Los Galacticos

[el Galactico]

Transfer news

After only one month Esteban Grandios had to leave the team and makes place for a man with a good future in the team.

Salvador Carriba has his strenght in regeneration and in flat parts of races. He doesn't like to sprint or the downhill. But this wont be his job. He is a man for tours and for a lot of work there. When he developes very good in his training he has the chance to become the best flat rider in the team. But first he will be the man who is first in the wind to chase groups.

His skills: 48-74-55-46-44, reg. 58.

His first race will be after the Tour de France.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 6. Montargis - Gueugnon



1. Frederic Weis (Leibach)
2. Kirsten Morgensten (Team Air Riders)
3. Stefan Edberg (Team Thurau)
4. José Samango (francais)
5. Bernd Weis (Leibach) +3:49
...
7. Guilherme Callado s.t.
15. Benjamin Gourgue
16. Ignacio Castillo
17. Diego del Rios
31. Jorge Felicandes
39. Adriano Perreira
50. Luiz Foguete
80. Edson Barroso s.t.
96. Eddy Wouters +17:46

Finances:
+74.000 €

Money still to earn: 2.177.220 €
earned money: 687.500 €

tour balance: -267.340 €

Tomorrow starts the real Tour with the first hard mountains, which will definitely change something in the GC. Hopefully it changes to the best for the Galacticos.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 7. Tournus - Les Rousses



1. Peter Botha (francais)
2. Benjamin Gourgue +0:22
3. Rainer Berg (Team Air Riders) +0:23
4. Heal World (Starforce) +0:32
5. Onofrio Spiridigliozzi (Starforce) s.t.
...
11. Ignacio Castillo +0:35
23. Jorge Felicandes +0:56
30. Adriano Perreira +7:35
39. Guilherme Callado +28:23
56. Eddy Wouters s.t.
59. Diego del Rios
83. Edson Barroso
88. Luiz Foguete

Favorites after first mountain stage:

3. Peter Botha (+0:54 behind yellow shirt)
5. Benjamin Gourgue +0:13
6. Leonhard Euler +0:37
7. Noé Charby +0:43
8. Heal World +0:47
13. Rainer Berg +1:06
14. Etienne Guerin +1:21

Finances:
+130.100 €

Money still to earn: 2.047.120 €
earned money: 817.600 €

tour balance: -273.660 €

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 8- Les Rousses - Morzine-Avoriaz



1. Benjamin Gourgue
2. Peter Botha (francais) s.t.
3. Rainer Berg (Team Air Riders) +0:12
4. Onofrio Spiridigliozzi (Starforce) +0:14
5. Heal World (Starforce) s.t.
...
16. Ignacio Castillo +2:33
18. Jorge Felicandes +3:59
32. Adriano Perreira +13:51
36. Guilherme Callado +14:51
76. Luiz Foguete +27:34
88. Edson Barroso s.t.
94. Diego del Rios s.t.
95. Eddy Wouters s.t.

Favorites after Morzine-Avoriaz
1. Peter Botha
2. Benjamin Gourgue +0:13
3. Heal World +1:01
4. Rainer Berg +1:18
5. Leonhard Euler +1:20
6. Anton Müller +1:43

Finances:
+144.000 €

Money still to earn: 1.903.120 €
earned money: 961.600 €

tour balance: -266.080 €


Yeah! Second stage win at this years Tour de France. This time it was Ben Gourgue after great work by Castillo and his other helpers. An early selection by Starforce at the Col de la Ramaz left the other strong climbers without any help in front, but Castillo and Felicandes managed both to stay in the group while most of the other classic riders had to find themselves behind the first group. At the second km of the last climb up to Morzine-Avoriaz it was Peter Botha who attacked with Ben in his wheel. Ben then attacked himself a few kms later but Botha was able to come back. At the end it was Ben who was able to win the sprint and Peter Botha took the yellow shirt with 13 seconds in front of Ben.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 9. Morzine - St. Jean de Maurienne



