Live Blogs Pro Cycling Manager 2014, 29 flags challenge (starts in 2017 season)

KrisDK2017-11-04 06:23:23

Stage 1: San Luis - Villa Mercedes (165 km), flat stage

Pre race comment from RBH manager Kris Jensen: "First stage of San Luis. A sprinter stage, which Örken is going to make his attempt at, though he won’t see much assistance from the team today. Our sponsors find this race important, and want us to get a good general classification result, which Amaro and Jurgen are here to target. Otherwise, there’s the time trial, which Tobias, Jurgen and Jan have good chances of winning"

The early breakaway wasn’t as much one attempt as it was three separate attempts that never grouped up, and the ones who didn’t make the front of the race were swept up by Orica-Scott. The first break of the day, the one that wasn’t swept up, contained Bram Tankink (Lotto-Jumbo), Jonas Koch (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) and Remy Di Gregorio (Delko). With 100 km to go, the trio had a six minute lead, which would only decrease from then.

The first intermediate sprint took place with 79 km to go, which Koch won ahead of Di Gregorio and Tankink. The second intermediate sprint was only 12 km later, and had the same result.

Orica-Scott looked like a team that was out to practice their sprint train. While Caleb Ewan is going to take part in Tour Down Under, Orica-Scott had lined up a more than regularly competent team for that job with Svein Tuft, Chris Juul, Mathew Hayman, Roger Kluge and Luka Mezgec; the latter being the main sprinter for this race. The Orica-Scott team timed their leadout perfectly, and Mezgec took the stage ahead of Iljo Keisse (QuickStep) and Benjamin Giraud (Delko).

Post race comment from RBH manager Kris Jensen: “This stage was exactly as expected. Small break, sprint finish. Everyone got to the end well, and Ahmet got to try himself against a couple of World Tour sprinters. He might not have chosen the right train to ride, but learning takes time and a sixth place isn’t bad”

Stage 2: Tilisarao – Terrazas del Portezuelo (174.4 km), flat stage

Pre race comment from RBH manager Kris Jensen: "Another sprint stage, and the tactics are the same as yesterday. Keep Amaro and Jurgen out of the wind, and Ahmet has decided to see if he can latch on to the Orica sprint train"

As always, the first attack came early, but the five man move was immediately shut down by Canadian veteran Svein Tuft (Orica-Scott). It took another 18 km before Matteo Malcuelli (Androni-Sidermec) and Jos Van Emden (Lotto-Jumbo) attacked, an attack that almost immediately gained a minute and became the breakaway of the day. A three man attack tried to bridge, but Tuft shut down down.

The KOM of the day came after 50 km, which Malcuelli took ahead of Van Emden, earning him the first KOM lead of the race. Perrig Quemenur attacked from the pack to take the final KOM point. 25 km later, with 100 km to go, was the first intermediate sprint, which Malcuelli also won ahead of Van Emden. This time, UAE, Dimension Data and QuickStep lined up to take the final two points, which Marko Kump (UAE) took after some arguably dirty sprinting, blocking off Iljo Keisse (QuickStep).

The next intermediate sprint came with 18 km to the line, and yet again Malcuelli took the points ahead of Van Emden. This time, Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) took advantage of the descent leading to the sprint, launching from a distance and taking the last two points.

With 4 km to go, Van Emden attacked and gapped Malcuelli while the leadout trains of UAE, QuickStep and Orica were setting up. The sprint trains went in hard to catch the breakaway, with Malcuelli being caught 1.5 km from the line and lead out men launching early. Daniele Bennati (Movistar) and Ahmet Örken (Red Bull-Huawei) had taken place behind Marko Kump (UAE) and Luka Mezgec (Orica-Scott) respectively, while the two launched their sprint early. Bennati and Örken came from behind, letting their rivals eat wind, to overtake Van Emden and finish first and second respectively in a close finish, with Luka Mezgec taking third and defending his position as the leader of the race.

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: “Fairly uneventful stage, which is good at the moment. The sprint came down to Ahmet and Bennati, which the Italian won. I suppose that’s the difference between 15 years of experience at the very highest level of the sport, and a newcomer at pro conti level. Ahmet did good, hopping wheels and landing in a near ideal position on Mezgec’ wheel. Orica messed up timing their leadout a bit, which was definitely Ahmet’s advantage, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was some good wheel hopping he did to get into that position, and he earned that high finish. He earned the white jersey for tomorrow.”

Stage 3: La Punta – Mirador del Potrero (143.1 km), medium mountain

Pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "Let’s get the negative events out of the way, there’s no way Ahmet is retaining that white jersey. For the positive notes, we have two outside candidates for the stage win in Jurgen and Amaro. Tobias and Jan may even be competitive if they have an exceptionally good day. The tactics are simple, keep Amaro and Jurgen out of trouble until Potrero and then it’s up to them to take home a stage result."

Manuele Mori (UAE) hit the attack immediately after the stage started. A km later, a big attack followed, which was immediately shut down by Dimension Data.

11 km in, Murilo Affonso (SOU) and Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Huawei) hit the break, and made the way up to Mori. In the pack, chaos ensured with attacks all over the place, but the trio up front managed to stay ahead and take the intermediate sprint. The other attacks were shut down, and the pack set into a less hard pace.

With 82 km to go, the first KOM (category 3) came, which Mori outsprinted Affonso for, while Tratnik refused to sprint and worked his way up to his breakaway companions.

