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

KrisDK2017-11-04 06:37:13

Stage 5: Juana Colsay-La Carolina (164.4 km), mountain stage

Pre race comment to bikenews.net by RBH manager Kris Jensen: “The only outright mountainous stage of the race, and we’re in a great position with both Amaro and Jurgen. Amaro is our primary rider now, though I want Jurgen highly placed in the GC for as long as possible. I think the tactics should be obvious, ensure that no threats get in the break. Antoine and Ahmet are to do a lot of the gruntwork before the mountain, while Jan and Tobias are going to make it hard for would-be breakaways on the climb”

The attack of the day came after 10 km, and consisted of Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Salvatore Puccio (Sky), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Jumbo), Ivan Sosa (Androni-Sidermec). The Red Bull-Huawei led peloton did not object to this attack, which quickly managed to build a two minute lead. The attack stayed together, and didn’t contest the intermediate sprint with 77 km to go, where Puccio crossed the line first.

With 50 km to go, Androni-Giacattoli decided to help out in setting the pace in the pack, cooperating with Red Bull-Huawei. 8 km later, fourth placed Kanstantin Siutsou (Bahrain-Merida) attacked, forcing Red Bull and Androni to relay hard. More attacks followed on that flat section, which were shut down one by one.

The climb began with 25 km to go. The four man group up front had a 1.30 lead, and Tobias Ludvigsson (Red Bull-Huawei) took over pace setting in the pack, which shattered under Ludvigsson’s hard pace, resulting in the four man group up front being caught one by one.

With 1.5 km left on the climb, and 20.5 km left of the stage, Ludvigsson and the toughest climbers from the pack had caught up to the final survivor of the early break, Salvatore Puccio. The front group now was Ludvigsson, yellow jersey Amaro Antunes, his team mate Jurgen Van Den Broeck (all Red Bull-Huawei), Franco Pelizotti (Bahrain-Merida) and white jersey Valerio Conti (UAE). Ludvigsson continued his high pace, and reached the top with Antunes on his wheel and everyone else dropped. 30 seconds down were the other riders in the formerly mentioned group, and 30 seconds behind them a third group.

Ludvigsson and Antunes worked together on the 19 km plateau section to La Carolina, while the second group didn’t work together. Not even after a merge 6.5 km after the top of the climb that increased the size of the group to 13.

With 7.5 km to go for Ludvigsson and Antunes, 10 km to go for the second group, Laurens De Plus (QuickStep) took charge of setting the pace in the second group, attempting to reduce the three minute lead the two riders up front had gotten.

Ludvigsson crossed the finish line first, with both Red Bull-Huawei riders raising their arms in victory. A little more than 2.30 later, Conti won the sprint for third on the stage.

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: “I’m still trying to understand what I just watched. A good performance from Antoine and Ahmet, keeping the break in line. Ahmet and Jan put in strong shift keeping the other GC contenders line when attacking before the mountain. Tobias took the lead up the mountain to discourage attacks and grind down GC contenders to set up Jurgen or Amaro. The result is Tobias and Amaro leading over the KOM with a 30 second lead over the Jurgen group. What happens in the Jurgen group? Nothing. You have a rival and his team mate up the road, and you do nothing. The next group comes up. Still nothing until we led by three minutes. I think it’s time for Brian Holm [DS for the QuckStep Floors team] to break out the good old-fashioned bike pump, considering his team was one of the few to have domestiques around in the second group.”

Stage 6: Quines - Mirador del Sol (163.5 km), medium mountain stage

pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "I'm still completely shaken after yesterday. Two on the podium and Tobias in fourth, and Amaro leading every competition, with a Red Bull - Huawei rider in second. Cycling can be a cruel sport, so the objective is still not to get greedy, ride smart and keep Amaro in yellow. Anything else comes second."

The first attack of the day become the morning breakaway; with Robert Power (Orica-Scott), Paul Martens (Lotto-Jumbo) and Christian Knees (Sky) attacking early. Of those riders, Knees was placed the highest in the GC, being over 14 minutes behind race leader Amaro Antunes (Red Bull-Huawei).

Power took the category 2 climb after 38 km ahead of Knees. Three minutes later, Mathew Hayman (Orica-Scott) and Perrig Quemenur (Direct Energie) took the points for the last two places, dropping back to the pack afterwards.

The intermediate sprints which came with 61 and 39 km to go, and both times the break didn't care about it, having the relaying rider take the point (Knees and Power respectively).

The final climb started with 9 km to go, and the break had an 8 minute lead, meaning the the winner would likely be found between the three.

With 7 km to go for the pack, Arnold Jeanneson (Fortuneo-Oscaro) attacked, though it didn't spark much of a reaction. A few km and even more minutes up front, the break stuck together.

Two km later, Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida) and Beñat Intxausti (Sky) attacked and bridged the gap up to Jeanneson.

With 3.5 km to go, Ruben Fernandez (Movistar) attacked, which led to the gap between the Pellizotti group and the pack being closed, which was followed by a counter by Jeanneson. Further up the road, the break had about 1 km to go, where Power looked like he was about to get dropped.

From the break, Martens won ahead of Knees with Power coming in almost 30 seconds down. In the pack, with 2 km to go, the pack split, behind which third placed Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Red Bull-Huawei) got caught and lost nearly a minute.

Jeanneson took fourth on the stage, eight seconds ahead of Ruben Fernandez who won the sprint for fifth in the pack.

Jensen: "Amaro and Tobias have started their seasons in extremely good form, and that shows. I talked to Jan after the stage, he's taken a road captain role for this race, and he told me that everyone except Tobias didn't have good legs. Tobias and Amaro overcame it through their form, while Jurgen, who isn't in as good form, dropped off the podium. Jurgen is disappointed, but he isn't supposed to be in nearly as good form as Tobias or Amaro at this point, so he's taking it well."

Stage 7: San Luis - Juana Coslay (150.5 km), flat stage

Pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "It's the final day, and a flat stage. It's a well known procedure at this point, keep the breakaway on a leash and let the sprinters go in for closing and the stage win. Ahmet is going to get in the mix today"

The stage started under the 10 km banner riding out to a flat lap outside of Ciudad de San Luis. The early attack came, containing Ivan Sosa (Androni-Sidermec), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Mikel Aristi (Delko), Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Matej Mohoric (UAE), Jeremy Cornu (Direct Energie) and Sergio Higuita (Manzana Postobon).

There were a KOM and an intermediate sprint early on, coming at 7.5 km and 13.5 respectively, which were claimed by the relaying rider, in both cases Cornu. Otherwise, the breakaway worked well together, expanding the lead to 3 minutes against an Red Bull-Huawei led pack.

With 86 km to go, Higuita took the second intermediate sprint by virtue of relaying in the break.

The break was caught by the Orica-Scott led back at the starting line, and ORS timed and set up their sprint train perfectly to set up Luka Mezgec for a dominant victory ahead of Marko Kump (UAE) and Daniele Bennati (Movistar).

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "Another race and another fantastic performance by the team. Two stages, top tens on every stage, the overall and mountains classifications, a rider in third and a sprinter showing his potential. I think I've said all there is to say at this moment."

Pictures of the podiums: Amaro Antunes (Red Bull-Huawei, winner of the overall classification), Luka Mezgec (Orica-Scott, winner of the points classification), Amaro Antunes (Red Bull-Huawei, winner of the KOM classification), Valerio Conti (UAE, winner of the youth classification), A Red Bull-Huawei rider (winner of the team classification).

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