Cricket Web Cycling Team

[bugssy]

good stuff.

 

[headhunter]

Can you still join this? Looks pretty gun.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Well rather the Massif Central. You better go dowhill like a rocket to rejoin the bunch.

I can't do down. I can't do up. All I can do is about 2k really really fast then I die.

 

[roseboy64]

Can you still join this? Looks pretty gun.

I'd think so.

 

[headhunter]

Name:Stephen Young
Date of Birth:26/12/90
Cycling nation:Ireland/USA
Specialist (One of the following five: Time Trialler, Climber, GC Rider, Sprinter, Breakaway Rider):Climber
Goal races (name up to three):Tour de France, Tour of Switzerland and Tour of Germany
Domestique: Millar, David


Enter values from 50 to 85 in each of these 12 parameters

Flat:69
Mountain:77
Hills:70
Downhill:73
Time Trial:55
Stamina:75
Resistance:75
Recovery:73
Cobblestones:50
Fighter:75
Sprint:50
Acceleration:78

 

[Magrat Garlick]

headhunter: Noted. Few new races starting now, so you'll have to wait your turn for a bit.

Tirreno - Adriatico

Stage One, Civitavecchia, 160 km

The hills made things special: though Reddlapalli went in the early break it was down between the big Italian one-day specialists. Riccó was first to go and undeniably the strongest, gaining a gap of 20 seconds on a group with Bettini and Sella; in the downhills things changed rapidly, though, but Riccó held on. Bettini and Sella just pipped the sprinting bunch, with Fensome a surprising fifth, just beaten by Astarloa in the mass sprint. Hoy claimed sixth for a decent, but unsuccessful day.

Stage result:
1 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 3h58'53
2 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 29
3 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
4 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
5 Alex Fensome TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
6 Nathan Hoy TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
7 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
9 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
10 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ s.t.
44 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
50 George Roberts TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
56 David Kennett TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
77 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
127 Gert Steegmans TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 7'13
132 David Pares TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 10'01

General classification:
1 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 3h58'43
2 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 33
3 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 35
4 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 37
5 Giuseppe Muraglia ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO + 38
6 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM + 39
7 Alex Fensome TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
8 Nathan Hoy TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.

Points classification:
1 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 12
2 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 10
3 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 8
4 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM 7
5 Alex Fensome TEAM CASSON DAIRY 6

Mountains classification:
1 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY 8
2 Pietro Caucchioli CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 5
3 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 5

Fixture list (to help me to get through stuff as well as providing you guys with some idea):

Tonight: Paris - Nice Stage 4
Tomorrow: Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 2 & 3, Paris - Nice Stage 5
Monday: Paris - Nice Stage 6
Wednesday: Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 4
Thursday: Paris - Nice Final Stage

Then stages 5 & 6 and Milano - San Remo before the end of the week.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Paris - Nice

Stage 4, Maurs - Mende, 169.5 km

That last climb is a killer. A bit of up and down early too, which along with mountain points led to early chaos and high pace. Eventually seven men broke free, including Gray: also Rinero (FRA, Saunier Duval), Mourey (FRA, FDJeux), Joachim (LUX, Astana), Bernucci (ITA, T-Mobile), Bono (ITA, Lampre) and Failli (ITA, Liquigas). The group got a seven-minute lead before Discovery, once again, rallied for Hincapie. Gray earned the mountain points and shook off Bono and Failli at the third mountain sprint; a second attack began with 90 km to go, where Kohl (AUT, Gerolsteiner) gained nearly two minutes on the main group, followed by Arrieta (ESP, AG2R), Voeckler and Arvesen. However, only Kohl could hold off the Discovery & Cofidis train on the flat, and with 60 km to go Gray's group clung to a four-minute lead, while Kohl had only 40 seconds left on the peloton.

Gray, in mountain jersey, clinging on - Bernucci, in T-Mobile's pink, tricking us...

The five in front rode well, but were caught just before the hill finish. At the top of the first peak, Sánchez Gonzalez (ESP, Euskaltel) attacked, and stage favourite Valverde (ESP, Caisse d'Epargne) followed in his wheel, as well as the hosting nation's favourites Casar (FDJeux) and Moncoutié (Cofidis).

With hindsight, Malone should have attacked before and got these guys with him instead of the other way around; it now became a desperate, unsuccessful downhill chase. Valverde had everything made for him after following Sanchez' wheel; below he is seen leaving his group.

