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

KrisDK2017-11-04 14:00:09

Stage 1: Dubai International Marine Club - Union House Flag (145.2), flat stage

Pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "We expected to race against a lot of the pros here, and I'm not disappointed. José, Mikhel and Arnar are making thieir debuts here. We'll try to keep Yukiya in the mix, he's our leader for this race. Our sponsors are keen on us performing well here, so we need to pull off a focused effort. We wen't for being on form early, and until now it has worked like a charm. I have a feeling we can keep in up through February. Today is a sprint stage, so we'll just keep our heads low"

The first break of the race was a rather powerful attempt, as Michael Hepburn (Orica-Scott), Davide Martinelli (QuickStep), Yannick Martinez (Delko), Timo Schäfer (Bike Aid), Wesley Kreder (Wanty- Groupe Gobert), Perrig Quemenur (Direct Energie), Arnaud Gerard (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Amund Jansen (Lotto-Jumbo) and Hugo Hofstetter (Cofidis) made a serious attempt at getting away from the pack. This attempt lasted for 28 km, before Dimension Data and Aqua Blue shut it down. Two km later, Bram Tankink (Lotto-Jumbo), Arnaud Gerard (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Yoann Gene (Direct Energie) and Julien El Fares (Delko) attacked, and the pack attempted to chase, but did so half-heartedly and slowed down seven km later.

Nothing of note happened during before the intermediate sprint with 15 km to go, which Gerard won ahead of Gene and Tankink. Five km later, the break was caught.

At this time, Dimension Data and Aqua Blue were setting up their sprint trains with other teams following along. At the end, Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue) won ahead of Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) and Jempy Drucker (BMC) and Dimension Data not timing the launch of Krisitian Sbaragli well.

Jensen: "Yukiya told me he didn't feel too well today, and we could see that with a few km to go. Normally, he'd be glued to Mikhel's wheel in such a situation, but he lost a lot of positions at a bad time. That said, Yukiya and Mikhel worked extremely well together, where Mikhel placed Yukiya beautifully on Dimension Data's train. I hope Yukiya will be at his best tomorrow."

Stage 2: Dubai International Marine Club - Palm Jumeriah (185), flat stage

Pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "In a race like this, I'd like it if there was a time trial. Then Tobias would be among the favorites, even if he's better after more than 10 days of consecutive racing. The tactics are the same as yesterday. Keep our heads down, place Yukiya and let him take it home"

From the opening km, big groups were attacking and being shut down quickly. This kept happening until 18 km in, where Angelo Tulik of Direct Energie attacked and opened a gap of about a minute to the pack. This lasted for 9 km, as BMC and Aqua Blue decided to try to blow the pack apart in the crosswinds. During the confusion, Tulik was caught and somehow Yannick Martinez of Delko made a jump for it, followed by Remi Cavagna (QuickStep) and track star Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie).

The front trio pushed hard to keep the pack at bay, but looked like they were fighting a losing battle as the pack was splitting up. The split didn't last for long, as the road turned, the pack merged, and the front group was allowed to escape.

The race calmed down until 48 km to go, where Boudat won the intermediate sprint ahead of Martinez and Cavagna. 13 km later, the road turned into a new crosswind section. Aqua Blue Sport sent Lasse Norman Hansen up to set a hard pace, and the pack was quickly reduced to 61 riders while the break was caught.

The pack turned again into the finishing stretch, where lead out trains were setting up. The tactices from Red Bull-Huawei had been fairly clear at this point, have Mikhel Räim place Yukiya Arashiro on the wheel of a leadout. In this case, the Estonian champion couldn't place his Japanese captain correctly, so he opened the sprint himself, doing a perfect leadout for Arashiro who won the stage ahead of Aqua Blue's Adam Blythe and Bahrain-Merida's Niccolo Bonifazio. What appeared to be a split occured in the pack at the end, though it wasn't counted.

Jensen: "Dear race commisares: That was a fucking split! There was a clear fucking split between Consonni [13th] and Mori[14th], and yet they're given the same time. We did get a great result today with Yukiya's win, with the most phenomenal leadout I've seen in a long time by Mikhel. And Nathan Haas trying to force a crash? I hope the bastard gets disqualified. He swerwed right out in front Yukiya for no reason. I don't want to be pissed off after a win, but this is a joke"

Stage 3: Dubai International Marine Club - Hatta Dam (205 km), hilly stage

Pre race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "I'm still pissed off after yesterday, but the perspective is fairly clear. Yukiya can get in the mix in bunch sprints, and he's on exceptional form. While he's 12 seconds down on Blythe, he also has an eight second lead over Mareczko and 12 on most GC rivals. Dropping Blythe won't be easy, but Yukiya is a better rider in the hills, and we have riders who can split the pack. Yellow jerseys are like Red Bull, they can give you wings."

