Cricket Web Cycling Team

[Magrat Garlick]

Lol Neil, unlucky Fensome, still it is pretty impressive you were able to attack and stay away until the end, even if you did tire out.

What's the next race Hak?

A week of Europe Tour races (Cholet - Pays du Loire, Settimana Coppi e Bartali, Critérium International, Three Days of De Panne). Will try to get through them quickly. The next ProTour races are the cobbled classics + Tour of the Basque Country.

 

[Craig]

What races am I down for? I think Pays Basque may be the best course of action in the lead up to the classics. Critérium International is a good one as well.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

What races am I down for? I think Pays Basque may be the best course of action in the lead up to the classics. Critérium International is a good one as well.

Put you in the Settimana Internazionale as you're the most Italian rider we've got.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Cholet - Pays de Loire



Team: Wiggins, Dean, Hoy, Mørk, Geraint Thomas, Pardoe, Weber

A minor French race (category 1.1), though with some credibility in the start field, as CSC's mainly Scandinavian lineup has plenty of ProTour experience.

Pardoe went in a break with Chris Anker Sørensen (DAN, CSC), Lucas Euser (Slipstream) and Daniel Fleeman (DFL/Cyclingnews), and did fiendish work on the hills. However, after tossing Euser and Fleeman off, Sørensen eased away from Pardoe with 30 km to go.

Far vel, says Sørensen

The Dane seemed way too strong, and Casson Dairy had done little to chase him down before, so Hoy attacked in damage limitation. Yet, it was in vain. Simon Gerrans hung onto Hoy over all the tiny hills and won the sprint, while Arvesen was the cream of the bunch.

Final result:
1 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC 4h57'54
2 Simon Gerrans AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 39
3 Nathan Hoy TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
4 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 2'21
5 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
6 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Arnaud Gérard FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
8 Benoît Vaugrenard FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
9 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Benoît Sinner AGRITUBEL s.t.
14 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
19 Julian Dean TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
55 George Pardoe TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
64 riders in same time
66 Bradley Wiggins TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 4'39
70 Tarick Weber TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 5'20
88 Geraint Thomas TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 12'24

Lots of stages from Italy coming tomorrow. Team there: Mitchell, Stephen Young, Greg Thomas, Walsh, Arroyo, Geraint Thomas, Wiggins.

 

[headhunter]

Wahey looking forward to my debut

 

[Matteh]

The fact i'm in means there's a time trial coming up. Hopefully will do better than i have done so far.

 

[Craig]

Put you in the Settimana Internazionale as you're the most Italian rider we've got.

Brillante!

The fact i'm in means there's a time trial coming up. Hopefully will do better than i have done so far.

I believe it is a Team Time Trial as the TT.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

An early-spring stage race, and though not of great importance to any non-Italians, it's good fun for the locals in the Emilia-Romagna region. UCI-category 2.1; the title translates to International Cycling Week of Coppi and Bartali. Former winners include Damiano Cunego, Paolo Bettini, Phil Anderson and Laurent Fignon.

A few time triallists take part here, in order to win the team time trial and get a chance in the overall standings.

Stage One, Riccione criterium, 95.2 km



An entertaining and quick criterium race in the sity of Riccione, the second largest city in the province of Rimini, though the early fireworks from Gibo Simoni (who took the first mountain points) was replaced by an inevitable breakaway. Seven men in it, including Stephen Young, Dmitry Grabovsky (QSI) and Marco Velo (Milram). Velo broke away with two laps to go, taking mountain points despite being caught on the final hill, where Young lacked effort to break away further. Thus, it was a mass sprint, where this Casson Dairy team had no contenders.

Three kilometres from the finish, the breakaway is toast

Mark Cavendish overtook Velo, the last intrepid breakawayee with 800 metres to go and held off the challenge from Gennady Mikhaylov to win.

Stage result:
1 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM 2h19'13
2 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ s.t.
3 Claudio Corioni LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Oscar Gatto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Bradley Wiggins TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
All Casson Dairy riders in same time.

General classification: Same as stage, but with bonus seconds.

Points classification: Same as stage.

Mountains classification:

1 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM 20
2 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR 18
3 Dmitri Grabovski QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 12
4 Stephen Young TEAM CASSON DAIRY 12
5 Adriano Angeloni CERAMICA FLAMINIA 12

Stage Two, Misano Team time trial, 11.8 km

The racers immediately moved to nearby Misano, some six kilometres away, for an entirely flat team time trial. Mitchell and Wiggins were asked to pull their team mates to a good time. It was enough to take third place; Lampre were dominant, beating Astaná by 15 seconds, but a decent race which certainly hasn't put Casson Dairy out of contention yet.

1 LAMPRE - FONDITAL 14'33
2 ASTANÁ + 15
3 TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 16
4 LIQUIGAS + 16
5 CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 19
6 SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 20
7 GEROLSTEINER + 22
8 ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO + 23
9 TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 T-MOBILE TEAM + 24

General classification:

1 Claudio Corioni LAMPRE - FONDITAL 2h33'38
2 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 8
3 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
5 Sylwester Szmyd LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
15 Bradley Wiggins TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 24
17 Mathew Mitchell TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
18 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
All others in same time

Stage Three, Cervia - Faenza, 199.3 km



The longest stage of the Cycling Week, with two mountains that were to prove decisive in the overall standings. The racers are moving uphill and inland, to Faenza, a town 50 km southeast of Bologna.