1. Benjamin Gourgue
2. Rainer Berg (Team Air Riders) s.t.
3. Peter Botha (francais) s.t.
4. Edgard Poltergeist (Enigma) +1:17
5. Herbert von Hohenstein (Maurice) s.t.
...
20. Jorge Felicandes +12:11
21. Ignacio Castillo s.t.
33. Guilherme Callado +24:02
44. Luiz Foguete +27:51
45. Adriano Perreira s.t.
52. Diego del Rios +28:12
64. Edson Barroso +31:36
93. Eddy Wouters +33:26

Favorites after the Alpes stages:

1. Peter Botha
2. Benjamin Gourgue +0:13
3. Rainer Berg +1:18
4. Heal World +2:18
5. Leonhard Euler +2:37
6. Anton Möller +3:35

Finances:
+137.700 €

Money still to earn: 1.765.420 €
earned money: 1.099.300 €

tour balance: -264.800 €


Ben did it the second time in a row. Today he outsprinted Rainer Berg and Peter Botha in the sprint. The big favorite Heal World lost 1:17 today. He is now 2:05 behind Ben, which is definitely to less time to have a chance to win this year's Tour de France. But there are some hard stage left where the the attacks will be continue. The team now has 3 stages and is very proud of this success and of the first stage wins in a GT ever.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 10. Chambéry - Gap



1. Davin Rebeloufti (Team Air Riders)
2. Carl Ferguson (Pastis Richard) +0:14
3. Bolat Yuda (Team Thurau) s.t.
4. Patrick Latuerie (Enigma) s.t.
5. Konrad Weis (Leibach) +2:07
...
9. Luiz Foguete +8:46
10. Benjamin Gourgue s.t.
17. Jorge Felicandes +9:10
33. Ignacio Castillo +10:28
37. Adriano Perreira +14:08
52. Guilherme Callado +26:14
72. Diego del Rios +28:55
74. Edson Barroso s.t.
93. Eddy Wouters +34:18

Finances:
+101.000 €

Money still to earn: 1.664.420 €
earned money: 1.200.300 €

tour balance: -300.220 €


Summary: At the beginning it was Luiz Foguete who used his chance today to go into the group of the day but unfortunately he quick realized that he has no real chance to win so the team used him in front as a puller for an attacking Ben Gourgue. This worked out very well and so Ben could gain exactly 13 seconds on Peter Botha: This was enough to take over the yellow shirt for his first time because of more sprint points. At the end Starforce, the big favo for GC had much luck that he only lost 21 seconds on Ben. An attack by Jorge Felicandes failed short before the last mountain. This would have been the chance to gain much more time on World. World is now 2:26 behind Ben. This is not enough to win the Tour at the end but there are some more days left. We have to fight and we want that...

[Lizard]

I think I need to watch here. Sounds the galactics are making some massacre here

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 11. Sisteron - Bourg les Valence



1. Jorge Felicandes
2. Christoph Kaiser (Starforce) s.t.
3. Olmus Cuche (Maurice) s.t.
4. Andejs Hilskewitz (francais) +0:17
5. Santiago Higuain (Starforce) s.t.
...
10. Guilherme Callado +0:56
18. Benjamin Gourgue s.t.
19. Diego del Rios
36. Ignacio Castillo
53. Adriano Perreira
64. Luiz Foguete
76. Eddy Wouters +21:21
84. Edson Barroso s.t.

Jerseys:
Benjamin Gourgue
Alex Salouiga
Pieter van Kemseke
Anton Möller

Team classement:
1. francais
2. Starforce +1:55
3. Maurice +7:22


Finances:
+189.400 €

Money still to earn: 1.475.020 €
earned money: 1.389.700 €

tour balance: -247.240 €


Summary: At the beginning the team wanted to give a chance to a group after sprint favo Leibach said that he will come back much later. But the group was not like the team wanted, so that Wouters and Barroso had to catch them. After that it was a hard fight for the red jersey which finally remains on the shoulders of Pieter van Kemseke (francais) After the mountain a big group was selected inclusive the sprinter of Leibach so that Enigma took over the control to take over the green jersey. After he took the sprint points he let a group go and Jorge Felicandes got the chance to ride for his own chances. His good form and the point that we dont have to control the field because of that were the reasons for that. A group of 5 riders then decided the race. After an attack by the tired Santi Higuain (Starforce) Jorge hat to follow him. After he caught him back it was the second one of Starforce who attacked and left 2 guys behind them. The sprint then won Jorge with no problems, but totally unexpected. 4 stage wins out of 11 stages are a big success for the team after the bad Giro without any stage wins.


