It is exactly 18 months from the last post that I wrote in this story. Over that period, I had given up on it and even deleted the original save-game by mistake. Very recently, I recovered the weekly save and got it back running from the point I left off earlier. I should have enough time on my hand now to get back to this
So we're back folks! Coming up next, the Criterium Dauphine...
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
In what has felt like an eternity, I came back to racing in the first week of June following a six week break after completing the Ardennes. I have been building up some fitness and getting ready for the next couple of months, culminating with my challenge at the Tour.
Criterium Dauphine
Despite not being to get onto the podium in the Ardennes trilogy, I was quite pleased with my performance in those races. My season has gone brilliantly so far and I was hoping the long had not broken the momentum.
Stage 1 was a short Prologue wherein I was touted to be a Top 10 challenger. It was completely flat, which was to my advantage. I finished 10th, 33 seconds down on stage winner Dumoulin but I had gained time on all my GC rivals already.
Stage 2 was one for the fast men but it did have a difficult ending. Thoelen joined the break for us. I finished in the pack and ended up in 14th place in the uphill sprint. I moved up a place in the GC.
Stage 3
I was looking forward to stretching my legs a little in the second half of this stage. Thoelen once again joined the break for us but only survived till about midway. The break was caught on the fifth climb and I moved to the front of the pack. I picked up the maximum KOM points for leading the pack over the final KOM summit. Barguil and Vinvent attacked on top of the last climb but I led the chase and caught them on the downhill. I finished in the 30 man lead group and moved up to 3rd in the GC.
Stage 4
The peloton kept dropping riders over the numerous climbs dotting this stage till there were 51 left at the top of the penultimate climb. I still had two teammates with me. The break was caught at the start of the last climb. I attacked with 9 km to go. I was caught by six riders, including Quintana, Duteil and Janot, 3 kilometers later, at the top of the final climb. The seven of us finished together. I chose not to sprint and was happy to be in 7th. There was a 16 second gap to Dumoulin and more than a minute back to Kamna, who was 2nd before this stage. I moved up to 2nd in the GC as a result, just 17 seconds behind Dumoulin. I was also 2nd in the KOM standings.
Stage 5
The peloton was down to 59 riders already at the top of the first climb. It swelled a little on the descent but was down to 56 again 8 km from the summit of the second climb. Dumoulin was dropped a couple of kilometers later. Quintana and Gregorek got a gap on the downhill, which was nearly a minute at the bottom. The break survived the day. Behind them, I accelerated on the climb to the finish and almost caught up to them. I ended up losing 15 seconds to Quintana and Janot, and some to Barguil, both of whom who managed to catch and pass me in the closing kilometers. I fell two places in the GC, behind Quintana and Barguil.
Stage 6
The pack was down to 35, 3 minutes behind the break when we reached the intermediate sprint point. Bardet attacked at the start of the final climb. I maintained my steady pace and eventually distanced the pack with 17 km to go. Janot caught up to me with 10 km remaining. Janot attacked and caught up to Bardet. I was happy keeping my steady pace and was caught by Traino with 7 km left. I dropped Traino and caught Bardet at the summit of the climb. I caught Janot too on the descent with 1.5 km to go. I finished 4th on the stage behind Janot and a couple of breakaway riders. Quintana lost time which meant that I was now the GC leader, with Janot in 2nd, 12 seconds behind.
Stage 7
(Wearing the leader's jersey)
A big break of 15 riders got away on this stage. The peloton was down to 66 on top of the second HC climb. More attacks followed on the climb, but none of the favourites were showing their hands yet. The peloton was down to 29 riders on top of the next HC climb. Seven riders from the break were still out ahead. Seven riders attacked, all my GC rivals, and I was too late to react and latch on, and was now in trouble. With the help of my three remaining teammates, I made my way back to them. On the climb up Morzine, I was tiring and my rivals picked up on it, leaving me behind as they got a gap. Vincent proved to be the strongest, edging out Traino on the line. This meant I was still the leader of the GC but was now just 8 seconds ahead of Traino and 15 seconds ahead of Quintana going into the last stage.
Stage 8
Traino, trailing by just 8 seconds, is a much better time-trialist than I am. Despite the field being really close, six riders differentiated by less than a minute at the top of the GC, it was only Traino who worried me, provided I rode the stage to my potential.