Malone is in fourth, attempting a long but unsuccessful rush. He finished far back in the bunch, while Voigt was best for Casson Dairy.

Stage result:

1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h10'23
2 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 26
3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
4 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 55
5 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
6 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
7 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ s.t.
8 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
9 Stéphane Goubert AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
15 Bugs Malone TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
58 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 2'57
86 Jamee Gray TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 4'22
88 Steffen Wesemann TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 4'37
131 Neil Pickup TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 13'57
132 Mathew Mitchell TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
139 Heath Te-Ihi-O-Te-Rangi Davis TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 15'19

General classification:

1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 17h40'43
2 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 33
3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 35
4 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 58
5 Bradley McGee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'06
6 Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1'07
7 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1'08
8 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
9 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'09
10 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
30 Bugs Malone TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'37
66 Steffen Wesemann TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 5'07
79 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 6'40
102 Jamee Gray TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 12'30
122 Neil Pickup TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 18'03
123 Heath Te-Ihi-O-Te-Rangi Davis TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 18'22
144 Mathew Mitchell TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 27'44

Points classification:

1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 81
2 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER 61
3 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 57

Mountains classification:

1 Jamee Gray TEAM CASSON DAIRY 25
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 17
3 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY 12

 

[alternative]

Awesome.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Tirreno - Adriatico

Stage 2, Civitavecchia - Marsciano, 202km

Only five mountain points available, so it should be easy to defend Reddlapalli's mountain jersey. Aiming for a mass sprint even though there's a couple of steep hills around 60km from the finish. The early stages gave breaks which Casson Dairy did not want to involve themselves in; Egoi Martínez (ESP, Discovery), who had lost five minutes in yesterday's stage, and Frank Høj (DAN, Cofidis) were the most famous names of the 14 that got away. This group split into two on the first climb, with a front group of nine.

No Casson Dairy rider here

The maximum lead was seven minutes, but Saunier Duval worked well to defend their jersey, to such an extent that they shook off Pares in the 6km long and 6 % steep San Tereziano. Fensome attempted to help but was unsuccessful. Thus, it was all up to Hoy, after an unsuccessful suicide attack by Kennett. The finish was, however, tailormade for the high-pace specialists: Boonen led out Bettini for Quick Step, while on his right Bennati rallied with a long sprint. Ultimately, though, it was Freire who took the sprint after jumping from Bennati's wheel.

Freire, in orange, makes the decisive jump.

Stage result:
1 Oscar Freire RABOBANK 4h48'42
2 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
4 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Aitor Perez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Tom Boonen QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM s.t.
9 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
18 Nathan Hoy TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
45 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
56 David Kennett TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
68 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
78 George Roberts TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
121 Alex Fensome TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 5'49
135 David Pares TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
137 Gert Steegmans TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.

General classification:
1 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 8h47'25
2 Oscar Freire RABOBANK + 29
3 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 33
7 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 37

Points classification:
1 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 17
2 Oscar Freire RABOBANK 12
3 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 12

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Paris - Nice

Stage 5, Sorgues - Manosque 180km

2183 metres of total elevation makes this a decent mountain stage, even without the longest climbs. The 10km Col de Murs was challenging enough, and threw off three flat riders; Gray went in another breakaway to secure more mountain points. A strong 8-man group included Mauricio Ardila (COL, Rabobank), Josep Jufre (BEL, Predictor), Alexander Botcharov (RUS, Crédit Agricole) and Serge Baguet (BEL, QuickStep).

With a lead of three minutes at the 20 km mark, they seemed good enough. Jufre pulled hard on the final climb, and Gray was the only one who could follow him in the steep climbs; Baguet also hooked on late. However, in the downhill, a breakaway group which Malone just hooked onto caught up with the breakawayees; Gray sprinted too early while Malone was never in contention, though at least he didn't lose any time.

Stage result:
1 Josep Jufre PREDICTOR - LOTTO 4h26'47
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
3 Serge Baguet QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Jamee Gray TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
6 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
7 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
8 Andrea Tonti QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Bugs Malone TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
10 Benjamin Noval DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
11 Hubert Dupont AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
34 Steffen Wesemann TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
36 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
65 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
153 Heath Te-Ihi-O-Te-Rangi Davis TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 18'52
159 Neil Pickup TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
160 Mathew Mitchell TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.