@ Lizard: Yeah, hope you watch our race, the niveau is not the best but the fight for the GC between the "Hubers" and the real climbers is somehow very interesting even if it seems to be hopeless for my side...

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 12. Bourg de Péage - Mende



1. Peter Botha (francais)
2. Benjamin Gourgue +0:04
3. Rainer Berg (Team Air Riders) +0:08
4. Onofrio Spiridigliozzi (Starforce) s.t.
5. Herbert von Hohenstein (Maurice) +0:21

Favorites after Mende-stage:
1. Peter Botha
2. Benjamin Gourgue +0:04
3. Rainer Berg +1:13
4. Heal World +2:50
5. Leonhard Euler +3:23
7. Anton Möller +4:22

Finances:
+95.600 €

Money still to earn: 1.379.420 €
earned money: 1.485.300 €

tour balance: -288.060 €

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 13. Rodez - Revel



1. Guilherme Callado
2. Zibowe Catanulu (Maurice) s.t.
3. Herbert von Hohenstein (Maurice)
4. Carola Kühne (francais)
5. Heal World (Starforce)
...
8. Benjamin Gourgue
20. Adriano Perreira
21. Jorge Felicandes
28. Ignacio Castillo +1:47
65. Luiz Foguete +2:24
80. Diego del Rios +3:28
91. Edson Barroso +4:02
92. Eddy Wouters s.t.

Standing "Green Jersey"

1. Alex Salouiga 139 pts.
2. Bernd Weis 135 pts.
3. Guilherme Callado 114 pts.
4. Benjamin Gourgue 102
5. Zibowe Catanulu 98


Finances:
+151.200 €

Money still to earn: 1.228.220 €
earned money: 1.636.500 €

tour balance: -273.280 €

Summary: This was our favorite stage from the beginning on. Guilhermo Callado selected this stage out to win it and he did. Nobody wanted to attack or make the race hard because of the following days so that it was easy to bring the field to the last climb and then nobody tried a sieb so that Jorge Felicandes leads Callado over the last hill with only some seconds on Peter Botha who attacked out of the field. At the end it was Adriano Perreira who holds everything together and Callado has no problems to win the sprint against Zibowe Catanulu.
From tomorrow on the Tour de France really begins with the next mountain stage on the top of the Plateau de Bonascre (Ax-3-Domaines). Ben is only 4 seconds behind Peter Botha and he needs several minutes to Heal World to maybe have a chance to win this years Tour de France.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 14. Revel- Ax 3 Domaines



1. Peter Botha (francais)
2. Benjamin Gourgue s.t.
3. Rainer Berg (Team Air Riders) +1:05
4. Gregory Pennetier (Pastis Richard) +1:40
5. Edgar Polstergeist (Enigma) +1:44
...
16. Jorge Felicandes +6:01
19. Ignacio Castillo +6:20
35. Luiz Foguete +28:36
46. Edson Barroso s.t.
50. Eddy Wouters
75. Diego del Rios
76. Guilherme Callado
81. Adriano Perreira

Favorites after Ax 3 Domaines:
1. Peter Botha
2. Benjamin Gourgue +0:04
3. Rainer Berg +2:18
4. Heal World +4:41
5. Leonhard Euler +5:58

Finances:
+117.500 €

Money still to earn: 1.261.920 €
earned money: 1.602.800 €

tour balance: -306.980 €

Summary: Hard race on a hard day over the Port du Pailheres, but we won nearly 2 minutes on Heal World. He is now 4:41 behind Botha who is still 4 seconds in front of Ben. But today costed a lot of power. One big mistake was the sprint at the end today. Ben has already 2 stages and he shouldn't better fight for the 3rd one today. This cost us 50 power which we would have needed tomorrow. This can cost us our chances for the GC! 4:37 are not enough to win the tour. 1 minute more would be good but the chances are becoming less and lesser.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 15. Pamiers - Bagneres de Luchon



1. Peter Botha
2. Heal World
3. Onofrio Spiridigliozzi
4. Rene Möller +0:51
5. Edgard Poltergeist s.t.
...
12. Benjamin Gourgue +1:02
20. Jorge Felicandes +3:50
28. Ignacio Castillo +4:10
30. Guilherme Callado s.t.
33. Adriano Perreira +17:46
36. Luiz Foguete +18:19
60. Eddy Wouters +30:47
62. Edson Barroso s.t.
68. Diego del Rios s.t.

