All div: Grand Tours

[WinterIsComing]

Bolshenkov enjoyed a great Vuelta in Div. 2a, winning 3 stages and the overall classification. He shows he's  ready to make his debut in first division. 

[Aurora Australis]

stage 9 = 8th place for CanhotoAnd so far my team scored points in every Vuelta stage.
I assume that in the final stage sprinter Engelberts will score points too. It is a bit dissapointing that he cannot challenge one of the favorites.
But maybe logical, because he has just a silver sprint icon.The aggressiveness is too low (32). His other sprint-stats look great.

3rd is a great result there, my silver sprinter got 6th (if I was starting now, I'd absolutely look at sprinting because the talents not in the game).

Bolshenkov enjoyed a great Vuelta in Div. 2a, winning 3 stages and the overall classification. He shows he's  ready to make his debut in first division. 

Early welcome to Div 1.

Espana team
Sergio Steinbach = 200 points between stages 6 & 7 (65 & 90 points - not achieved - 20 points stage 4 = 175 points total)
Pavel Lezhnev = 125+ points stage 9 (138 points - achieved)
Daniel Cerdan = 100+ points stage 10 (113 points - achieved - & bonus 28 points stage 5 = 141 points)
And if Alipio Velez can steal a few points, that will be good (didn't happen - but Cerdan & Steinbach did)
Total = 452 points

If we're at least 3550 points going into the TT race (3562 points - achieved)

"TT race, Levin will deliver 1000, taking us to 4550, and a few hundred from Bookout & Jones" (yet to be completed)

[Vos]

113 Engelberts (24), sprinter --> stage 10

I assume that in the final stage sprinter Engelberts will score points too. It is a bit dissapointing that he cannot challenge one of the favorites.
But maybe logical, because he has just a silver sprint icon.The aggressiveness is too low (32). His other sprint-stats look great.

3rd is a great result there, my silver sprinter got 6th

The 3rd place in the final stage is indeed an excellent result for Engelberts.
Thanks to Canhoto who managed to stay with his teamcaptain in the first four sections.
In advance it was very doubtfull if he was good enough to do the helpers job in s4 (although he never got the hands symbol, simply not good enough).

The 6th place of your just silver sprinter Cerdan seems to me also an excellent result, AA !
Engelberts has also silver, but the whole season as 24yo he has 9 stars, so he is very close to gold.
Good luck in the WC TT with your amazing TT-specialists, AA !

The Vuelta was much more succesful for SPORTLIFE as I estimated before this grand tour started. Even more points as in the Giro :

Tour de France =  1.163 points
Vuelta d'Espana =  1.050 points
Giro d'Italia =  987 points

[Aurora Australis]

For the Giro, I only have three cyclists who will attempt to tick over a few points.

201 Nail Tinaev Age 25 (cobbles)
202 Daniel Cerdan Age 25 (sprint)
203 Pavel Lezhnev Age 25 (cobbles)

204 Kirk Workman Age 19
205 ?
With 3 weather bonuses & talent 5, Kirk's just there to get a few kms in his legs.  Fifth cyclist will be there for leg stretching as well, and will be decided after tonight's NT race.

[kirin]

In azerite we are unsure about the goals for the giro, but the lineup most likely will be:

301: David Evans  (25)  (GC)
302: Reinhardt Kahn  (25)  (Cobble-hiller)
303: Mijo Bendix  (24)  (Hiller)
304: José Pierret  (25)  (Cobble-Hiller)
305: either Alvaro Vaca (25, helper) or Sandijs Dukurs (19)

[Vos]

     selection SPORTLIFE

It was a difficult puzzle who to select for this grand tour.
Not many points are expected, but hopefully Benett will go for stage victory in stage 3.
4 out of the 5 selected cyclists should be good enough to do well in their stages and score points (unfortunately without a good helper).

The 5th cyclist, Fagan, has probably only a chance to score points in the GC, although in advance it is very doubtfull he will succeed in that.
He sucks in sprint and has a low flat, so with 2 sprint stages and a total of 20 flat sections in this Giro, it will be very difficult.
Because his manager has a low confidence in him, most likely he has to ride 3 stages in a free role.
Hopefully Fagan can surprise me and score a few points somewhere. Anyway, it is fun to select him, even if he fails.
Presumably it was more smart to select a semi-good hillsclimber, or even better, a good sprint- or hills-helper. But imo GC fun is smart too.

151 Benett (25), climb TT --> stage 3
152 Dékány (25), climb TT --> stage 3
153 Colaco (24), flat-sprinter --> stage 1
154 Marin (25), flat-hills --> stages 7 and 10
155 Fagan (25), cobblehillsclimber --> "GC" ?