Young, one of our climbers, went in the breakaway again with, among others, Panaria's Matvejev (UKR) and T-Mobile's Grabsch, and this prompted a ferocious effort from Lampre and Panaria to catch the Irishman in the fairly steep, if not long, climbs, late on in the stage.

The breakaway enjoying their shower

This succeeded, meaning that Young only earned 4 mountain points, but with Young caught Walsh and Greg Thomas began working for an overall victory. This they achieved with a high pace up the final climb; Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) stole the full mountain points, a grand 16.

Rebellin charging towards the finish

Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) won the sprint finish in Faenza, but Walsh is the best U25 rider, just 16 seconds behind leader Caruso (Lampre). Thomas lost a minute and a half on the roads in to Faenza, having worked his heart out.

Stage result:

1 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER 4h44'56
2 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
4 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO s.t.
5 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
14 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
22 riders in leading group
27 Greg Thomas TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'36
43 Bradley Wiggins TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 4'34
49 David Arroyo TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
80 Stephen Young TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 7'34
92 Mathew Mitchell TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 10'01
117 Geraint Thomas TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 18'36

General classification:
1 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL 7h18'42
2 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 2
4 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 4
5 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 11
6 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 16
7 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 19
8 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Fortunato Baliani CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
10 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
25 Greg Thomas TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'52

Points classification:

1 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 34
2 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM 25
2 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER 25

Mountains classficiation:

1 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM 20
2 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR 18
3 Juri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 16
4 Stephen Young TEAM CASSON DAIRY 16
5 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO 16

Stage Four, Scandiano - Modenese, 166 km



Young in the breakaway again. It wasn't the original plan, but mountain jersey leader Velo attacked after 1 km, and he was the one that could win without being chased down.


Young utilising his strongest weapon: climbing ability

However, after gaining a lead up to the top of the climbs, Young was caught by Santaromita and Velo in the downhill. The downhill also took care of Tadej Valjavec (Lampre), overall no. 2, who crashed along with Wiggins and Emanuele Sella (Panaria). However, after a long, hard slog, these riders were given the same time; as were Pellizotti, who pulled away on the top of the final hill, and looked to have grapped a gap a minute behind winner Velo - who outsprinted Santaromita and Young easily. The Irishman has taken the mountain jersey, however.

Velo a comfortable winner.

Stage result:
1 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM 4h10'18
2 Ivan Santaromita QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Stephen Young TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
4 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 1'09
5 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
68 riders in lead group, among them Walsh (9th), Arroyo (13th) and Gr. Thomas (23rd)

No real changes in general classification, though Baliani fell out of top ten after helping Sella.

Points:

1 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 48
2 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER 35
3 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM 34

Mountain:

1 Stephen Young TEAM CASSON DAIRY 28
2 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM 26
3 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR 18

Two stages still to come.

 

[1-9-7-7]

Go on Shtaven!

 

[Craig]

Coming into some good form. Are there any real high mountains here for me?

 

[NZTailender]

Was hoping for a better performance personally but can't complain; at least I'm riding!


Looking forward to more races.

 

[Craig]

I should fare in the TdF if I'm picked, at least I've actually riden some of the climbs used in real life

 

[headhunter]

Get In.
Hopefully I can hold onto it over the final 2 stages.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Settimana Internazionale, Stage Five: Carpi - Finale, 184 km



A flat, dull stage in the province of Modena. Nothing to do except ensure that Fortunato Baliani, who went in the breakaway, didn't gain too much time. The break was caught with a couple of km to go, but the high pace in the peloton meant that Greg Thomas lost three minutes.

Stage result:

1 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM 4h02'50
2 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ s.t.
3 Anthony José Brea SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
4 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
5 Oscar Gatto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Geraint Thomas TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.

Greg Thomas fell to 35th overall.

Points:

1 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM 50
2 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 48
3 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ 40

Young remains in the mountain jersey.

 

[NZTailender]

Haha, one wonders how I managed to cycle on such a flat road.

 

[Craig]

Haha, one wonders how I managed to cycle on such a flat road.

Did you pull up at Macca's or something?

 

[Matteh]

Leg fell off imo.

 

[NZTailender]

Was riding backwards itbt.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Good Story mate.

Name: Michael Flaus
Date of Birth: 26/6/1990
Cycling nation: New Zealand
Specialist (One of the following five: Time Trialler, Climber, GC Rider, Sprinter, Breakaway Rider): GC Rider
Goal races (name up to three): Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, World Championships

Flat: 60
Mountain: 83
Hills: 83
Downhill: 60
Time Trial: 83
Stamina: 83
Resistance: 85
Recovery: 85
Cobblestones: 50
Fighter: 65
Sprint: 50
Acceleration: 83

Good Team effort so far. Keep up the good work particularly the Directeur Sportiff (spelling?) Samuel Vimes

 

[alternative]

Was riding backwards itbt.