2011 Australian Road Race Championship

01/09/2011: 2011 Australian Road Race Championship

Buninyong - Buninyong: 160.2 km

Plan of the day

The first races any of our riders will be running in this season are the Australian National Championships, where Robbie McEwen will make his debut for our time in both the road race and the time trial. He will not be competitive against the clock, but the road race looks promising if he can stay with the competition over the hills around the Buninyong course.

Robbie McEwen debuts the new look for Team RadioShack and the equipment we will be using for 2011. He is our only representative in the race.

We had to take a chance for McEwen to win, and the peloton sticking together until the last climb wouldn't be it. For a small field, a 10-man breakaway could certainly hold off the rest of the field. McEwen can be see at the back as he became the 11th rider to join the break.

The breakaway was organized well and left the peloton in the dust. McEwen spent most of the day at the back of it rarely contributing, but no one ever left the group. He was sure to have good positioning on the final climb so that he would have the best to chance to not get dropped. However, no one wanted to get in front of him and serve as a leadout since they would have no chance in a sprint... So McEwen attacked with 5 km to go!

He may be the best sprinter in the group, but the extended effort took all of his energy. Still, with the other 10 riders catching him quick, Robbie McEwen held the rest of the group off to pull off the win!

Robbie McEwen is the Australian champion! This is third victory in this race and first since 2005. He is now 1-for-1 on his new team and will not be seen in a road race in this jersey again for the rest of the year.

Race winner

Results

1 Robbie McEwen Team RadioShack 4h39'36"

2 Christopher Sutton Sky ProCycling + 0

3 Leigh Howard HTC - Highroad + 0

4 Graeme Brown Rabobank Cycling Team + 0

5 Jonathan Clarke UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling + 0

6 William Clarke Leopard Trek + 0

7 Benjamin King Team Type 1 + 0

8 Richie Porte Saxo Bank SunGard + 0

9 Timothy Roe BMC Racing Team + 0

10 Adam Hansen Omega Pharma - Lotto + 0

The Competition in 2011 - Part 2

Rabobank Cycling Team
Team Leaders: Matti Breschel (76 FL, 80 COB, 75 SP); Óscar Freire (76 FL, 75 HIL, 77 SP); Robert Gesink (81 MO, 78 HIL, 75 TT)
Rabobank is one of the most well-rounded teams in the peloton. The departure of Denis Menchov means Robert Gesink is the unquestioned leader for the Tour, and fellow Dutch riders Steven Kruijswijk and Bauke Mollema will be there to support him. All three are younger than 25. Matti Breschel and Luis León Sánchez were added to compete in the cobbles and to be a jack of all trades, respectively. Óscar Freire is the old man of the team as he turns 35 in February, but he just won Milano-Sanremo for the third time in 2010.

Saxo Bank SunGard
Team Leaders: Alberto Contador (83 MO, 80 HIL, 79 TT); Nick Nuyens (76 FL, 76 HIL, 79 COB)

Last year's team champions in the UCI World Ranking have an entirely new look after the creation of Leopard Trek. Most of the top riders have departed, but management was aggressive and secured the services of Alberto Contador, three-time Tour winner. Contador is the unquestioned best climber in the world and can even time trial at an elite level. Saxo Bank SunGard may try to run him in the Giro and/or Vuelta, though, as the cast behind him is not quite as accomplished. Nick Nuyens also joined the team to lead their classics campaign but will have little help on the cobbles.

Sky ProCycling

Team Leaders: Juan Antonio Flecha (80 FL, 81 COB); Edvald Boasson Hagen (76 HIL, 78 TT, 80 SP); Bradley Wiggins (78 MO, 75 HIL, 81 TT)

The first season for Sky ProCycling was underwhelming. The goal of getting a British rider in yellow in Paris looked a long way off as the only rider who appears even remotely capable, Bradley Wiggins, was a non-factor for most of the season outside of the opening time trial at the Giro. The lone bright spot was Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was responsible for more than half of the team's UCI World Ranking points. Only 23, he has a bright future in the classics and sprints.