I did ride the stage to my potential, finishing 4th, 32 seconds slower than Dumoulin. Traino beat me by a position, but more importantly, he beat me by 25 seconds, to win the GC by a mere 17 seconds!
General Classification
1
Graham Traino
Sauber
26h15'45
2
Abhishek Sinha
Evonik
+ 17
3
Nairo Quintana
Firefox
+ 1'26
4
Léo Vincent
Ubisoft
+ 1'43
5
Gregorio Ibañez
Gazprom
+ 1'55
6
Remy Janot
Team Europcar
+ 2'24
7
Warren Barguil
Bonsucro
+ 2'28
8
Gracjan Gregorek
Westpac
+ 4'00
9
Romain Bardet
Gatorade
+ 4'31
10
Sébastien Reichenbach
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 6'37
Spoiler
11
Lennard Kämna
TEAM Cepsa
+ 6'54
12
Geoffrey Duteil
Quilicot
+ 8'26
13
Pierre-Roger Latour
Lacoste
+ 10'13
14
Tom Dumoulin
Gazprom
+ 10'23
15
Anastasio Ania
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 10'39
16
Alexis Vuillermoz
Sauber
+ 11'12
17
Arnaud Duteil
Evonik
+ 12'37
18
Léonard Izard
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 12'44
19
Massimo Mogni
Gatorade
+ 13'24
20
Dusan Rajovic
Westpac
+ 13'56
21
Joseph Dombrowski
Qantas
+ 14'59
22
Tommy McCoosh
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 15'30
23
François Bidard
Ubisoft
+ 16'21
24
Mathieu van der Poel
Sauber
+ 18'26
25
Gérald Chery
Ubisoft
+ 20'26
26
Nariman Volokh
Peugeot
+ 21'12
27
Jan Hirt
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 21'51
28
Alfredo Balloni
Gatorade
+ 25'03
29
Lilian Calmejane
Sauber
+ 25'56
30
Ion Izagirre
Gazprom
+ 26'04
31
Hyeoung Min Choe
Qantas
+ 28'04
32
Kahled Zitouni
Red Bull
+ 28'25
33
Hugo Pigeon
Lacoste
+ 28'40
34
Mathias Rask Jeppessen
Firefox
+ 29'24
35
Andy Atkinson
Westpac
+ 30'19
36
Peter Kotula
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 30'48
37
Daniel Felipe Martinez
TEAM Cepsa
+ 31'31
38
Alexandre Routier
Evonik
+ 32'33
39
Roger Renard
RMF
+ 32'55
40
Gerardo Moral
Quilicot
+ 33'21
41
Malte Hoersen
Evonik
+ 33'44
42
Manuel Senni
Gatorade
+ 34'47
43
Hector Saez
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 36'24
44
Alexis Guerin
Ubisoft
+ 37'51
45
Rémy Rochas
Bonsucro
+ 38'28
46
Unai Intziarte
TEAM Cepsa
+ 41'01
47
Lewis Venables
Quilicot
+ 41'28
48
Tony Garrigues
Qantas
+ 42'47
49
Marcus Faglum Karlsson
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 43'36
50
Rafał Majka
Gatorade
+ 45'03
51
Serge Beaufort
Gazprom
+ 49'47
52
Juan Ángel Gil
Quilicot
+ 50'48
53
Andrea Manfredi
Westpac
+ 52'42
54
Odd Christian Eiking
RMF
+ 53'39
55
Waldemar Bakalarz
RMF
+ 56'35
56
Santos Barbero
TEAM Cepsa
+ 57'11
57
Geraint Thomas
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 57'37
58
Yohann Olive
RMF
+ 1h01'08
59
Yuri Chibrikov
Gazprom
+ 1h01'28
60
Maxime Sibille
Alcatel
+ 1h02'51
61
Nick Van Der Lijke
Gatorade
+ 1h05'11
62
Grégoire Arnold
Alcatel
+ 1h06'34
63
Floris Gerts
Evonik
+ 1h07'47
64
Quentin Jauregui
Sauber
+ 1h10'01
65
Michael Valgren
Firefox