General classification:

1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 22h07'30
2 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 33
3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 35
4 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TELECOM + 1'32
5 Andrea Tonti QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 1'35
6 Bugs Malone TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'37
7 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 2'31
8 Bradley McGee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'39
9 Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 2'40
10 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 2'41

A podium still possible.

Mountain classification:

1 Jamee Gray TEAM CASSON DAIRY 32
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 17

No change in the points.

 

[headhunter]

headhunter: Noted. Few new races starting now, so you'll have to wait your turn for a bit.

No problem, cheers

 

[Jamee999]

Oooh! I'm doing well!

 

[Neil Pickup]

This race make legs hurt.

 

[David]

Those mountainous stages look awesome.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Tirreno - Adriatico

Marsciano - Macerata, 213 km

A circuit around the Macerata hill ends the day; four climbs towards the finish makes the stage sent for Fensome among others. Reddlapalli joined the early break to defend the mountain jersey, and got a lead of 12 minutes along with Laurent (FRA, Crédit Agricole), Trusov (RUS, Tinkoff) and Kopp (GER, Gerolsteiner).

The next break came at 130 km. Simon Gerrans (AUS, AG2R) attempted the long attack on Saunier Duval's tired racers, and was joined by Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA, FDJ) and Sergei Ivanov (RUS, AST). More riders attempted to join at the first ascent of the Macerata, and by the first peak the situation was thus:

Group Reddlapalli
Franco Pellizotti (ITA, Liquigas) @ 2'30
Nathan Hoy, Linus Gerdemann (GER, T-Mobile), Carlos Sastre (ESP, CSC), Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA, Panaria), Guiseppe Guerini (ITA, T-Mobile) @ 3'
Ruggero Marzoli (ITA, Tinkoff), Fabian Wegmann (GER, Gerolsteiner) @ 3'20
Wim Van Huffel (BEL, Predictor-Lotto), Paolo Tiralongo (ITA, Lampre) @ 3'35
SDV-led peloton @ 3'50

Poor cooperation in Hoy's group meant the Australian gambled on a stunt to catch Pellizotti on the flat. This worked to an extent, as the two were together 40 seconds ahead of the peloton; at the second climb Hoy managed to pull away further, despite Quick Step joining Saunier Duval in helping. At the second peak, Laurent, Kopp and Trusov had one minute on Hoy and Reddlapalli, who had fallen off; the peloton remained quiet 2'10 behind.

When Boonen began working, however, Hoy had little chance. The group was caught at 30 km to the finish, and it was time to play the second card.

The decisive attack

At the third ascent of the Macerata, Walsh went in Marzoli (ITA, Tinkoff)'s wheel when the Italian attacked. But so did race leader, Riccó, and thus also Bettini, leaving Fensome with no helpers and forced to attack as well. Riccó was, however, dominant, taking a 15-second lead up the climb ahead of Walsh and Marzoli. Fensome was in group three with Bettini, Zabriskie and Gilbert.

Bettini pulled away from the five-man group with Walsh and Fensome on the flat, and was just 15 seconds behind Riccó into the Macerata. Here, however, Fensome was at his strongest.

Attacking with plenty of power, he easily left the group, and joined Bettini with a kilometre to go. Riccó, however, had simply got too much in the tank.

Stage result:
1 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 5h05'26
2 Alex Fensome TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 13
3 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM + 59
5 Dmitri Muravjev ASTANÁ s.t.
6 Juan-Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
7 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
8 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
9 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
17 David Kennett TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
18 George Roberts TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
23 Nathan Hoy TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
108 Gert Steegmans TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 8'08
120 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 11'20
163 David Pares TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 20'08

General classification:
1 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 13h52'51
2 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 46
3 Oscar Freire RABOBANK + 1'28
4 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 1'34
5 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM + 1'38
6 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
7 Nathan Hoy TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
8 Dmitri Muravjev ASTANÁ s.t.
9 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
21 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
23 David Kennett TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
32 George Roberts TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.

Mountain:
1 Manjunath Reddlapalli TEAM CASSON DAIRY 18
2 Christophe Laurent CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 11
3 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 10

 

[Chubb]

Damn, so close but yet so far.

 

[alternative]

Oh yeh!

 

[Josh]

Can't be displeased with our form.

 

[Craig]

Liked my 11th place, building my form nicely especially to go with the key break to start off with. What is the next important stage race before the Ardennes Classics, Tour of the Basque Country I assume?

 

[nibbs]

what game is this? looks really cool.