Orica-Scott had taken a hard stint on the flat before the category 3 climb, and decided to set a high pace on the category 1 climb, which cut the breakaway’s read down to two minutes. In the breakaway, Mori and Tratnik were taking turns while Affonso were sitting in the wheels of his companions.

At the top of the climb, Mori initiated his sprint which Affonso tried to counter and Tratnik taking Affonso’s wheel. Mori got his lead and decided to slow down to save himself. Tratnik countered Affonso, caught up to Mori and took the KOM sprint.

During the descent and the following flat section, Mori and Tratnik worked to retain their lead with Affonso sitting on. At the second intermediate sprint, despite not doing any work, Affonso decided to sprint and take the six point and earning some harsh words from Mori and Tratnik.

With 22 km to go, a seven man group attacked from the pack, containing Remy Di Gregorio and Mauro Finetto (both Delko), Maciej Paterski and Simone Ponzi (both CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Bernado Suaza (Manzana Postobon), Perrig Quemenur (Direct Energie), and Paul Martens (Lotto-Jumbo). In the attack, Mori could see what would happen and went solo. The break made it up to Tratnik and Affonso, which led Tratnik to sit up. At this point, Red Bull-Huawei were relaying hard to catch the seven man group. Ponzi and Finetto saw what was happening and bridged up to Mori.

The final climb started with 4 km to go, where Amaro Antunes (Red Bull-Huawei) bridged the gap up to Ponzi, Finetto and Mori, with Dries Devenyns (QuickStep) riding everyone else off his wheel and briding the gap. Finetto was dropped soon after.

The pack got reduced to a few select rider, and with 2.5 km to go, three riders were up ahead with a group of seven chasing them. This lasted for a km before Devenyns attacked from the lead group. Antunes tried to pace himself back, which was too much for Ponzi who stopped riding and fell back.

Antunes eventually made his way up to Devenyns, and won the sprint for the stage. In the second group, 54 seconds back, Valerio Conti (UAE) beat Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Red Bull-Huawei) for third, with five other riders getting the same time.

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: “Most managers would trade a white jersey for a yellow, and I’m no exception. Jokes aside, the team did another great job. Jan went in the break, trying to take the KOM jersey, which he did. I have no idea how the hell the race organizers could think Mori should have it. They’re on equal points, but Jan won the cat 1, that should be the tiebreaker. I have to show my deepest respect for Ahmet’s performance today. He came into the stage wearing white with two good results, and he worked hard for the team today, getting water and a long hard pull to catch that seven man break with about 20 km to go. I have no idea what Orica were doing, increasing the pace when Ahmet was down getting water and lowering it again afterwards. That’s just unsportsmanlike. Get your shit together guys. Jan did almost everything right. He was caught out a bit on the first KOM, but after Mori’s attack, he did was he was supposed to, waited for the seven man group, did nothing there, and took over the work as soon as his group was caught. Amaro was fantastic. An immediate attack turned into powerful riding, with a clever finish where he let Devenyns overexert. I hope he can defend his lead tomorrow”

Stage 4: San Luis - San Luis (19.1 km), flat ITT

Pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: “Our first time trial. I hope Tobias, Jurgen and Jan are well rested after yesterday. They have decent chances of taking home a good result. Amaro is on the defensive, with Sepulveda, Devenyns, Siutsou and Jurgen behind him, while Jurgen’s job is to gain some places. Amaro is on great form though, so he might just pull something off.”

It was time for a time trial today, and after the early riders had completed the course, Svein Tuft of the Orica-Scott team had the leading time. It would stand for a while, until Movistar’s British champion Alex Dowsett took the lead. A few minutes later, Lotto NL-Jumbo’s Jos Van Emden set a time which was only a second slower. Afterwards, a few riders came within 20 seconds of Dowsett, but the Brit held the hot seat.

The final ten riders were to determine who would have the yellow jersey after the time trial, with Dries Devenyns of the QuickStep Floors team expected to gain eight seconds on Amaro Antunes of Red Bull-Huawei, and hold off Kanstantin Siutsou of Bahrain-Merida, Eduardo Sepulveda of Fortuneo-Oscaro and Jurgen Van Den Broeck of Red Bull-Huawei. Of the general classification contenders, Jurgen Van Den Broeck came in two seconds slower than Dowsett and took third on the stage. Siutsou came in 19 seconds down, while Sepulveda lost 33 seconds to Dowsett and more importantly 31 seconds to Van Den Broeck. Franco Pelizotti managed to only lose 32 seconds on the time trial. Antunes defied expectations by beating Devenyns by 26 seconds, finishing ninth after Dowsett, taking time from most of his GC rivals and defending his race lead.

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: “Wow. Just wow. Everyone put in a good performance. Ahmet blew up, and Antoine isn’t much of a time trialist, but four guys in top 10 is amazing. Jurgen was two seconds from his first win at Red Bull-Huawei, and Jan put in a strong effort desipte being a bit tired from yesterday. Tobias finished sixth today, and he told me afterwards that he didn’t feel that he was at his best. If that’s so, I look forward to seeing him at his best. Amaro finished ninth in what might have been his best time trial performance ever, not only defending his lead but in fact expanding on everyone except Siutsou and Jurgen. I’m happy with our performance so far, but there are still two hard days left”

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