Catalunya 15:00h

[Lizard]

Lizards start here.

Eddy Eickendreyer 82-54-79-53-57, 58 Reg
Tom van Amstel 73-80-74-50-65, 35 Reg
Karim Boutannassimi 55-75-54-46-60, 37 Reg
Jamal Jemomo 61-79-56-49-56, 35 Reg
Michael Murphy 53-84-51-47-48, 46 Reg
Ernie Oysters 64-78-61-49-56, 58 Reg
Vincent Soneau 49-84-75-52-48, 46 Reg
Barney Stinson 59-76-73-55-53, 54 Reg
Peter de Vlamingh 48-56-52-51-92, 40 Reg

Salary: 431.744 Credits

[Quick]

Guess I'll have fun here. And many many many many victories... 5 are planned at least.

[Lizard]

Too bad. 4 already deserved for me. So you get the other 3.

[Quick]

OK. I'll take 3. Rest of the field can read it! 3 are deserved for me. I'll take the one at wednesday and 2 others...don't care about them.

[Robyklebt]

Bad bad bad bad race by the ape. Qian, Septimiu, Uchigasaki... I really miss a sieber. And missed the possible attack points, all of them.

Tomorrow first chance for Fabulous.

[Wookie]

Ha, Nr. 1 is mine.
Tomorrow then Cajaclara.
But only if i find an sitter :S

[Lizard]

Okies, not only the ape but also the lizard with a horrible race. First Knut is dead, and now this. I guess it's not the day for animals!

Eddy sieb at 7% was dumb... really missing another 70-80 in the team. Then get siebed the Wookie sprinter, 8 secs behind. No one attacks ... horrible. Wanted to go by myself, but thought someone's got to do it.. at least the Berlogea-Qian duo got to send one. Was in Hyde's wheel, he could've taken advantage of the chance aswell, but no attack. So, fairly easy to get the sprint for MBak and Wookie, though MBak's sprint with deAngelo pulling Laihiala was too predictable. Expected Wookie in either my or Quick's wheel. In the end went perfectly for him. If deAngelo opens sprint not as helper, Eickendreyer with chances from his wheel. But okay, it's a good finish for me today. Tomorrow sprint collaboration expected, I will work a little aswell. But Conti for sure favourite for the sprint.

[Lizard]

Today first Quick-Step win?

[Quick]

Perfect race till now, couldn't have done anything better.

[Robyklebt]

Fabulous

Good cooperation, more than I thought. Less attacks, more help. Wookie early, he kind of had too, Then Wizard very early, RSS a bit later, and only 4 guys in front. Perfect. Because today was not that automatic, with my brillant line-up, Berlo 40, Fahrny 37, Uchi 37, Qian 37, all should be fit tomorrow if possible... a big group, could make me problems. But lots of help. Even in the end. Surprised Wookie didn't attack, but help. Yes, he has yellow, but to protect and increase his green chances a succesful attack would have been perfect. Sprint, nobody went early, all at 50, Fabulous strikes again! Now 2 more sprints likely I think, no pressure, if he wins more, good, if he doesn't well, no problem. He starts to feel a bit tired now anyway. Green of course would be nice, but in the end green or no green, who cares. He'll wear green in Paris in July, that's enough.
Tomorrow the GC stage, that normally should decide the race. No big ambitions, but we'll see what happens.

Ah, somebody go make some english interviews for cat 4 stage races? Riding in english for the moment, then get german questions, grrr. And don't want to make all the interviews myself... already made a few for cat 1 etc. the other day.

[Robyklebt]

hihi!

Fits perfectly.

Sport Director InterviewEXOCDS (17:05 Uhr):
Bonjour! Vous avez gagne, mais bon, personne semble s'y interesser. Parlons plutôt de Roby.
Yes but it is a nice victory
Roby est parfait, d'accord?.
Of course he is, he won MSR, and he won again today
Le but de tout le monde est de devenir comme Roby. Vous pensez que c'est possible d'atteindre ce but pour vous?
The ape is unique

Fabulous the talk of the day, Roby and the ape, dominate even other races and interviews.
There's only one word to describe Robyklebt, Petit Singe and Fabulous Conti. Weltspitze

[Lizard]

Yesterday the important GC stage. No comments so far, buuuuh!!!! I had no time, stuff to do. So writing now.

