The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

OK, we seem to have a little team problem. In the cobble stage around Frauenfeld Inocencio Aleixo forgot to hand over first place to Julius Maalderink. We will need to talk about this afternoon, but maybe we will to discipline Inocencio, for instance by not allowing him to start in races anymore this season. 12th place for Andreas van Zijl meant a 7th place in the GC, which was the expectation somewhat. Daniel Rooijakkers finished 16th.



The Swiss Tour was convincingly won by Harry Tjoens (Plopsala) with his teammate Raoul Dedeyne on second place.

Division standings after the Tour of Switzerland:

1º      $Tourmalet   23822   8   13   13   
2º      WinterIsComing   21602   4   7   14   
3º      Combuijs   20631   17   10   9   
4º      Kalarratas   13310   2   11   6   
5º      Plopsala   12495   13   4   3   

Plopsala on the rise now, but will they and Kalarratas threaten third place? We will see in the Tour de France.

And in that Tour de France we have an exquisite selection:

21 Tristan Prins
22 Carlo Bemelmans
23 Epifanio Merchan
25 Eddy Room
25 Daniel Rooijakkers

Tristan Prins will be our GC man, Carlo Bemelmans and Eddy Room are there for the Monthermé stage, Daniel Rooijakkers can do a decent time trial and Epifanio Merchan will be the helper in the mountains.

[Combuijs]

This morning all our riders did well at the opening time trial in Cholet. That is, all our riders, except for our intended leader Tristan Prins. Alright, he has some weak points as a GC-rider, but aren't they all hampered by youth? Anyway, place 83 out 88 and a 3:31 loss was the not what we had in mind. And we have to plan for another 4 minutes in the closing time trial. If that is enough to remain a contender for the GC only time will tell.
But let's rejoice with Daniel Rooijakkers (3rd), Epifanio Merchan (15th) and Carlo Bemelmans (30th).

In the Grenoble - Courchevel stage this afternoon Tristan Prins took revenge with a 4th place (well timed, he did not have to go doping control...) while Epifanio Merchan helped him and himself to place 12.



In the GC Harry Tjoens is already leading:

1    Harry Tjoens   19   Plopsala   0: 00"   0   0
2    Henrik Michael-Møller   19   $Tourmalet   0: 09"   0   0
3    Nobby Kellman   19   $Tourmalet   0: 19"   0   0
4    Jos Daatzelaar   19   Plopsala   0: 20"   0   0
5    Epifanio Merchan   19   Combuijs   0: 28"   0   0

Tristan Prins's fans don't have to worry, he is 16th on 1:45.

In Eva Jinek's show one guest praised our great youth team. Which does not tell anything at all as usual...


More interesting was the remark that Ørjan Henningsen is quite a talent, which is quite good news.

[Combuijs]

What is a Tour de France without a stage to Pau? Yvo de Cleer enjoyed it very much and again managed to avoid doping control with place 4. Epifanio Merchan got 19th.



In the GC Tristan is now 10th, Epifanio even 8th, but he will sink into oblivion very soon.

Sponsor Barclays is expecting an 8th place in the coming stage and Carlo Bemelmans is ready for it. Some claim he is second favourite in this stage, but we will claim first favourite...

[Combuijs]

The training camp in Les Vieilles Forges of Carlo Bemelmans did pay out very nicely. He beated Bolaverde's Stig Dreyer in the final sprint to win the stage to Monthermé. Helper Eddy Room finished 8th, GC man Tristan Prins 13th.



Sponsor Barclays was expecting at least place 8, but of course we did want the stage win.



Happy to have another sponsor aboard, but they have to share their bank services with Banco Santander, I'm afraid.

Tristan Prins climbs to 5th place in the GC:

1    Harry Tjoens   19   Plopsala   0: 00"   0   0
2    Pedro Kranz   19   MelonKas   0: 01"   0   0
3    Henrik Michael-Møller   19   $Tourmalet   0: 07"   0   0
4    Oto Kleinbergs   19   WinterIsComing   1: 00"   0   0
5    Tristan Prins   19   Combuijs   1: 06"   0   0

Tomorrow Tristan is favourite to win the stage, so let's see if he can claim the yellow jersey for a while. Keeping it might be difficult as there are still a few difficult stages for him left.

Mercedes Benz will sponsor us if we will have result in the 9th stage in the Vuelta. This is a somewhat odd stage around Avila on some goat trails. Well, we don't mind to have a Mercedes Benz as a teamcar...