+ 1h11'28
66
Cyril Gautier
Bonsucro
+ 1h11'40
67
Alexey Lutsenko
Gatorade
+ 1h12'00
68
Tobias Ludvigsson
Qantas
+ 1h12'19
69
Rayane Bouhanni
Bonsucro
+ 1h13'58
70
Afram Iwu
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 1h14'20
71
Yannick Peeters
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1h17'11
72
Sergey Kuzmin
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 1h20'51
73
Emilien Viennet
Red Bull
+ 1h21'18
74
Giacomo Peretto
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 1h21'51
75
Fredrik Ludvigsson
Gatorade
+ 1h21'59
76
Richard Weinzheimer
TEAM Cepsa
+ 1h23'56
77
Luke Durbridge
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 1h24'04
78
Alton McArther
Firefox
+ 1h25'30
79
Iltjan Nika
Alcatel
+ 1h25'34
80
Luca Taschin
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 1h25'55
81
Trevor Praticò
Westpac
+ 1h26'00
82
Paweł Franczak
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 1h26'12
83
Francesc Canabal
Peugeot
+ 1h26'20
84
Senne Leysen
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1h26'23
85
Dieter Bouvry
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 1h26'37
86
Bruno Armirail
Ubisoft
+ 1h27'19
87
Rhida Thoelen
Evonik
+ 1h27'51
88
Louis Rohde
Evonik
+ 1h28'50
89
Ashot Dugin
Ubisoft
+ 1h29'22
90
Antoine Duchesne
Lacoste
+ 1h31'54
91
Luke Rowe
Sauber
+ 1h33'04
92
Idalécio Ferreira Sousa
Gazprom
+ 1h36'18
93
Samuel Spokes
Westpac
+ 1h36'27
94
Bertrand Pradel
Team Europcar
+ 1h39'22
95
Maurizio Damiano
Peugeot
+ 1h40'13
96
Simone Sterbini
Peugeot
+ 1h40'28
97
Moja Dabengwa
TEAM Cepsa
+ 1h40'45
98
Terence Dejean
Team Europcar
+ 1h40'50
99
Pello Bilbao
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 1h41'07
100
Loïc Vliegen
Gazprom
+ 1h42'05
101
Hervé Toutain
Team Europcar
+ 1h42'59
102
Florent Delfosse
Bonsucro
+ 1h43'24
103
Tobias Kongstad
Firefox
+ 1h44'47
104
Antonio Dubois
Lacoste
+ 1h45'01
105
Miguel Bryon
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 1h45'08
106
Tony Lechevallier
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1h45'11
107
Roger Houston
Firefox
+ 1h45'25
108
Eryk Latoń
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 1h45'40
109
Rubén Pols
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1h46'04
110
Yoann Paillot
Bonsucro
+ 1h46'42
111
Jonas Koch
Red Bull
+ 1h49'39
112
Arnaud Demare
Bonsucro
+ 1h50'10
113
Thomas Bergeret
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1h51'40
114
Liam Bertazzo
Alcatel
+ 1h51'43
115
Julien Vermote
Qantas
+ 1h52'38
116
Yoeri Havik
Firefox
+ 1h54'17
117
Jovan Hamidovic
Sauber
+ 1h54'37
118
Aymeric Caille
RMF
+ 1h55'03
119
Jens Keukeleire
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1h55'28
120
Benoît Cosnefroy
Lacoste
+ 1h55'38
121
Alexey Kurbatov
Team Europcar
+ 1h55'48
122
Jon Andoni Martínez Ruiz
TEAM Cepsa
+ 1h57'08
123
Giangesuino Ongaro
Peugeot
s.t.
