Spring Classics 2011

[JPS Classics]

Classics will start at 14 o'clock .... Mrs. JPS like to go shopping to this time ... ok for me

Line Up Milano - San Remo
1 Ryder Hesjedal
2 Prince Caines
3 Park Dong Soo
4 Steven Dulac
5 Mbele Mbaki
6 Vjeko Onishchenko
7 Martijn Schoenmakers
8 Fjodor Shovkovsky
9 Sven Sjögren

[NoPikouze]

First impressions:
It was an interesting and exciting race. With only 3 sprinters (me with a team for the last 50 km, Warriors with only one flat rider, and la FR des jeux, a weird guy who doesnt answer to any questions) Vs franconia's armada, I expected a fairly "easy" win for the generalissimo.
Warri and Conia started to control the group, I joined a the Turchino, and the double--tripple-puller group was decently controlled.
But then came le manie, and guys like allagen, alkworld and die adler of course went for a farmertrick which i didnt not really see coming, to be honest
The sieb was hard, the gap was big (classics with 1' on cordero, warri and my sprinter 1' further behind), which forced me to kill many riders to keep a slight chance. The sprinter configuration looked very good to me, having a weak 91 versus a strong 91 and a 93, the wheel selection would have been easy and probably in my advantage.
After a very hard race, franconia was able to catch the classic group, where almost everybody was making tempo for a "better ranking", even guys who are able to win more tours with a helper than 50% of the managers with their whole team... Cat 6 seem to confuse a lot of people, even our greatest stars.
Our two sprinters were still 35" behind the leader's group, when franconia decided to wait for us and to build a 3 man collaboration, where he would still have chances to win, instead of riding a suicidal race against all the other opponents.
Finally, we joined the peloton a couple of kms before the capi's. But with a lot of dead riders, it would be less easy than expected to hold it together... (nosrati, zandi and saracen were around 400 energy then, only kelderman and casey were fit)
Then came the cipressa sieb. Wilco and copado were able to keep the gap small on the classic group, with some help from john casey. Followed by the Poggio where pietropolli and wagner did a great job. Nevertheless they were unable to keep the bad bayernfan's vietnamese leader purnomo under control, who attacked on the most difficult part and was able to create a 10" gap. On the last 3 kms, the mass tempo, led by john casey the powermonster, almost sufficed to catch the evil asiat. But with 1" on the line, he won the first monument of the season. In a confusing sprint, kügerl and bruel were fighting for cordero's backwheel, warriors got it and he became the first of the losers here in san remo. The third medal was taken by the spanish sprinter, and bruel as usual didnt show up in the palmares. Is he really going to be Dürr's heir ?

Any comment on my race would be welcome as well, since there were many spectators, maybe they can teach me something.

[Alkworld]

Unfortunately my masterplan didn't work out. It would have mainly involved Allagen doing what I want him to. But it seems he couldn't read my mind. Ideally he keeps Ohnemut and Möhnetal fit for the end, we keep the sprinters away and with two or three attacks get rid of all the classic sprinters < 75 flat. The end would be open then and everything is different. But, as this all didn't happen, we can only congratulate Lulu for this beatiful victory.

[Robyklebt]

Any comment on my race would be welcome as well, since there were many spectators, maybe they can teach me something.

Only thing to tell you is the sprint, ok, wasn't for the win, still, Azizi has to be on Rinner. Or Bruel even. Otherwise, excellent race, never gave up, 2' behind the first big group, 1' behind the Conia-group, you fought on, most managers would have given up. Then Conia saw that he needed you and Warriors and waited, collaborated. Intelligent riding by him as well. Lulu then too strong, happens.

Ah, and the Vietnamese is actually an Indonesian.

[JPS Classics]

Line Up E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke
1 Mbele Mbaki
2 Lodewijk Brunswijk
3 Prince Caines
4 Park Dong Soo
5 Steven Dulac
6 Kevin Neirynck
7 Alderich Pichner
8 Maarten Tjallingii
9 Natane Tuihalamaka

[team fl]

Guess, Team FL has to skip E3 on Saturday and only maybe is able to ride on Sunday. Have to look. Riders would be fit.

[team fl]

Guess, Team FL has to skip E3 on Saturday and only maybe is able to ride on Sunday. Have to look. Riders would be fit.

