Hi all,

Well Eneco Tour is all over and it was a tuff 8 days, 1200km in 6 days!

It all started out well with the prologue kicking off and I ran 22nd which I was happy with, I done a very good time and my power over the 5km course was right up there with some of my best numbers.

Stage 1 kicked off with a 180km stage that was pretty flat but a fair bit of wind, the bunch split to pieces in the last 10km with small roads and lots of wind, unfortunately I wasn’t in the front part of the split but before it split I helped Tony Martin get from the back to the front which kept him in overall contention.

Stage 2 was another long flat day of 200km, once again Garmin-Transitions were on the front controlling the pace all day until 20km to go. It was all set to be a big bunch finish and with 7km to go our team got on the front and started to get a grip on the race. The whole team was up the front and we done a great job helping Andre Grieple stay at the front out of trouble and eventually win the stage.

Stage 3 was the hardest of the whole tour for me. I came within an inch of stepping off the bike and going home. Not only was it the hardest stage of the tour, I was having a bad day on the bike and it was another 200km stage that raced around the same roads as Amstel Gold Race. I was dropped with about 70km to go up one of the many hills with about 15 other guys and as we came around past the finish, still with 50km to go 11 of the 15 pulled out of the race and 4 of us were left by ourselves! Normally this wouldn’t be the end of the world, but we were all absolutely stuffed and still had 4 climbs to go including 2 cobbled climbs which frankly, just suck! Anyway, we struggled on riding nearly as hard as we could just to make it within the time limit and finally caught the next group in front of us with 10km to go and made it to the finish banner, a very welcomed sight for sore legs. It was a nice surprise that when I got back to the bus I found out that Tony Martin had came 2nd in the stage and taken over the over race lead.

Stage 4 was a relief for the head after a really hard stage the day before. Although, it was the hardest first hour of a race I have even done in my life. We averaged over 51kph for the first 50km including lots of little rises in the road and we could not just sit on because we had the leaders jersey so we had to stay on the front chasing down any rider that was close to Tony on the overall, but finally a small group of guys went away that were not up there and we let them go. It was a BIG relief when that finally happened! After that it was just the general ride to the finish with the speed really ramping up for the last 70km. A great sprint win by Greg Henderson on this stage.

Stage 5 and my legs were actually getting better. Yet again it was a tuff stage with lots of climbing and a hard start. After the break went it was my day to sit on the front and bring back the break away. It was a nice change but a hard one, but I am pleased to say I done a good job and got through until the 150km mark until team SKY went on the attack through the mountains and I got dropped along with another big group of guys, after that it was just survival to the finish. A great day for the Aussies with Jack Bobridge winning the stage and in other places around the globe Matt Goss won GP Plouay in France which was a big win!

Stage 6 was the 6th day in a row of nearly 200km and although my legs were sore in a strange way I was feeling better again then the day before! Once again after the break went I was on the front churning away like a diesel. It was a SUPER windy day, at some points I was sitting on the front at 22kph at 350 watts. Today’s stage followed the roads of Fleche Wallone which is the race that Cadel Evans won earlier this year, so it was a tough route with lots of hills again. I rode well again today sitting on the front all the way until the main hill of the day, the Mur de Huy where the bunch went nuts and split in half. From hear it was a nice cruise into the finish for the next 40km with a big bunch of guys. Andre Grieple won the stage and Tony Martin held his overall lead going into the last stage which was a TT.

Stage 7 was the individual time trial and it was essentially a day off for me. A was the 2nd to go off and I went really easy. After that it was a matter of sitting around waiting to watch Tony race and take eventually take out not only the race but the overall race victory.
All in all, a bloody hard but good tour. One that gave me some good and bad memory’s and taught me some hard learnt lessons.

Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted on my next races.

Well all I can say about today, is that I was glad to see the finish line!

It may have only been 130km long, but it was one of the harder days I’ve had on a bike. All was going well until the main mountain started at about the 80km mark and all of a sudden I fell into a big hole (not literally). My energy levels went down really fast and I was struggling to turn the pedals over at some points. Eventually I got to the top of the stupid thing and descended down the other side catching a group of about 10 riders on my way down and just followed them into the finish line. Even following the group into the finish was a struggle at some points though, I was so stuffed that I kept going back to the car just to get ’sticky’ biddons.

On the bright side of things, team mate TJ Van Garderen got 7th in the stage and moved up to 4th overall in the general classification and also won the young riders jersey. It was a nice way to finish off the tour with a bit of success.