[Combuijs]

Well, we have to chat a bit with director Roque Moron, because tactical the Loriol-Mont Ventoux-Loriol stage went wrong. Helpers Carlo Bemelmans and Eddy Room started too quick for leader Tristan Prins and on the Mont Ventoux itself they could not follow him, so Tristan was virtually helpless. In the end he lost the sprint to Pedro Kranz and made up some time, but it was not enough for the yellow jersey, which will be out of reach now.
Eddy Room finished 14th and even Carlo Bemelmans, declaring that the Mont Ventoux is his least favourite mountain, got 25th place.



The GC at the moment:

1    Pedro Kranz   19   MelonKas   0: 00"   0   0
2    Harry Tjoens   19   Plopsala   0: 24"   0   0
3    Tristan Prins   19   Combuijs   1: 05"   0   0
4    Henrik Michael-Møller   19   $Tourmalet   1: 08"   0   0
5    Romeu Maximo   19   Kalarratas   1: 54"   0   0

No WinterIsComing then? Sure, he has four riders in the top 10 of the GC...

In other news Julius Wiegel seems to be a moderate talent.

[Combuijs]

Troyes-Nancy was always going to be a struggle for Tristan Prins, he lost 2 minutes in the end. Carlo Bemelmans in a free role got 15th place and helper Eddy Room 22nd.



In the GC Tristan has now drifted to 5th place:

1    Pedro Kranz   19   MelonKas   0: 00"   0   0
2    Henrik Michael-Møller   19   $Tourmalet   1: 31"   0   0
3    Harry Tjoens   19   Plopsala   1: 38"   0   0
4    Oto Kleinbergs   19   WinterIsComing   2: 18"   0   0
5    Tristan Prins   19   Combuijs   2: 48"   0   0

[Combuijs]

In the cobblehill stage to Le Puy en Velay Daniel Rooijakkers finished 5th in a free role. Carlo Bemelmans as a helper finished 19th, while Tristan Prins lost 1:20 to go down to 8th place in the GC. A top 10 should be possible for him, but not much more.

Tristan was disappointed that the stage did finish uphill, that would have improved his chances:

[Combuijs]

From Bourg d'Oisans to Valence Tristan Prins was always going to be in trouble. He finished 2:46 behind winner Simon Wiedemann (eaglesOFcarthage). Best Honey Ale drinker was Carlo Bemelmans on place 15. Tristan has now gone to 10th place in the GC, so he will need a very good mountain stage tomorrow morning.

[Combuijs]

The stage from Jaca to Val Louron was paved with mountains, but Tristan Prins did not feel too well, so in the end he finished 3rd. Helper Epifanio Merchan finished 11th.



In the GC Tristan goes up to 6th place, which will not improve in the last time trial.

Oh, and I got a letter today: I am eligible to vote for the national manager. Finally, recognition of my abilities...

[Combuijs]

The Tour de France decided by a final time trial, where did we see that earlier in history? Anyway, for Daniel Rooijakkers Chartres was some kilometers too far to finish on the podium, in the end he was 5th. Epifanio Merchan was 20th and Carlo Bemelmans 25th. Tristan Prins lost almost 4 minutes to finish in 10th place in the GC.



1    Pedro Kranz   19   MelonKas   0: 00"   1000   166667
2    Harry Tjoens   19   Plopsala   2: 04"   800   150000
3    Henrik Michael-Møller   19   $Tourmalet   3: 50"   650   133333
4    Oto Kleinbergs   19   WinterIsComing   4: 20"   550   116667
5    Romeu Maximo   19   Kalarratas   4: 24"   500   100000
6    Bernhard Rooks   19   WinterIsComing   5: 37"   450   83333
7    Raoul Dedeyne   19   Plopsala   5: 48"   400   66667
8    Valentijn Teffer   19   WinterIsComing   6: 35"   350   58333
9    Olivier Napoleon   19   WinterIsComing   6: 37"   300   50000
10    Tristan Prins   19   Combuijs   6: 38"   250   41667

Tristan would have been the worst WinterIsComing rider if he had been in that team...

Division standings after the Tour de France:

1º      $Tourmalet   26740   9   14   13   
2º      WinterIsComing   25678   4   7   16   
3º      Combuijs   22962   18   11   11   
4º      Kalarratas   16308   3   13   7   
5º      Plopsala   15755   16   4   3   

$Tourmalet and WinterIsComing are slowly escaping from our fingers and Kalarratas is slowly coming nearer

The line up for tomorrow's Clasica San Sebastian will be:

21 Tristan Prins
22 Carlo Bemelmans
23 Ørjan Henningsen
24 Adam Neeskens
25 Eddy Room

Of course we to excel in our only Dutch Tour and these riders have been selected for that:

21 Carlo Bemelmans
22 Julius Maalderink
23 Eddy Room
24 Daniel Rooijakkers
25 Arjen Rutte

We will concentrate on the second stage where we have a sponsordeal and on the hilly stages. Daniel Rooijakkers can eat his heart out on the time trial and maybe Carlo Bemelmans can do something in the GC.