Team Garmin - Cervélo

Team Leaders: Tyler Farrar (80 FL, 74 COB, 82 SP); Thor Hushovd (80 FL, 82 COB, 78 SP); Christian Vande Velde (77 MO, 76 TT)

Many riders from the former Cervélo TestTeam have found their way over to Team Garmin - Cervélo, including reigning world champion road racer Thor Hushovd. They will join the strongest American contingent of the four teams registered there, including elite sprinter Tyler Farrar, who captured two stage wins in both the Giro and the Vuelta last year.

Team RadioShack

Team Leaders: Chris Horner (77 MO, 79 HIL, 74 TT); Andreas Klöden (77 MO, 76 HIL, 79 TT); Levi Leipheimer (77 MO, 76 HIL, 78 TT)

The team goes on after the retirement of Lance Armstrong. However, a squad built to compete for the GC in stage races does not have talent as it stands to do so if the competition is at 100 percent. Team RadioShack also lacks any cobbles riders or top sprinters. The experience of the oldest team in the peloton will have to make up for the top-end talent they lack in 2011.

Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team

Team Leaders: Romain Feillu (74 FL, 77 SP); Björn Leukemans (76 FL, 77 HIL, 80 COB); Ezequiel Mosquera (79 MO, 76 HIL)

Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team has become a UCI ProTeam but faces a tough road ahead. Björn Leukemans always finishes near the front on the cobbles but has no major wins to his credit. The team did bring in Ezequiel Mosquera to compete in the Vuelta, as he has finished in the top five in each of the last four editions, including placing second last season.

A few other team in the UCI Continental Circuits will impact the 2011 season, particular as wild cards in the grand tours, and may themselves get promoted in 2012 and beyond.

Androni Giocattoli

Team Leaders: José Rujano (81 MO, 74 HIL); Ángel Vicioso (73 MO, 75 HIL, 73 SP)

The departure of Michele Scarponi has led to Androni Giocattoli bringing in José Rujano. Rujano placed third in the Giro back in 2005 and will set his sights on the race again now six years later. Ángel Vicioso also joins the team and will likely look for stage wins in the Giro.

Cofidis, le crédit en ligne

Team Leaders: David Moncoutié (76 MO, 75 HIL); Rein Taaramäe (76 MO, 74 HIL, 75 TT)

The iconic French team is once again led by David Moncoutié, who turns 36 this year but is still going strong. Moncoutié has won a stage and the climbers jersey in the last three editions of the Vuelta, including the first polka dot jersey awarded for the first time since its redesign last year. Cofidis also has an eye on the future with young Rein Taaramäe, who has been competitive in week-long races and will set his sights on the Tour in 2011.

FDJ

Team Leaders: Sandy Casar (75 MO, 75 HIL); Pierrick Fédrigo (72 MO, 75 HIL)

Though the sponsor has remained the same since the '90's, the newly rebranded FDJ won stages in the Tour and Vuelta last year. Sandy Casar has won three stages of the Tour, as has new team member Pierrick Fédrigo. Though they don't have a team to compete for many overall wins in any UCI ProTour races they get invited to since being demoted following last season, FDJ is one of the most aggressive teams in the professional peloton to try and overachieve.

Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli

Team Leaders: Oscar Gatto (74 HIL, 75 SP); Giovanni Visconti (72 MO, 77 HIL, 72 SP)

With the departure of José Rujano, Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli is built entirely around Giovanni Visconti. Visconti is the two time defending individual champion in the UCI Europe Tour and the current Italian road race champion. He can win one-day races and stage races, such as last year's Tour of Turkey.