Next up on the racing calander for me is Benelux Tour also known as Enico Tour which starts on Tuesday with a 5.2km prologue. Hopefully I can pull something out and do well in that. It is going to be a good experience for me being my first Pro Tour race and also having Andre Grieple and Mark Renshaw there for the sprints will be good and also Tony Martin for the overall classification.

Until next week,

ciao.

First thing I have to say about today’s stage is that it was a LOT harder than it looked on paper and by the results sheet.

It took 50km of non stop attacks and an average of just under 50km/hr before a break away of 3 riders finally went clear. Then as no team wanted to ride on the front, the whole bunch pretty much stopped or along until the break had a 10min lead on us and then finally FDJ got on the front and absolutely smashed it. As everyone had gone into a relaxed state and wasn’t ready for it, it caught everyone off guard and a lot of people weren’t happy about it. Non the less, this high pace continued and the gap to the front riders came down quickly. We went over the first 2 main climbs of the day quite fast and I stayed in the bunch comfortably and as we hit the bottom of the main 1st catergory climb with about 40km to go I just joined the groupetto and cruised into the finish.

Both of our GC riders Marco Pinotti and TJ Van Garderen stayed in the front group and are waiting to fight it out on tomorrows penultimate climb up to Col du Grand Colombier. It is going to be a tuff stage and I think the final general classification should be decided there.

I’ll keep you posted tomorrow on how it pans out!

Ciao.

Well it was another pretty cruisy day in the bunch. A reasonably fast start with a bit of wind caused a bit of trouble, but nothing that was going to split the race in half. Fortunately, team mate Alex Saramontins got into the break with Tour de France stage winner Thomas Voeckler and a Kazakhstan rider. It wasn’t looking at all promising for the break away riders with both Voeckler and the Kazak rider getting dropped by Alex with 30km to go and with still 20km to go he was only at 1 minute, not exactly ideal. With the bunch still holding a high pace into the final 10km, I think everyone underestimated the strength of Alex and coming into the last 3km Alex still had 15 seconds lead on us it was starting to look good. Unfortunately there was a short, but very hard climb up to the finish and Alex was swamped with 200m to go.

I was in a good position coming into the climb with 500m to go, but a combination of getting boxed in a little and still not on 100% form caused me to drop back a little. But non the less I was still happy to be up there in the mix and again today feeling that little bit better than yesterday!

The next 2 days are set to be the deciding days for the GC riders with 5 KOM’s tomorrow and the following day has the HC (Hors Category) climb in it. I think it will be my job to just stay around our GC hopes and help out when possible.
Until tomorrow goodbye.

It was a nice way to start back racing after over a month away from it. I very relaxed start and generally a cruisy day.

Only with 30km to go did it get really hard with a 10km Category 2 climb climb wacked in there, it wasn’t going to be my day. I was feeling ok all day, but still not up to the level of getting over with the front group. I wasn’t to stressed though as I knew it was going to be hard with the small amount of preparation I’ve had to do well on today’s stage.

Tomorrows another day and fingers crossed it will be mine!

Well it’s been a really hard last month for me both on and off the bike, but I’m back on the track and into some racing again!

After what was a hard but successful Tour of Austria for the team I headed straight up to do some altitude training in the Swiss Alps. It was the first time I had tried this out and unfortunately this time round didn’t work out so well and has affected my last part of the season heavily. I came down with the virus about 2-3 days after arriving up there and have been having problems with it ever since.

But on the upside, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is now a month on from when it first started and the last 3-4 days I have seen some big improvements. My blood values have come up and in general just feeling more energetic.

I have just arrived at the Tour de l’Ain in France and have just finished the Prologue. Not the best result, but not to bad considering the lack of preparation.

Will keep you posted.

All done and dusted for Ster Elektrotoer and once again it was very enjoyable and successful for the team.

Adam held onto the overall leaders jersey winning his first ever overall tour victory and Andre came 3rd in the stage and in the process picked up the green sprint jersey.

The stage was pancake flat but with a little bit of wind. We controlled the race from the start, letting 3 riders slip off the front within the first 15km and after they gained a couple of minutes we rode on the front controlling the pace right through until the 100km mark. After that Team SKY and another couple of teams joined us on the front and began to ramp up the pace and reel in the 3 breakaway riders.

With about 15km to go we had caught all the riders out front. It was a pretty chaotic finish with a hard right hand corner being only 450m from the line, so it was a big dog fight going into that. Luckily Andre made it through safely, but was a bit to far back o take out the stage. Non the less a great result.

