Hello friends of cycling. We (Tilo Schüler & Philipp Mamos) publish a riders diary from
about the events during the Tour de San Luis (22.01 - 27.01.2008).
We are riding for Team Sparkasse [German continental team, editor] and the line-up for our team
is:
Rob Ruijg, Tilo Schüler, Lars Wackernagel, Andreas Schillinger, Stefan Cohnen, Philipp Mamos and sports
director Erik Weisspfennig.
On our journey with unplanned overnight stayings in Madrid and Buenos Aires we finally arrived San Luis after three days of travelling. We were rewarded with beautiful weather and a
superb hotel. Because our bikes were on tour from Buenos-Aires to San Luis by truck, we had no other choice than to sit
down in the next bar and cope with the consequences of our three day long trip.
Because of the heat (30-35 degrees celsius) we trained in the following three days (until
the start of the Tour de San Luis) in the afternoon, so we did not have to ride in the midday sun, in order not get
barbequed like a Argentine steak. Although we had a lack of knowledge about the place were we are, we completed the 3 - 4
hours training with ease. The San Luis region offers great training possibilities: from flat to mountainous through sunflower
fields and around big lakes. It lacks nothing. The peole, old and young, were very enthusiastic about our team
which we noticed because they were cheering loudly and blew their horns.
Today we were surprised again by a well organised and well visited team presentation (In Europe
you don't experience that often). It was great and we are looking forward to the coming days. For us there is no way
back anymore. So the early season will start with a prologue. The boys of our team are highly motivated amd have to compete
against 194 riders. Among them are the Schleck brothers of Team CSC and other top teams.
Adios Amigos
Tilo und Philipp