Geox - TMC

Team Leaders: Juan José Cobo (74 MO, 75 HIL); Denis Menchov (79 MO, 76 HIL, 78 TT); Carlos Sastre (76 MO, 76 HIL, 73 TT)

New sponsors have led to the acquisitions of some big names, including winners of all three grand tours. Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour and finished in the top ten in both the Giro and Vuelta last year. Denis Menchov won the 2007 Vuelta and 2009 Giro and also placed third in last year's Tour. The two will try to finish as well as they can in the grand tours if their new team can secure wild card invites to each of the races, which it did in 2010.

Saur - Sojasun

Team Leaders: Jimmy Casper (75 FL, 70 COB, 75 SP); Jérôme Coppel (76 MO, 73 HIL, 75 TT); Jonathan Hivert (73 MO, 74 HIL)

24-year-old Jérôme Coppel is one of the young Frenchmen who has the potential to become a yellow jersey contender one day and will contribute to his team making its first Tour de France if they are invited. Coppel placed in the top ten in both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Paris-Nice last year.

Skil - Shimano

Team Leaders: Marcel Kittel (74 FL, 71 TT, 76 SP); Kenny Van Hummel (75 FL, 76 SP)

The Dutch team enters its seventh season without any major results at the top level. Skil - Shimano was invited to just one grand tour, the 2009 Tour. That may soon change with the promotion of Marcel Kittel to professional status for the 2011 season. Kittel was a time trial specialist as a junior cyclist but has potential to compete in bunch sprints like team leader Kenny Van Hummel with the proper development.

Team Europcar

Team Leaders: Pierre Rolland (77 MO, 74 HIL); Thomas Voeckler (76 MO, 77 HIL)

Thomas Voeckler has won stages in the last two editions of the Tour, but nothing will ever compare to his career highlight of spending ten days in yellow in 2004. He will wear the French national champion's jersey to start the year after winning the road race for the second time last season. Young Pierre Rolland has also gotten a taste of the Tour, with two starts under his belt already at 24. The team will look to make a name for themselves in July with Europcar now taking over sponsorship of the team.

The Competition in 2011 - Part 1

The 18 teams in the 2011 UCI World Tour are obligated to compete in each of the 27 events for the inaugural season since the UCI reorganized the competition. All 26 events from the 2010 UCI World Ranking are included and the new Tour of Beijing has been added to this schedule. A quick overview of each of these teams, as well as a few notable teams on the outside looking in, is listed below.

AG2R La Mondiale

Team Leaders: John Gadret (79 MO, 74 HIL); Jean-Christophe Peraud (77 MO, 76 TT); Nicolas Roche (77 MO, 77 HIL, 71 TT)

AG2R didn't get the best results in 2010 and now has to move on from Tadej Valjavec after his "irregular blood values." The future may look better, though, as Nicolas Roche is coming off a 6th place finish in the Vuelta last year. The French riders on the team still represent well on their country's only UCI World Tour team.

BMC Racing Team

Team Leaders: Alessandro Ballan (78 FL, 80 COB); Cadel Evans (82 MO, 81 HIL, 79 TT); George Hincapie (76 FL, 78 COB)

BMC has two of the last three road race world champions on the squad. Cadel Evans won La Flèche Wallonne last year and has finished twice in the Tour in previous years. He will be considered one of the favorites in July to finally break through to the top spot. Alessandro Ballan had a rough first season with the team in 2010, but he was cleared of a doping suspension and is ready to go and lead the team built around him in the cobblestone classics this spring.

Euskaltel - Euskadi

Team Leaders: Igor Antón (81 MO, 80 HIL); Samuel Sánchez (81 MO, 81 HIL, 76 TT)

The pride of the Basque country picked an excellent exception to their otherwise entirely Basque squad. Samuel Sánchez has finished once the podium twice in the Vuelta and nearly did so in the Tour last year, finishing fourth. Though not adept enough against the clock, Igor Antón can also compete in the Giro and Vuelta while Sánchez focuses on the Tour.