124
Christophe Laporte
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 1h57'31
125
Lawrence Naesen
Ubisoft
+ 1h57'43
126
Nathan Van Hooydonck
Firefox
+ 1h58'37
127
Johannes Windischbauer
Sauber
+ 1h58'50
128
Yves Lampaert
Bonsucro
+ 2h00'47
129
Arnauld Cotton
Lacoste
+ 2h01'31
130
David Gumowski
RMF
+ 2h01'55
131
Brent Luyckx
Trek Factory Racing
+ 2h02'17
132
Jimmy Raibaud
Team Europcar
+ 2h05'10
133
Rudy Barbier
Quilicot
+ 2h07'35
134
James Shaw
Red Bull
+ 2h08'07
135
Kirk Woodcock
Red Bull
+ 2h09'04
136
Daniel Lagier
Lacoste
+ 2h09'44
137
Alexey Tsatevitch
Gazprom
+ 2h09'47
138
Jan Dieteren
Evonik
+ 2h10'29
139
Mamyr Stash
RMF
+ 2h10'52
140
George Pym
Red Bull
+ 2h11'49
141
Wouter Wippert
Westpac
+ 2h13'20
142
Yannick Martinez
Team Europcar
+ 2h14'26
143
Luc Loozen
Alcatel
+ 2h14'48
144
Shiki Kuroeda
MTN-Qhubeka
+ 2h15'41
145
Michael Carbel
Quilicot
+ 2h15'51
146
Justin Oien
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 2h16'16
147
Loïc Chetout
Ubisoft
+ 2h17'15
148
Lee Richmond
Red Bull
+ 2h19'51
149
Takeshi Aoki
Lacoste
+ 2h21'12
150
Peio Seguro
TEAM Cepsa
+ 2h21'18
151
Lionel Taminiaux
Trek Factory Racing
+ 2h22'12
152
Jonathan Dibben
Red Bull
+ 2h29'54
153
Borja Llorens
Peugeot
+ 2h32'20
154
Robbie Arghittu
Westpac
+ 2h33'53
155
Gabriele Campello
Alcatel
+ 2h33'59
156
Lucas Gaday
Alcatel
+ 2h37'23
157
Saare Zula
Peugeot
+ 2h50'04
Points Classification
1
Nairo Quintana
Firefox
72
2
Graham Traino
Sauber
64
3
Warren Barguil
Bonsucro
60
4
Abhishek Sinha
Evonik
59
5
Tom Dumoulin
Gazprom
52
KOM Classification
1
Léonard Izard
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
124
2
Gracjan Gregorek
Westpac
94
3
Santos Barbero
TEAM Cepsa
83
4
Hugo Pigeon
Lacoste
68
5
Nairo Quintana
Firefox
66
Team Classification
1
Sauber
79h12'56
2
Gatorade
+ 6'01
3
Ubisoft
+ 10'08
4
Gazprom
+ 11'54
5
Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team - Al Ahli Club
+ 14'39
No third consecutive stage race win, but I'm satisfied with my performance after the break. Some points of concern remain, especially with my inability to keep up with the best climbers on the toughest French climbs, as was the case on stage 7. This could well mean another disappointment at the Tour. But let's not get too deeply engrossed into the negatives at the moment. This great season continues and the Tour is less than a month away now. But before that, the National Championships are calling...
Really a shame to lose out but just a really solid conservative ride for a guy who's been off for 6 weeks to do so well and beat guys like Quintana and so nearly win the GC. Good luck for NC and Le Tour!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Yes, some good signs regarding the riders that I beat. Didn't really attack either so I'm hoping there'll be more in the tank when the time comes to use it.
I was a Top 5 favourite for the race. I started off among the last third of riders. I passed the finish line in 1st place, with a time of 39'6". However, faster riders started off later and I ended up in 4th. Paolo Roques pulled off an upset win, narrowly beating Dumoulin.
The Road Race was mostly flat but there were some undulations could provide me an opportunity to try to surprise the sprinters. Teammate Danny Van Poppel started as the top favourite.
The breakaway was caught with 6 kilometers to go. I was safe in the pack throughout. Dumooulin attacked with 5 km left, and 11 riders followed. However, they were all reeled in before the finish. I was too far back when the attacks happened and missed the move, and my chance to go for the win. The race ended in a bunch sprint, which was won by Danny Van Poppel. I finished 25th.
The biggest of the calendar, and an event which has not been too kind to me over the years. I start this race this season, having probably have the best first half of the season in my career.
Stage 1 - 5
Stage 1 was a flat TTT. Our team wasn't the strongest in this. We ended up in 9th, 1'6" behind winners Gazprom. Among the GC contenders,, I lost time to Ibanez, Ambroise, Traino, Aru and Simon Yates. I gained time on the rest. Dumoulin led the GC.
Stage 2
What was supposed to be an easy stage, turned into a very difficult finish. The pace was very high in the closing stages, chasing the break. This led to a split with 12 km to go and I missed the front of the pack. I ended up losing almost a minute on the front of the pack, falling more than 2 minutes behind some of my GC rivals. Lampaert survived from the break and took the GC lead.