Garrido on fire! Second classic win this year. After skipping E3, Garrido does Deinze!

[Robyklebt]

Ronde? The ape will be there. Again, no sheeping, no pussying around, no looking for a group that fits the team. We shape races, and win them, we don't pussy around. 14h it is.

The team?

1 S. Berlogea
2 I. Duculescu
3 O. Duculescu
4 T. Fouché
5 P. Haryono
6 S. Mori
7 B. Qian
8 B. Sagyrbayuly
9. S. Uzielli

But Montandon wants to start too, we'll see, maybe he comes in for Mori.

[NoPikouze]

I want to win a classic...

[Robyklebt]

Aix would like to be a girl I heard.

He has better chances to reach his goal than you!

[NoPikouze]

He's already halfway of succeeding since he's got the same hair and the same voice as justin bieber

[Aixteam]

He's already halfway of succeeding since he's got the same hair and the same voice as justin bieber

Justin Bieber is rich ..

[Robyklebt]

Big failure, gambled, but clearly misgambled... Hoped for a small group after the Muur, sieb by Qian for that, until then it worked... but the group didn't, basically by then it was almost over for Qian, attack Bosberg with 2-3 guys who don't have a big sprint, last small chance, nobody tried to follow, so...

[Robyklebt]

STrange race at 18h.

Didn't really get lots of stuff... Libbys attack? Gnoien not riding really? Then NoPiks attack, only Allagen has the brains to block it? Which IMO wasn't completely senseless, Höhenflug has sprint, he has his chance. But normally there Gnoien or so should block, it was so clear Wilco had to attack that... if not Gnoien then Libby with her leader personnally. But nobody, only Höhenflug... strange. Then nobody riding.. didn't get that either, expected Gnoien to go in, but ok, maybe too many similar sprinters, complete lottery at this point.. so went for the other one...

We in the spec chat like NoPik though! And kind of laughed at Allagen at times Although I think apart from the early strange contra productive farmertrick sieb it was quite ok what he did... too much head through the wall, not used to the strong competition, but that comes with time. If even somebody who is clearly worse as a tactician as Adler can win Vlaanderen... yes yes, back to the 14h failure.. bah.. grrr.

[Robyklebt]

Scheldeprijs!

1 I. Duculescu
2 O. Duculescu
3 T. Fouché
4 P. Haryono
5 F. Montandon
6 S. Mori
7 B. Qian
8 B. Sagyrbayuly
9 S. Uzielli

Bigger group than I expected, good, yesterday when I checked it was 3 teams... now 15. Ok, knew more would come, but 15 is more than I thought, excellent.

Strength, ok, first sight tells me over half are D5+6, group not superstrong.

Riders 8 over 80 pavé, 5 of them with 59-62 sprint...
8 riders with over 60 sprint and 70 pavé, 6 of those with over 76 pavé...
A sprint of a pavégroup at the end looks fairly likely, unless an early group goes through since nobody wants to chase, too many teams that can win the sprint, if there is one.
Let's see how this develops, a superflatteam like Marzahn would have been nice too, no sprint, but flat and pavé power, like this the sprint really looks likely... but might be wrong.

The 9 heroes are motivated, Qian wants a solo win, Fouché to be the one and only leader, Olimpiu wants to give Iordan the win, Iordan asks where Roko Keko is, Bakhtiyar hopes to enjoy a race without Fabulous, Fredi asks for more downhill, Mori disagrees and plans a long escape, Haryono demands some hellingen while Uzielli would prefer to visit some more exotic places.

[Zentaron]

Don't know. Think the pavé is not selective enough even for Keerstraete.
But real reason why i am not there: simply forgot the race.
No matter, so Fokke gets his right and can win my next points jersey.

[NoPikouze]

Dont know if this counts as a classic, but if it does, I have too many leaders who intend to win it...
Wilco as a revenge for de Ronde ?
Rahman to prove he's worth staying in the team ?
Serguei as our best cobblestone specialist ?
Dylan since he's not able to win anything else anyway ?
Big Johnny because he has to be a leader sometimes ?

Masoud, Nasser and Boris should be the powerful helpers. They have no pretentions today.
And Francis comes to do some sightseeing, he believes the countryside looks nice in this region, although everybody tells him he's an idiot.

