VeloVeritas

Final Defense: Eneco Stage 6 (0)

The final road stage of the Eneco race was again lumpy, this time including roads from the Amstel Gold spring classic.

In particular the Mur de Huy, a nasty climb that starts on an increasingly steep grade until a left turn kicks the road up to around 20%.

Svein was still sitting in fourth place on GC, a couple of seconds away from the podium, and we were all hoping that he could stay in touch on this stage as he is in very good time trialling form, and may be able to do some damage on the final day time trial.

You’ve Bloody Done It: Eneco Stage 5 (0)

Stage 5 of the Eneco Tour had the race heading back into the bumpy territory that did so much damage on Stage 3, this time on similar roads to those used in the Amstel Gold spring classic.

Svein was still in contention for a podium position on the over all, and the main role for the boys was to make sure he didn’t lose time on any of his close rivals. That job unfortunately became more difficult on the start line as Robbie Hunter was too unwell to ride his bike, despite signing on for the start.

Minor Details: Eneco Stage 4 (0)

Today was the first stage that the boys didn’t have any specific job to do in the race. We had held the jersey for the first three days of the race, and will continue to fight out the general classification with Svein, but the stage today was quite flat, so it would not in any way effect the gc standings, meaning our boys finally had a low responsibility day.

Accordingly, those who have been feeling the pinch after some heavy days of hard work were able to take it easy in the bunch.

Into The Bumps: Eneco Stage 3 (0)

Stage 3 saw the profile go from pancake flat to very lumpy. It was bound to be a day where things were shaken up somewhat on the over all standings, but Canadian hardman/topbloke Svein Tuft is a quality athlete, so we were quite excited about still being in the mix.

The day was also pretty hot, meaning we had a large number of bottles to be handed out, in a lot more places than is normal, so Joachim our swannie designated to making up the bottles this week had a bit of work to do.

Ooh That’ll Hurt: Eneco Stage 2 (0)

Stage 2 of the Eneco Tour, and we shot southwards from northern Old Zeeland (I can’t help it) which is an amazing place – we were 6m below sea level and 100km inland on a bit of land that was ocean only 30yrs earlier! Incredible.

The stage was another flat one, so the boys knew that once again they would be doing most of the grunt work making sure that the stage’s breakaway riders didn’t get so far up the road that they took the lead from Svein.

Getting It Done: Stage 1 Eneco (0)

Yesterday was an interesting day for the team: we had Svein in the leader’s jersey, and so were obliged to control the race.

It’s a different vibe controlling the race to get close to the finish and then letting the sprinter teams take over: normally we’re in the situation of wanting to control things late, especially when Tyler’s in the show.

Watching the race unfold, it was great seeing the whole team rolling along on the front, particularly from a physiotherapy perspective as that is the place where they are least likely to get into trouble with crashes and the like.

The Wait and Hope: Eneco Prologue (0)

Yesterday was the start of the Eneco Tour, a race through the Netherlands, Belgium and (I think) Luxembourg. It’s a week-long race on the Pro Tour circuit, meaning it is one of the handful of races through the year from which teams can accumulate Pro Tour points and enhance their ranking.

The rankings determine key factors such as automatic entry into the biggest races of the following year, and so there is a great deal at stake in races such as this for all of Pro teams riding next year.