couldn't continue.
i've got to the point in my season where i need to start offering new contracts to my riders for next season. however my sponsors will only let me offer 1500 a month. this doesn't make sense as if i'm offering a rider who was on 10000 a month 10000 again then i will be spending the same money so it shouldn't be a problem, but the game doesn't see it this way
anyway, if i was to upload my save game would anyone be able to fiddle with my database to rise my wage budget? don't want loads of money, just enough to re-sign my riders for next season. at this rate i'm gonna loose about 10 riders including Wegmann and Fothen.
Keep it up