Edit: changed my mind: Boris stays home with Roko Keko's wife while the legendary gent-wevelgem winner is in the manager's car, and Morgan joins the team in order to show Francis the way home after the first pavé section.

[team fl]

It seems that Team FL is missing all the good stuff in April 2011... Sad FL

[Robyklebt]

Of course not selective.. maybe even too much though actually. But still, why not...

Still in the running before the last pavé, ha!

[Robyklebt]

Wäää, only 4th, Fouché not happy at all, he demanded to be angezogen bei Olimpiu. Now he wants that for Paris-Roubaix instead. We'll see.

[Lizard]

So... after successfully ignoring all the great pavés races (god, how I suffered!! ) Wizards Cycling will finally do some approaches in the spring classics. The team will ride Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne aswell as Lüttich-Bastogne-Lüttich. It is possible that we also start at other races.

[JPS Classics]

Line Up Paris - Roubaix (9.00 am)
1 Maarten Tjallingii
2 Lodewijk Brunswijk
3 Prince Caines
4 Park Dong Soo
5 Mbele Mbaki
6 Kevin Neirynck
7 Fjodor Shovkovsky
8 Natane Tuihalamaka
9 Bjarte Age Vik

[Robyklebt]

The Roubaix team is ready. No inspection of the vélodrome this time, didn't bring us luck in 2010!

1 Iordan Duculescu My second time, last year we failed, I was 11th, but Anthony missed the group. I think I could do better this year, but I'll help Olimpiu!
2 Olimpiu Duculescu Yes, my big race, I'll be the leader. Of course depending on the race situation Iordan, Théophile, Bakhtiyar and Qian will get their chances too. Just hope Qian follows the team order today, could be a problem otherwise. We have to work together.
3 Théophile Fouché Je pense que je peux gagner, je suis en forme. Olimpiu? Bien sûr qu'il va fort aussi, mais si j'ai ma chance je vais la jouer. En a vu mercredi que tout sur Olimpiu ne marche pas. Si on veut en seul leader, le choix logique c'est moi.
4 Pramoedya Haryono After last week we are all pumped, we want the win, after failing in Flanders. My role will be different, plus all our roles are defined better than a week ago, where we sort of made it up during the race. Leader? Olimpiu and Bakhtiyar basically, my role will be to protect them early.
5 Markus Leibundgut I'm very happy to get a chance to start in an important race already! Hope to be here in a year too. The ape explained the tactic very well, I know what to do. Chances? Don't know the opponents that well, but know our riders, we have chances I think
6 Frédéric Montandon J'aurais vraiment aimé faire Paris-Roubaix dans l'équipe Franconia, mais bon, c'est déjà un rêve d'y participer, même si seulement pour le singe. Aujourd'hui? On a 5 leader potentiel, mais personnellement je vois bien Qian, il a fait voire qu'il est en forme.
7 Saburo Mori It will be hard today. I will be part of the second row, first the 2 young swiss, then me and Haryono have to work. Then the others will have to decide who feels best among themselvers. Yes, Olimpiu starts as leader, but that can change during the race. I think that probably Bakhtiyar is most suited to Roubaix, but we'll see how he feels, and how Olimpiu feels.
8 Qian Baoyu Me not following team orders? Since when? I didn't sprint in Varese, I didn't look for my own chance in Sanremo, what more do I have to do? GP Cerami I followed teamorders exactly, follow Raggio, Bakhtiyar and then Fabulous were right behind me, Bakhtiyar couldn't hold the pace, not my fault. Today? Revenge for Flanders, yeah, I wish, but let's be honest, it's not my race. But we'll see.
9 Bakhtiyar Sagyrbayuly Leader? I have a chance to ride for myself, if there is an opportunity. Like most uf us today. See how the race develops, look for an opening, Like the rest I'll have no problem riding for Olimpiu, Iordan or Qian if they feel well. Fouché? Well, doubt the question will arise, but if he feels best, I can ride for him too, no problem. No, no pressure, we've had enough success so far, we're not under too much pressure.

[Zentaron]

So, missed the two classics i wanted to win. Same procedure as every year. Next try next year. This year only one goal left: Green at Tdf. Oh that includes another goal since yesterday. Name two riders of a well-known team.

[team fl]

YAY, after missing Flandern and Schelde, Team FL could finally participate at PR. And what a participation it was! Luxembourgian power demonstration. Viva the small states of Europe