HTC - High Road

Team Leaders: Mark Cavendish (80 FL, 83 SP); Tony Martin (78 FL, 76 MO, 82 TT); Marco Pinotti (76 MO, 74 HIL, 77 TT)

HTC-High Road are all in on Mark Cavendish, who already has 15 stage wins in the Tour and five more in the Giro. The one thing he doesn't have is a points victory in a grand tour, but his spring train is built to lead him over that hump at long last. Young Tony Martin is already a world class time trialist and will compete to win week-long stage races when he's not helping Cavendish at the grand tours, though he may be given the freedom to pursue his own interests if he continues to improve.

Katusha Team

Team Leaders: Filippo Pozzato (78 FL, 76 HIL, 80 COB); Joaquím Rodríguez (80 MO, 82 HIL)

In their second season in the peloton, Katusha Team broke through as one of the top ranked teams, led by UCI World Ranking champion Joaquím Rodríguez. He won a stage and finished high in the rankings at both the Tour and Vuelta. He also won Volta a Catalunya, finished second at La Flèche Wallonne, and finished in the top five in several other major races. The Russian contingent on the team has disappointed lately and will have the team's 2011 success depend on Rodríguez and Filippo Pozzato.

Lampre - ISD

Team Leaders: Damiano Cunego (78 MO, 80 HIL); Alessandro Petacchi (78 FL, 81 SP); Michele Scarponi (81 MO, 78 HIL, 73 TT)

Michele Scarponi had his big grand tour breakthrough at age 30 by finishing 4th in the Giro. There is hope he can make the podium in 2011. Damiano Cunego is now seven years from his maglia rosa, but he is still an elite rider in the classics and one-week races. Now 37, Alessandro Petacchi is also still an elite sprinter and is the defending green jersey winner at the Tour.

Leopard Trek

Team Leaders: Fabian Cancellara (82 FL, 83 TT, 83 COB); Andy Schleck (83 MO, 80 HIL, 72 TT); Fränk Schleck (81 MO, 81 HIL, 70 TT)

Most of the key riders to Team Saxo Bank's first place in the 2010 UCI World Ranking have moved over to the new Luxembourg-based Leopard Trek. Fabian Cancellara is one of the most accomplished individuals in modern cycling and he will only turn 30 in March. The brothers Schleck are both Tour favorites and will compete in the hilly classics, the only ones Spartacus can't win. The team will be one of the favorites to win the team classification in the 2011 UCI World Tour.

Liquigas - Cannondale

Team Leaders: Ivan Basso (81 MO, 76 HIL, 72 TT); Vincenzo Nibali (81 MO, 78 HIL, 77 TT); Peter Sagan (76 HIL, 71 COB, 76 SP)

Liquigas is coming off a grand year in which Ivan Basso won the Giro and Vincenzo Nibali won the Vuelta. The team finished a close second in the UCI World Tour. They will look to wear pink and red again this season, but Basso still has ambitions in France to improve on his second place in 2005. The future is even brighter with young Peter Sagan, who won several stages and the green jersey at Paris-Nice at just the age of 20.

Movistar Team

Team Leaders: Rubén Plaza (76 MO, 75 HIL, 74 TT); José Joaquín Rojas (74 FL, 80 SP)

The suspension of Alejandro Valverde looms over the team as they lost their main sponsor, their next best rider Luis León Sánchez to Rabobank, and rebranded as Movistar in the offseason. The team could be at risk of relegation as they are built for the mountains but lack a true GC threat in the grand tours. José Joaquín Rojas is considered an elite sprinter and finished fourth in the points classification at the Tour last year, but he will need to come through in the clutch as he did not win a stage in 2010.