Finances:
+50.100

Money still to earn: 1.211.820 €
earned money: 1.652.900 €

tour balance: -393.300 €

Summary: Ben started not fit and the manager completely missanalyzed the power of Peter Botha. At the end he lost 1:02 on Botha and World. The Tour win is over.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 16. Bagneres de Luchon - Pau



1. Carola Kühne
2. Alexandros Amalthea
3. Jens Filbrich +1:29
4. Zibowe Catanulu +1:35
5. Carl Ferguson s.t.
...
7. Ignacio Castillo +1:38
12. Benjamin Gourgue +1:49
24. Jorge Felicandes +2:12
39. Guilherme Callado +13:36
41. Adriano Perreira s.t.
46. Diego del Rios +21:57
69. Luiz Foguete s.t.
78. Edson Barroso +35:16
93. Eddy Wouters +41:13

Afterall GC after the TT(calculation):
1. Heal World
2. Leonhard Euler +1:57
3. Peter Botha +2:45
4. Rainer Berg +2:55
5. Benjamin Gourgue +3:15

Finances:
+80.500 €

Money still to earn: 1.131.320 €
earned money: 1.733.400 €

tour balance: -449.220 €

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 17. Pau - Col du Tourmalet



1. Peter Botha
2. Benjamin Gourgue
3. Heal World +0:26
4. Onofrio Spiridigliozzi +0:48
5. Rainer Berg s.t.
...
23. Jorge Felicandes +6:38
25. Ignacio Castillo +7:11
29. Adriano Perreira +8:39
38. Luiz Foguete +21:12
39. Guilherme Callado s.t.
40. Diego del Rios +21:20
72. Edson Barroso +38:52
92. Eddy Wouters +42:22

GC before ITT:
1. Peter Botha
2. Benjamin Gourgue +1:06
3. Rainer Berg +4:08
4. Heal World +5:07
5. Leonhard Euler +8:35

Calculation after TT:
1. Heal World
2. Peter Botha +2:24
3. Leonhard Euler +2:36
4. Ben Gourgue +2:55
5. Rainer Berg +4:27



And again it was this fucking "Söldner" Peter Botha who stole us our stage. Hate this guy, specially because he won it with a second trick. Not very gentleman-like.

Finances:
+101.600 €

Money still to earn: 1.029.720 €
earned money: 1.835.000 €

tour balance: -484.040 €

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - 18. Salies de Béarn - Bordeaux



1. Luiz Foguete
2. Eddy Wouters
3. Bernd Weis +1:37
4. Alex Salouiga s.t.
5. Guilherme Callado
...
7. Benjamin Gourgue
10. Jorge Felicandes
11. Diego del Rios
47. Ignacio Castillo
64. Adriano Perreira
79. Edson Barroso

Finances:
+287.000 €

Money still to earn: 742.720 €
earned money: 2.122.000 €

tour balance: -333.460 €

Summary. It was nearly hopeless after the group with Luiz and Wouters in it didn't worked, but then the attack about 120 km before the finish opened the team a double win. At the end Luiz Foguete won his second and most important race in his 210th race for us. A great honour for the hard work he did all the time. Today the party is on. Ben Gourgue is the only one who will got to bed early. He has a last important day tomorrow.

[el Galactico]

Tour de France - Summary

At the end Ben Gourgue finishes 3rd at the podium. But the last day destroyed a nice and friendly tour when some "idiots" cooperated against one other. So i wont make a summary of this Tour and will focus immediately on the next events to come.