Stage 3 was flat. There were beautiful dirt roads in the closing stages, which I enjoyed riding on very much. 83 riders finished together.
Stage 4 was more of the same, but flatter. Van Poppel finished 5th. There were splits in the pack towards the finish again.
Stage 5 was absolutely flat. Van Poppel finished 3rd for us and I stayed safe.
Stage 6 was a long, flat ITT covering 55+ kilometers. This stage did not suit my strengths, and I ended up losing nearly 4 minutes to stage winner Ibanez, who also took the GC lead. I was 22nd in the GC after this stage, 4'49" down!
Stage 7 was another flat stage. Mohoric joined the break but they were caught. I stayed safe and Van Poppel finished 10th.
Stage 8
The first mountain stage of the race, and I wasn't even among the top 10 stage favourites. Nevertheless, it wasn't a time to dwell on the chances. The break were caught on the sixth climb and Quintana made the first move on the eighth. There was a split in the pack and I was in the group behind Quintana, consisting of fourteen riders. Quintana was caught at the start of the last climb, with 13 riders now remaining in my group. Nairo attacked again, with Yates and Formolo chasing. This led to the group being split and I found myself riding with Lopez, Vincent and Janot. Traino would eventually catch up to us, followed by a few more riders. Ibanez was dropped, and losing time and his jersey! Jungles, Traino and Oomen got away. I lost more than minutes to Yates, the stage winner. I caught up to Jungels before the finish. I fiinished 8th on the stage and moved up to 10th in GC, but was now more than 5 minutes in arrears.
Stage 9
Duteil joined the break. The peloton was down to 39 riders on top of the seventh climb. Quintana atatcked on top of the 10th climb. The break were gone, more than 8 minutes ahead and sure to win the stage. I was dropped by the lead group on the final climb. I finished 9th on the stage, losing more time. I did climb a position in the GC.
Stage 10
The first action in the pack was Ania's attack on the descent of the seventh climb. He was caught on the next climb. The break was caught on the last climb. I attacked with 6 kilometers to go to the top of the summit of the final climb. I was caught 2 kilometers later. I tried attacking again but to no avail. 29 riders finished together at the line, and I finished 7th in the sprint. I remained in 9th place in the GC.
Timmer joined the break on this stage, which came after the first rest day. The break were caught on the second climb. Quintana, Barguil and Duteil attacked near at the start of the final climb. They were caught with 12 km to go. The peloton had 23 riders at this point. This number was reduced to just 9 with 8 km to go. Quintana, Ibanez, Yates and Jungels attacked 2 km later but were brought back. Quintana attacked again, this time followed by Ibanez and Vervaeke. They were followed by Yates, Barguil and Jungels. I didn't counter but maintained my own pace going up the slope. I caught up to all except Quintana and Barguil with 3 km to go. At the summit of HC climb, Quintana was 18 seconds ahead, and I was riding with Barguil, Ibanez and Yates, the latter duo having caught up after I caught Barguil. Quintana was caught on the downhill. I finished 4th in the sprint in the six rider group. I moved up to 7th in the GC and 6th in the KOM standings.
Stage 12
The peloton was down to 32 on top of the sixth climb. I had New and Duteil still in support. 11 of the favourites went away mid-way up the climb to the finis. I once again didn't respond immediately but kept my own pace. I kept catching them in the final kilometers and only four were still ahead with 2 km to go. That's how it ended as I finished 5th on the stage, moving up to 4th in the KOM standings.
Stage 13 was a reprieve from the climbing. I stayed safe in the pack throughout.
The break were caught with 15 km to go on Stage 14, which ended in a HTF. Three riders attacked on the climb to the finish. I couldn't get into a good position and satisfied myself with finishing in the peloton. We moved up to 4th in the Team Standings, after some splits towards the end.
Stage 15 was another flat stage. Van Poppel finished 10th for us.
@Ripley: I agree, it's not looking too good at the moment. Same old problems I guess.
Contract Renewal
The second rest day brought some good news. I sat down with the management and penned a contract extension for another 2 years at Evonik. The team have treated me well, and it seems to be a very good fit for me. This decision was a very easy one at the end. A couple of other teams were interested, but the thought of leaving didn't cross my mind.
With this part sorted out, it was time to get back to concentrating on the final week of the Tour, and look to improve, if possible.