Stage was always under influence of tempo I didn't understand... okay, expect bergwerk chasing EQ, made sense. Quick-Step then the solo artist as a result of this chaos. Race went slower then, even Peter could get back in the group again with help by the ape aswell (thanks a lot, but you'll get it back today of course to make it even). Soneau joins finish with 546, luckily

Then let's come to the finale. Early attack by Sengül, looked very good - better than expected even. Was caught 1km before flamme rouge. Attack by Watson on the 11 after good job by the 81-75.. what was his name? Magellan? Mangahn? Nevermind. No one in tempo and I thought hell yeah, give it a try, Eddy is in a good shape. And boom, Watson and Eickendreyer gone to be never caught, one km later Marechal attacks aswell, but already too late. And that's also the result of the top 3 for the stage. Still close, I wonder if there's going to be sprints for seconds. Today of course only one goal = bunch sprint.

[Robyklebt]

The GC stage was a bit strange... and almost killed Conti... stupid sprint from 500 for 2 points, grrr. then he helped a bit longer.. wanted to keep 3 guys as fit as possible. For nothing, since I then attacked with Berlo-Qian at the dumbest moment... Was bored, knew I would gain max 5", maybe was only 3" then, and that I would be caught in the next km, still attacked, don't know why... just bored. No plan, let's do that... should have helped Conti instead.. he then started with 920 I think... not sure since I missed the start. The GC stage, excellent stage by Bergwerk. Only one possible mistake, the km where RSS attacked. By not using OU with 57 mountain IMO he took a risk. Doubleattack by RSS and he could be in trouble, then he needs to go with Magallon immediately. Or even if I go with Berlo-Qian there, then too he gives me a big advantage for nothing, ok, that would have been controllable, still, why take the risk? Anyway, no attack by me, even though it was tempting.. need the energy for the sprints, can't kill Berlo+Qian too, half of the team was dead anyway. Conti, Bakhtiyar, Uzielli under reg.

Otherwise perfect race by BW, deserved win, and with his team he shoudl have no problem controlling it til the end.

Yesterday, Fabulous again, this time clearer. Came late, unplanned, stupid real life keeps me distracted from what really counts this week, bah. But Wizard and BW controlled, thanks, Wizard had reason, BW not really, but ok, I'll take it. The sprint... Fabulous, no problem! His 14th win, so the first big buy by Petit Singe now is the Robyklebt/Petit Singe rider with most victories, overtaking Anton Hasler at 13. Again, if that team had had a decent manager instead of a clown as a manager from 2006-2010, there would be no Weltspitze discussion at all. Anyway, Fabulous was fabulous again yesterday, he already plans to win the remaining 3 stages as well. The ape on the other hand is already satisfied. Good to win yesterday, but wouldn't mind at all if Wizard/RSS get a stage too, they worked for it. But can't just not sprint or sprint in a way that I can't win to let them the wins, wasn't on their wheels til now, that might change, don't know, but can't really do more than that..

Today and tomorrow could be fairly interesting. Sprint or no sprint? If Wiz or RSS want to ride for a sprint, I'll have no interested in dropping them of course, meaning I'll wait, if not, no reason too... then I'll fight alone. Not sure how it will turn out, haven't studied the stages yet really... we'll see. For green those 2 stages will be decisive. If both are without sprinters: green for a classic guy, probably Quist. If one sprint, fairly open maybe, if both sprints, then a sprinter, most likely Conti, wins it. We'll see. Hopefully we'll get some stronger attackers then the last days though, right now the attacks seem mostly to be to get money and fighting for the boring red.

[Quick]

Weird... roby beats me once, twice...oh no, he never stops beating me?! Gay conti...before conti it was exactly the opposite.

[Robyklebt]

Fabulous can't stop.