Omega Pharma - Lotto

Team Leaders: Philippe Gilbert (77 FL, 84 HIL, 78 COB); André Greipel (79 FL, 82 SP); Jurgen Van den Broeck (80 MO, 76 HIL, 72 TT)

Philippe Gilbert had a great run in the spring classics, winning the Amstel Gold Race, then finished the year well with two stage wins at the Vuelta and a victory at the Giro di Lombardia. Gilbert has already finished on the podium in all of the monuments except for Paris-Roubaix, and he will try to finish the collection this year. Jurgen Van den Broeck and new teammate André Greipel will also chase jerseys at the Tour, where the latter will make his debut out of the shadow of Mark Cavendish from his years at what is now HTC - High Road.

Pro Team Astana

Team Leaders: Roman Kreuziger (78 MO, 79 HIL, 79 TT); Alexandre Vinokourov (78 MO, 80 HIL, 76 TT)

Alberto Contador was 4-for-4 at the grand tours during his three years on Pro Team Astana, but he and most of his Spanish compatriots have left the team. Alexandre Vinokourov will always be the star of the team, and he delivered after returning from his suspension by winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège and performing well in the Giro and Tour. Astana has also added Roman Kreuziger, who had two top ten finishes at the Tour and had won multiple week-long races on Liquigas.

Quick-Step Cycling Team

Team Leaders: Tom Boonen (80 FL, 82 COB, 77 SP); Sylvain Chavanel (78 FL, 76 HIL, 80 COB)

As Tom Boonen performs, so does Quick-Step Cycling Team. Boonen started the year winning several stages and placing second at Milano-Sanremo and Ronde van Vlaanderen, but an injury after some crashes kept him out for most of the year. He is healthy again for 2011 and has a team built to help him succeed, which he must as there is not much else expected of them. Sylvain Chavanel can compete in the classics, too, and is always ready to shake up the Tour, where he won two stages and spent two days in yellow last season.

Meet Team RadioShack

Team RadioShack is excited to begin the 2011 season and build off of its inaugural campaign from 2010.

The team is built for stage races, but we did capture a one-day road race victory in De Brabantse Pijl with Sébastien Rosseler last April. That capped off an excellent span of just a few days after Chris Horner became the first ever non-European to win the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco. After skipping the Giro in May, Janez Brajkovič stunned the world by winning the Critérium du Dauphiné over Alberto Contador. Though he would not factor in his first ever Tour the following month, Brajkovič has continued to show his promise and finally broke through in a pivotal time for the new team.

The Tour de France was rough, as Lance Armstrong finally cracked and didn't play any significant role in the Tour. Chris Horner cracked the top ten but we could only watch as the favorites dueled it out in the high mountains for the best places in the final standings. Sérgio Paulinho did win a stage and Team RadioShack captured the team classification in the race, a big goal after our GC ambitions faded. This was one of eight team classifications the squad won in 2010. The only major race victories after this belonged to Haimar Zubeldia in the Tour de l'Ain and Levi Leipheimer on the mountain bike at the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, both occurring on August 14th. The team was snubbed from the Vuelta a España in 2010, but we will certainly be there this season.

Team RadioShack will be in attendance for all UCI World Tour races as a UCI Pro Team. The sponsors have put special emphasis on placing as high in the GC standings as possible for each of the three grand tours, win the Critérium du Dauphiné for the second straight year, and place well in Milano-Sanremo and at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. We will also look to win the Amgen Tour of California in May and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in August.

Without further ado, here are the guys that will help us achieve these goals (and possibly more):

Chris Horner

Age: 39

Palmarès: 2010 Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco; 2003 Tour de Georgia; 2000 Tour de Langkawi

Targets: Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Amgen Tour of California, Tour de France

The ageless wonder entering his 15th season as a professional is just now starting to hit his stride. Last season, his victory in the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco was the first major stage race victory for our new team. Horner is 39 but shows no sign of slowing down so far. The main focus of his season will come in the spring as he looks to repeat his victory in the Basque country before turning his sights on Liège–Bastogne–Liège, where he finished 7th last season. He will then represent the team in the premier American race out in California, where he finished 4th last season. The other major goal will be the Tour de France, where he finished 10th last year.