Have fun and good luck everyone !

[michinoo]

ATLANTICO
The Atlantico team travels to Italy with high expectations about our performance on this GT. Our 2nd sponsor Decathlon will transfer us an interesting amount of money ( >500k) if we achieve a top10 on the GC, and the directors wants to make them happy. So, the stages victories won't be important. The orders are clear; help "Garrapata". He must be as near as possible from Roethlisberger and Hilton, and when he "explodes" all team must to carry him to the finish line. The selected squad:

161 VanAmerongen (25, GC)
162 Smeets (25, Sprinter)
163 Bessa (25, Hills)
164 Mescoff (25, Cobbles)
165 Lacroix (25, Mountain-hills)

[cabrasverdes]

        Rider                         Age   Points
141  Pio Sainz                          25   691(Hiller)
142  Daniil Tchoban               25   630(cobbles)
143  Kyril VandenBergh       25   540(Cobble-Hiller)
144  Nicolas Meerhoff               24   325(hill-sprinter)
145  Dré Degrande                 25        283(Double cobble helper)
This are the green goats that will ride in Italy. I'll try to get as many points as posible in stages, no aspirations in the general standing.

[Vos]

stage 1 Giro :
An excellent start of this grand tour ; Colaco finished as 9th in a risky tactic because as expected he had no helper in section 4.
Fagan finished as 228th, almost 4 minutes behind stage winner Miksa Pelle (°Peachy°Melocotons). The GC ambition of Fagan is almost gone.

[michinoo]

Horrible result for Van Amerongen; alone in the T2 and 3'12" behind the finish line. The team are so sad right now...  Only a superb cobbs result this afternoon could give us some expectations on the GC.

[kirin]

Horrible result for Van Amerongen; alone in the T2 and 3'12" behind the finish line. The team are so sad right now...  Only a superb cobbs result this afternoon could give us some expectations on the GC.

Same result for Evans, maybe his manager forgetting about setting the tactics had something to do
Anyways, that was the worse stage type for Evans, and now its time for him to shine on the cobbles

[Vos]

All 3 "GC" riders posted in this topic ; it seems to me they have to do better in the next 8 stages, good luck !  :

122    Bram VanAmerongen   25   Atlantico   5: 08"
141    David Evans   25   azerite   5: 39"
161    Cliff Fagan   25   SPORTLIFE   6: 22"

Maybe it is better to focus on stage results ( mainly because I have the 1st and 2nd favorite in the next stage  ) :

stage 1 = 6th Aurora_Australis, 9th SPORTLIFE and 14th Atlantico.
stage 2 = 11th Atlantico, 14th Aurora_Australis and 24th Cabrasverdes.

edit ; Maybe you should change your forum profile, Cabrasverdes. It says 2nd division, but your team is the current number 1 in 1A.

[Vos]

stage 3 Giro :
Olé, Benett did great on the Santuario di Oropa ; splendid victory ! 
Dékány was 2nd favorite and finished as 4th.
Halfway the mountain Fagan had a mechanical breakdown. The reason he finished just outside the points (32nd, 0:00"behind the nr29).
Fagan is still far behind in the GC, but he is getting closer to Evans (just 1 second) and VanAmerongen :

92    David Evans   25   azerite   3: 35"   
97    Bram VanAmerongen   25   Atlantico   3: 49"
110    Cliff Fagan   25   SPORTLIFE   4: 17"

[Aurora Australis]

Pavel Lezhnev finishing 5th in stage 6 has picked up a final 125 points for Aurora Australis in the Giro, so every point you get will be pure gain Vos for your team's lead over mine.  My TdF team is already set, with three in training camps as we speak.

[Vos]

Good result of Lezhnev, AA. 
I will calculate the Giro points of our teams later*. Maybe not much difference ( the difference is only made in stage 3, I presume ).
And I selected a silver hills specialist, maybe he can score a few points ( stages 7 and 10 ) although he has no good helper.
Fagan is too far behind in the GC, at the moment nr53, 3 minutes behind the nr20.
So I have no confidence in him that he will score a few GC points and he will ride the next stage in a free role.

Just like your team, also my team is looking forward to ride the Tour de France.
This Giro was an exception with just 2 cyclists (silver flat-sprinter and golden climb-TT-specialist) who have TC bonus.
In the Tour de France the whole selection has TC bonus, as usual.

*Giro points in the first 6 stages :
SPORTLIFE =  478
Aurora Australis =  331