Most interesting stage so far IMO. Mbak and Wookie tried, but didn't work finally. The Lizard Ape train was too strong. Didn't think the try was bad, Ok, they lost one km when Mbak went out again because RSS went in, but then attacked, sieb one km later. Then we came back before the last mountain, maybe would have been better if we didn't come back for them. They could have used a classic rider too there though. But wasn't easy I think, don't think it was a bad try. Today next one, here after looking at the stage the advantage is for Mbak and Wookie, let's hope Wookie finds a sitter.

GC: Today the last small danger for Watson, but minimal I think.
Mountain: Watson going for it, will win it too I think
Points: Conti clear favorite now, even with a win today Quist stays behind, and tomorrow Conti should be able to score more than Quist etc.
Young rider: Zhusakuliev 6", should be safe too.
Team classification: Grrr, BW with 1", grr... no Berlo-Qian attack the other day and could have won that. pah.

Most things seem decided, nothing 100% sure. Now it's mostly about stage wins. Mmh, Fabulous' speciality!

[Lizard]

So, yesterday's stage was quite good, maybe best so far. First mountain as Roby said the classic riders lost a km, then second hill was ridden okay. But I wondered when MBak wanted to bring DeAngelo, ... all in all only one rider in tempo most of the time in the first group. Made us life easy with the 4-5 tempo makers during the last 25-30kms. Well, then sprint as expected, not a shame for me. I hope no one feels offended by my work, I really have fun during this tour even if I don't win a stage.

So today it's saving white jersey probably, aswell as P2. Maybe van Amstel for the stage, I don't think I can get deVlamingh into the sprint again.

[Quick]

Ok, auf deutsch kurz: hab den mbak ja gelobt für den sprint, dann rechtfertigt er sich, wiels ihm platz 2 absichert. dann natürlich schwul...geh ran wookie!

[Lizard]

Hm okay. If in Conti's wheel I probably win today. Wanted to go in his, but well. Not important. Had a great time, that was more relevant. Looking forward to Giro 11!

[Robyklebt]

Was expecting Ranganatan in my wheel too. Was either Quist or Ranganatan, but in that case the safety Uchigasaki at 100. Simply to keep green.Just in case the thing that happened happens, none of the others go early. Decided on Ranganatan, punishment for not riding for sprint on the 4th stage... But well, nobody went, nobody on me. Think not going on me was the right thing to do today for Wizard. Normally Ranganatan is there and gets it. Then bad luck, and clever sprinting by wookie, that none of the others went early. Ok, clever sprinting... he should have followed me with Ernesto, the whole tour actually, to maximize Quists chances. So, won another one. 4 wins, not used winning that much, but ok. Green too, excellent. Unbelievable month for Fabulous. 1 PN stage, MSR, 4 Catalunya + points jersey. Kind of thinking of forbidding him cat 1 starts now...but won't, climbers ok, can do that, sprinters just lose too many opportunities if they don't ride cat 1.

Generally the route was just too boring to get a really interesting race. Stage 1 good, 3 good. Then basically too easy. Yes, 5+6 not bad, in our group it worked out as interesting stages, but really think another tough stage, no chance for sprinters, GC fight, would have been good. Like this.. enjoyed the race, good group, but the route not all that exciting... but we knew that before the race too.
Stupid with Qian-Berlo on stage 3, lucky with Conti in every sprint, can't complain.

[Zentaron]

Everybody "befangirling" Conti here. Pah. so many wins as a gift from the other teams. Pah. I never get such gifts.

[Robyklebt]

Pff, says the guy who only can win stuff like Bessèges!

[Wookie]

Also with Conti´s wheel Ernesto wouldn´t have won i think.

But it was a nice tour.

[Lizard]

Pff.. I was not gifting Conti... that was a rebound from desastrous Tirreno-Adriatico with stupid Cordero where I got no sprint at all with deVlamingh!

[Zentaron]

What's got Cordero now to do with it?

And Roby is jealous about all my jerseys, so he hast to search for some worse results, that are still better than the wins of most of his so called stars.
GP Junglister?

[Robyklebt]

Wookie, no, but you take away points from conti, to give to Quist. I think I won from your wheel once. you should only be hanging on me, to help Quist in my opinion, not only because I might be on your wheel, but because somebody else could have been, who then starts the train. That's what I meant. No clue if it would have worked.

Cordero? He dominated Bessèges too I think!