Andreas Klöden

Age: 35

Palmarès: 2008 Tour de Romandie; 2007 Tirreno–Adriatico; 2004 German RR Championship; 2000 Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco

Targets: Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, Tour de Suisse, Tour de France

The youngest of our three team leaders, Klöden will turn 36 years old in June. It has now been five years since his second 2nd place finish in the Tour de France in 2006, though he did finish 6th in 2009 despite riding on a stacked Astana team. Outside of a couple of stage wins in 2009, Klöden has not won a race overall since 2008. He will look to change that this year as he returns to the Basque country, where he won in 2000, as a co-leader alongside Chris Horner. He will then turn his focus to the Tour de Suisse, where he has finished in the top 10 for each of the last four editions, which should carry his good form into another assault on the Tour de France.

Levi Leipheimer

Age: 37

Palmarès: 2007, 2008, 2009 Amgen Tour of California; 2007 USA RR Championship; 2006 Critérium du Dauphiné; 1999 USA TT Championship; 2 stages at the Vuelta a España (2008)

Targets: Paris-Nice, Amgen Tour of California, Tour de Suisse, Tour de France

Leipheimer may still be the best positioned of our riders to battle for a podium in a grand in 2011. He has done so three times in his career, most recently with a 2nd place finish at the Vuelta a España in 2008. For the early part of the 2011 season, he will prepare for Paris-Nice, as our sponsor has requested a captain to show up for that race. He will then join Chris Horner in California. Leipheimer won the race for three straight years before having to settle for third last year. He will then join Andreas Klöden in Switzerland to prepare for the Tour de France. Depending on his and the team's results for the year, Leipheimer may also be a backup captain selection for the Vuelta a España.

Our three captains all have several events to focus on in 2011, but each will come together to focus on the big prize, the Tour de France. This leaves plenty of other races on the schedule for some other rides to take lead. Janez Brajkovič will run in his second ever Tour in July, as well, but he will be the team leader for several week-long races such as the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he won in 2010, and the Tour de Romandie. Robbie McEwen will be there for races where stage wins are important and there are a couple of sprints up for grabs, but he will focus on Milano-Sanremo in March to try and cap off an excellent career. Our cobbles team is one of the weakest in the peloton, but Grégory Rast will nonetheless prepare to sneak into a good finish in some of the classics this spring.

Next time, we will go through the rest of the professional tour and look at the cycling landscape as we enter the 2011 season.

PCM 2011 Story Intro

I have recently been in the mood to play older Pro Cycling Manager games as the modern editions just don't feel right. After spending a couple of weeks trying to re-install old PCM games, I finally was able to get PCM 2011 running after discovering the issue preventing it from loading after installing was that a protection patch was needed for the game to work on newer editions of Windows.

PCM 2011 was a big step forward for the series, or at least that's what it seemed like at the time. The AI had been improved over the years but seems to have gotten worse in the years since then. I specifically remember it fondly as it was the first PCM I bought after upgrading my computer. I didn't have a good graphics card even for the time, but I could finally play the most recent PCM games on release, even if they were at near minimum settings.

The hardest part of playing a career is always the beginning. Which team do you pick? I always lean towards the home country so for me, that means picking an American team, at least at first. 2011 makes that decision even harder as there are four different teams registered in the USA.

I settled on Team RadioShack as the best challenge to rewrite history. Like HTC-High Road, the team would officially dissolve at the end of the year, though RadioShack would live on as its sponsors and some of its riders did carry over to Leopard-Trek under that team's ownership. However, RadioShack on its own had a tough road ahead coming into 2011 with an aging team and no clear direction. The first season will be difficult as I try to bring in the riders I need to compete in the future.

In my upcoming posts, I will go over what the professional road cycling landscape looks like in 2011 and review all teams and what to expect for this season!