So, at this stage I still don’t know when my next race is as the second half of the year has not been decided, but as soon as I know I will post it.

Thanks and goodbye.

Adam Hansen takes the stage and overall race lead!

It was a great day for the team, in particular Adam Hansen taking his first win for the season and in the process taking the overall race lead.

It was a super hard stage, racing through the Liege region in the French part of Belguim which always means hills! The first 30km was all up hill and was super hard, I averaged nearly 400 watts for the first 45min of racing which is quite high and boy could I feel it. I was lucky though, I was having a good day and was riding really strong. After about 25km a group of 23 riders went clear and we had Andre Greipel and Martin Veltits in it, but because we had a firm plan set out in the morning that we wanted ‘only’ either Adam or Marco Pinotti in the break, we had to chase it down and after catching the break, that was when Adam attacked and got away with the big group of 21 riders.

Skil Shimano were the only team to miss it so they controlled the pace until about the 140km mark, but eventually ran out of legs and the whole peloton sat up and ended up cruising to the finish line as nearly all teams were represented in the breakaway so no-one was really interested in chasing it down.

There were a total of 24 DNF’s today, so that is proof enough of how hard the stage was, so for me to finish in the main peloton is a good sign. I am feeling stronger and stronger every day, so hopefully tomorrow we can hold onto the leaders jersey and get Andre up there for a stage win!

Well I said before that start is was going to be a long day and it didn’t disappoint! Very happy I got through in one piece and got to the finish still able to put up a small sprint. Although it was only good enough for 8th place.

It was a super hard start today, for the first 45min I averaged over 350 watts. But eventually a small break did get away and there was about 5min of down time before the bunch got going again. The break only ever got a maximum of about 3minutes, so it wasn’t a real lot of time for 3 guys to maintain.

With some pretty nasty climbs toward the end a lot of attacks started going and the bunch was busting up quite a lot. I went though a bad patch from about the 90-130km mark and was really on struggle street for a while. But after a few hard climbs I found my legs again and started to move towards the front getting ready to help out Greipel in the sprint.

The finishing circuit was tight narrow roads with lots or corners and was about 16km long with a couple of climbs each lap and some cross wind sections just to top it off. The whole team came to the front with about 15km to go and started to get the lead out going, but was quickly interrupted by a series of attacks. Eventually we got organized and came to the front again with about 7km to go, but with about 4km to go was  overtaken by the SKY train which was firing on all cylinders. They timed there run to perfection and ended the day with 1st and 2nd in the stage. Andre and I were back in 7th and 8th, getting caught out on the last corner 500m to go.

So not the best result for us today but tomorrow is a day for the climbers and I think Marco Pinotti is looking good! Fingers crossed.

Until tomorrow,

Ciao.

Well stage 2 is over and it was a day of punctures, bad luck and a fair bit of wind.

All was going well until 25km to go when I punctured my rear wheel, the bunch had just started to really ramp up the speed reeling in the break away riders, so it was tuff to get back on, but when I finally did it was right at the bottom of the only climb major climb of the day….ouch! So starting the climb right at the back for a start wasn’t a good start, but to have already done 4-5km chasing back on made it really tuff. Anyway I just made it over the climb only to have Andre Greipel puncture 5km later, so I had to stop and give him my wheel. Now I was really in big trouble!

So the next part of my bad luck today. As I got going again I noticed my brakes were rubbing pretty badly because the mechanic had brought me one of the new HED wheels which are slightly wider in the rim than the original zipp wheel I started with. So, long story short I slowed down to wait for the team car to catch up and reach out the window and give my brakes a bit of a tweek and at the same time give me a little push to help me get back on, but the jury didn’t allow him to do this as they thought I actually didn’t have anything wrong. So by this stage I was behind the last car in the convoy probably 1 min behind the peleton and in no mans land! I kept fighting on and caught the last car and slowly worked my way back through the cars and with 5km to go I reached the back of the bunch. I tried to move up and help Andre in the sprint but was to stuffed to even get to the front…it was a long last 25km for me today!

Andre ended up finishing 4th in what I got told was a pretty nasty sprint finish. Some of the boys came back with grass and weeds caught in their bikes from going off the roads.

Anyway, main thing is despite some of the mishaps, my legs felt ok and hopefully in one of the next 2-3 days we can get a win for Andre. With a couple of super tuff stages coming up, I think stage 5 is looking like the next sprinters stage!