***statistics updated!***

[el Galactico]

Route de Feurs
Felicandes out of a 5-man-group

The first race after the Tour de France, a much much better field than we had it at the Tour de France but our way of success continued when Adriano Perreira and Jorge Felicandes attacked about 50 kms before the finish with 4 other riders in the wheel.
This were David Cuche (Alster-Wasser), Sterling Fawkes (El Pablo) and Lorentz Nicolaii (Montages SG).
Quickly the group opens the gap up to over 1 minute by the tempo of Adriano Perreira. In the peloton nobody has the strength to close this gap.
At the end the group was 16 seconds in front when the arrived at the finish line where Jorge Felicandes easily outsprinted the rest of the group from the wheel of Fawkes.
It's his 3rd career win and already his second one this month. He also won one of our 6 stages of this years Tour de France!

Adriano Perreira finished 5th and Ignacio Castillo sprinted at the 23rd place out of the peloton.

[el Galactico]

Season review - July

Tomorrow will be our last race for maybe some days or 2 weeks because the manager wants to ride on his own bicyle during his summer break.

So today we have to make a little review about this nearly completed month. Today we will start in the USA and then tomorrow the season will hopefully end with the Clasica San Sebastian if the internet in Berlin is ok.

The July is as always the month of the Tour de France but this year we participated there for our first time. The most expensive team of all times started in Rotterdam to win stages and to bring Ben Gourgue to a good place in the General Classement. Both was a success with 6 stages and the 3rd place in the GC for Gourgue.
Diego del Rios started with the strong stage win over the pave of Arenberg. 5 days later Ben Gourgue himself was able to win the first HC stage in the Alpes and 2 days later he added a second stage win against the strong Peter Botha. Again 2 days later it was Jorge Felicandes who could win the stage between Sisteron and Bourg les Valence. Guilherme Callado also got his deserved stage after several podiums at the Giro and the Tour. He won his stage which ended in revel. The last one who could add a stage win of the Tour was then Luiz Foguete 2 days before the peloton reached Paris.
At the end Ben Gourgue missed the 2nd overall place with only 13 seconds. But he was lucky about the 3rd one as well.

At the 2th of July it was again Jorge Felicandes who won the little after Tour Criterium "Route de Feurs".

So at the moment the team participated in 23 races and won 7 of them. This is a great success and it results in our first ever 1-Division-Championship. With only 2 days to go and about 900 points gap between us and the 2nd we surely can start this party.


Rider of the Month (July)

The last point is our monthly award for the best rider of the past month.

There are a few candidates like Jorge Felicandes or the others who were able to get their stage. But there is only one who got two of them - and additionaly he reached the 3rd overall place.

So our Rider of the Month July is for sure - Benjamin Gourgue!

Congratulations and good luck for the next month with the start of the Vuelta a Espana.

[el Galactico]

California Cup
"Gurke" not like a Gurke!

Today the team started in California for the California Cup, a little Criterium after the Tour de France, but nevertheless the field was full of excellent climbers. Sergei Larin, Jacob Abo, Nardo Solanito and last but for sure not least our nightmare from the Tour de France - Peter Botha!
At the beginning it was the young amateur team simply who raised the tempo and splits the field immediately. Gourgue was for a long time the only one of the best climbers who had a helper. San Sebastian leader Ignacio Castillo today has to work for his teammate. Tomorrow it will be different. At the end Ben Gourgue attacked 4 kms before the finish and was one second before Peter Botha who reached him at the next km when it became flater. Then they both rode together until the end. Ben Gourgue had the better form so that he was able to sprint over the finish line as the first.

This is his 3rd career win and the 61st for the team. The team can now be very proud because they have won 61 stages in 524 races.

[el Galactico]

Transfer news
3rd Belgian joins the team

Today the team reacted on the high costs of the team. From now on Emile Daems is our 13th rider of the team. His skills 49-81-75-49-71-78,9 pave - reg 50
fit perfect into the team which now has a strong pave leader plus a guy who can get some money in sprints. But the main aspect is that he makes the sprint team cheaper. He is 29 years old and hopefully has some good years left for the team. His chance to become one of the 9 riders for the Vuelta are quiet good.