[Combuijs]

In the Clasica de San Sebastian Tristan Prins got 2nd place behind Olivier Napoleon (WinterIsComing) who apparently did not find his Waterloo here. Eddy Room did help really well and finished 15th. Carlo Bemelmans still feels the benefits of a training camp and finished 27th.



Division standings after San Sebestian:

1º      $Tourmalet   27425   9   14   13   
2º      WinterIsComing   26888   5   7   16   
3º      Combuijs   23522   18   12   11   
4º      Kalarratas   16603   3   13   7   
5º      Plopsala   15755   16   4   3   

[Combuijs]

The first stage in our own Tour went from Heerlen to Philippe Gilbert Country. Carlo Bemelmans was inspired as he should be and was only in the sprint without a chance against a combine of two $Tourmalet riders. Still, second place is encouraging, as was Eddy Room's 14th place.



Tomorrow we are in Zealand and as we have sponsordeal it is good to see we are first and second favourite...

[Combuijs]

We love Breskens, especially after this morning's race where Julius Maalderink finished first and helper Arjan Rutte second. Daniel Rooijakkers was only 14th...



In the GC we all are doing well, so let's enjoy it while it lasts:

1    Richard Harris   19   WinterIsComing   0: 00"   0   0
2    Pelayo Torregrosa   19   CojoNudos   0: 26"   0   0
3    Julius Maalderink   19   Combuijs   0: 36"   0   0
4    Dries Witsche   19   WinterIsComing   0: 43"   0   0
5    Victor Rødland   19   Bolaverde   0: 48"   0   0
6    Arjen Rutte   19   Combuijs   0: 53"   0   0
7    Nick Janson   19   Jediondos   1: 18"   0   0
8    Carlo Bemelmans   19   Combuijs   1: 21"   0   0

Anyway, we have a happy sponsor Fertil France, so we all can work very hard in the garden during our winter vacation...


Olivetti can't get enough of us as they propose a deal for the 5th stage in the Tour of Switzerland around Bellinzona. We have no serious time trialists in our team, and the did not offer enough money anyway.

[Combuijs]

In the Friesian lowlands we travelled from Heerenveen to Bolsward and we saw Julius Maalderink finishing 7th, Arjen Rutte 18th, Carlo Bemelmans 22nd and Daniel Rooijakkers 28th.



In the GC we have three riders in the top 7:

1    Richard Harris   19   WinterIsComing   0: 00"   0   0
2    Pelayo Torregrosa   19   CojoNudos   0: 03"   0   0
3    Julius Maalderink   19   Combuijs   0: 12"   0   0
4    Dries Witsche   19   WinterIsComing   0: 43"   0   0
5    Victor Rødland   19   Bolaverde   0: 48"   0   0
6    Arjen Rutte   19   Combuijs   0: 53"   0   0
7    Carlo Bemelmans   19   Combuijs   1: 21"   0   0

[Combuijs]

We are actually not too bad in time trials and the one around Sittard or Geleen (they could not decide which city to take?) was no exception. Daniel Rooijakkers finished 5th, Eddy Room 18th, Arjen Rutte 19th and Carlo Bemelmans 22nd.



This gives us 4 riders in de top 10, a WinterIsComing-esque result:

1    Pelayo Torregrosa   19   CojoNudos   0: 00"   0   0
2    Sebastien Galmanov   19   Bryggen   0: 48"   0   0
3    Arjen Rutte   19   Combuijs   1: 00"   0   0
4    Richard Harris   19   WinterIsComing   1: 05"   0   0
5    Brendan Owen   19   $Tourmalet   1: 11"   0   0
6    Julius Maalderink   19   Combuijs   1: 31"   0   0
7    Daniel Rooijakkers   19   Combuijs   1: 33"   0   0
8    Victor Rødland   19   Bolaverde   1: 33"   0   0
9    Kenneth Wind   19   Jediondos   1: 36"   0   0
10    Carlo Bemelmans   19   Combuijs   1: 39"   0   0

In the last stage to Lanaken we will play the Carlo card though. See if we can get our 20th victory this season.