The attacks started early, as Red Bull-Huawei's José Luis Rodriguez tried to power away immediately after the race started. He was followed by Edvalds Siskevicius (Delko), Franck Bonnamour (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Jos Van Emden (Lotto-Jumbo), Phil Deignan (Sky), Maximillian Schachmann (QuickStep), Loïc Chetout (Cofidis), Martin Elmiger (BMC), Awet Habtom (Bike Aid), Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie) and Nuno Bico (Movistar). The 11 man group worked well together, gaining a few minutes on the Aqua Blue led pack.

Not much happened over the next 100 km, no intermediate sprints or KOM's, but with 82 km to go, Ravikant Lamare (Red Bull-Huawei) attacked from the pack and worked his way up to the leading group. 8 km later, he had made his way and started helping the group expand the lead. With 60 km to go, Chetout relayed across the intermediate sprint ahead of Tulik and Bico.

With 45 km to go for the pack, Alex Kirsch (Red Bull-Huawei) attacked on a steep section, hoping to provoke a reaction from the teams with punchy riders who and put race leader Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue) in trouble. While Team Sky and Dimension Data took the bait, Blythe held on. Rodriguez let himself get dropped from the front group in order to help Kirsch get up there, but it didn't work. He did hold off the pack for a while, until running dry, and Kirsch returned to the pack soon after.

The front group was split with 20 km to go, with the second part being absorbed by the pack not much later. Lamare put in a powerful stint at the front of the pack, until Mikel Nieve (Sky) attacked with 12 km to, soon followed by Ludvigsson and Arashiro. At the front, Elmiger attacked with the hope that he could keep everyone else at bay until the line.

Ludvigsson, Arashiro and Nieve quickly made it to the front and held off the pack until about four km to go, where the pack caught up to the trio and the riders from the morning breakaway, leaving only Elmiger in the front. Ludvigsson and Arashiro attacked again, with Ludvigsson giving it all before the climb and sitting up with 1.5 km to go. Arashiro kept his pace high and opened his sprint after catching Elmiger with half a km to go, crossing the finish line first. The pack caught up to Elmiger as well, with Nathan Haas (Dimension Data) taking second, Daniele Bennati (Movistar) taking third and Elmiger ending in fifth. Small splits were noted, and Arashiro gained 13 seconds on Haas, and 28 seconds on the pack.

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "Hold on a second. [Lamare comes over] Nice work today, Ravikant"

Lamare: "Thanks. Wanted to tell you that the splits were counted today"

Jensen: "Awesome. Thanks"

Jensen: "So we were talking about the stage today. José was happy when I told him about the tactics, and did well sparking the attack and staying up the road. At that point, it was just about getting the right man up the road. I'm not sure who made the call about sending Ravikant up the road, but it was the right call. Alex attacked at the agreed upon time, where we hoped for Dimension Data or Sky to force Blythe off the back. Sky tried to keep Alex on a leash, and eventually succeded. José was great at holding off the pack while helping Alex, though the pack foiled that part of the plan at the end. Tobias and Yukiya made the attack at the right time, and did well insisting in staying up front. Yukiya rode the last two k like a champ, timing his sprint perfectly. I didn't think there'd be a split after this stage, but the commisares weren't afriad of counting the splits today. That was a nice surprise"

Stage 4: Dubai International Marine Club - Burj Khalifa (127.6), flat stage

Jensen: "I think you know what's going to happen today".

Despite the official route description saying otherwise, today's stage started at the finish line. Any attempts at getting into the breakaway stayed quite, until 5 km in where the usual chaos started and the pack tried to determine who and how many riders would be allowed to escape.

This lasted for 15 km, until a group containing Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Loïc Chetout (Cofidis), Suleiman Kangangi (Bike Aid), Romain Lecharmand (Delko), Robin Stenuit (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Perrig Quemenur (Direct Energie), Jos Van Emden (Lotto-Jumbo), Alberto Cecchin (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) was allowed to escape, and increased their lead to about three minutes.

They cooperated, trying to keep the pack at bay, crossed the intermediate sprint at the halfway point without contesting it, Vachon being in front of the group at the time, ahead of Kangangi and Chetout.

On the final stretch, the pack caught up. Dimension Data, BMC and UAE set up their sprint trains for Sbaragli, Drucker and Kump respectively, while Arashiro tried to slot in on a sprint Kump's wheel with Räim on right behind him. Dimension Data proved to have the strongest lead out and the best sprinter on the day, as Kristian Sbaragli won by a large margin, and lead out Reinardt Janse van Rensburg finished fourth. Between them came BMC's Jempy Drucker and UAE's Marko Kump. Race leader Yukiya Arashiro (Red Bull-Huawei) took fifth ahead of his team mate Mikhel Räim.

Post race comment by RBH manager Kris Jensen: "Another successful race. I can't believe we're winning this much. Three stage races, three wins, six stage wins. The spirits are high on the team, and everyone wants to show what they're made of. It's amazing".

Author's note: Sorry for the lack of pics. Tour of Qatar, next installment, will be just as bad on this point. Then it'll improve, though I'm still trying to figure out how many/few screenshots I should be taking in ITT's.

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