[el Galactico]

Bamberg - Nürnberg
Callado now second in team ranking for stages

Today the team was in Southern Germany to take part in a little race from Bamberg to Nürnberg. It was a very weak field with only 2 teams from the higher Divisions. Cerro Torre and our team. Callado was the clear leader and the team did everything to let him win. At the end it was very easy to controll until the end. Nobody became dangerous so that Callado has no problems to win the sprint at the end with a enormous gap to the 2. David Silva.
Castillo finished 11th and Foguete came in on place 13. The race was only a training for the most important race this month on sunday when we will start in Hamburg for the Cyclassics, where Joaquin Caparros finished on the 3rd place in one of our first races in 2008. 2009 we unfortunately missed the home race of our manager.

Guilherme Callado has now 5 stages and is so now on the 2. place in the team ranking together with legend Alejandro Espinoza.

[el Galactico]

GP Hamburg
Callado misses big goal this month by sprinting on P5

The GP Hamburg is the most important race in Germany and the home race for our manager. Additionally the profile fits good into the plans of our second leader Guilherme Callado. The team of Alkworld with his leader Esteban Trueba participated as well so that the HS was no problem at all. But Alk had also one of this ugly parasites(70-70-70) in the team so that both HS were waiting to long and Damir Obasi won the sprint. Guilherme Callado only finished on the 5th place which is definitely a big desaster for the team this month.

[el Galactico]

GP Plouay
Perre ends up 5th in the Bretagne

The GP Plouay is a category 5 classic race in France. On a very hilly terrain the teams had to ride 210 kms until the finish in Plouay. From the beginning on it was a hard race with high tempo and several escapes, but no group could gain more than about 2 minutes on the peloton. Diego del Rios and Felipe Garrido were in a group when Luiz Foguete and Adriano Perreira attacked into this group about 90 kms before the finish. After that the fit Diego del Rios raised the gap to nearly 1:40 before Luiz Foguete took over the tempo. With about 30 kms to go it was Adriano Perreira who rode away from all of the other escapers. At this point he was 1:30 before the peloton where a group of classic riders from petit singe,francais, Freudenfeuer and Egsdorfer attacked. The group closed the gap short after the last +7. After that the rider of Freude worked alone until the last little hill where Berlogea (petit singe) and Amalthea (francais) attacked. The sprint then won Amalthea by a half wheel. Adriano ended up in the second group on the 5th place overall.

[el Galactico]

Transfer news

Big change in the team this evening.

Two days before the Vuelta starts the team became active on the transfermarket again. 3 guys had to leave the team immediately.

Edilson Iguacu rode 127 races for the team and gained 111 eternal points. With now 32 years his career is becoming to an end. He was member of the team since December '09. His best performance was a good race at the spring classic monument Paris-Roubaix.

The second one who had to leave the team is the young Salvador Carriba. He did everything right but we needed the money. So now he has to search a new team to continue his career. Good luck for that. He rode only 16 races for us.

The last one is the biggest and most famous one out of this 3. Its longtime domestique Edson Barroso. It was planned to nominate him for the Vuelta but today we had to terminate the contract with him. He came in the team in October 2009 with 21 years and skills of 47-72-73-52-50 and developed very good so that his best skills were 50-86-74-50-50 which he still has. Edson participated in 212 races for the team and was also member of the first Galactic team which started in a GT. It was the Giro 2010, in July he also rode the Tour de France. Unfortunately he won no races or jersey during his career but he always did that good what he had to do. All in all he gained 363 eternal points during his time for our team. Now we can only say good luck and maybe he can sign a last contract in a good team to end his career successfully.



But now lets come to the guy who was the activator for this transfer activities so short before the Vuelta. Our scouts were again successfull in Brazil. This time they found a young guy from Sao Vicente, near to Sao Paulo. They watched a little amateur race around Santos when the saw this young talent who was able to blast away all his opponents 50 kms before the finish on a short but steep hill. After that he finished the race as the winner with over 1 minute in front of the rest. This was so impressive that they presented him the contract immediately after the race and on the same evening he was on the way to Europe were his career as a professional cyclist will begin in 5 days.
Robinho de Souza is the name of this talent and hopefully he can step into Alejandro Espinoza's shoes and become our next star in classic races.

Robinho de Souza 56-73-71-57-60-65,8 reg.61

[Lizard]

Ah der! Viel Reg, der wird teuer. Rechne schonmal 80k ein *g*
Viel Trainingserfolg wünsch ich schonma ; )