Season 11

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Despite no cobblehills cyclists in my team and therefore zero points in the two classic races ;
my team starts with very low backnumbers thanks to two very good little tours. Time for the 3rd little tour of this season.
The new buy of today, Oscar Smith, makes his debut in division 1A.

81 Jannakopulosz ( 29 ), sprint
82 Smith ( 24 ), climb-TT
83 Faber ( 29 ), cobble
84 Dékány ( 29 ), climb-TT
85 Perea ( 29 ), sprint

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

stage 2 Tirreno ;
2º  Smith
7º  Dékány
stage 3 Tirreno ;
15º  Faber

Now it is up to my sprinters in the final 2 stages. Hopefully a good result despite both cannot challenge favorites.

[Vos]

stage 4 Tirreno ;
2º  Jannokopulosz   
23º  Perea on 0:00" with 5x handsymbol
A great result due to many failing rivals in this sprint race.

[Sjiz]

Another 4th place. This is getting old.

[Vos]

stage 5 Tirreno ;
3º  Jannokopulosz   
27º  Perea on 0:00" with 5x handsymbol

Unfortunately no stage victory in this Tirreno, although Jannakopulosz ( 2º + 3º ) and Smith ( 2º ) came close.
Despite this, I'm satisfied about this little tour due to the good results and enough points.

[Sjiz]

You are doing great Vos. Luchtenveld noticed the increase in competition at the sprint. Unfortunately Vigo from WinterIsComing blocked his racing line and the hat to toch his brakes a little. A clear violation but the jury looked the other way. A sure 4th place was stolen from him. An 8th place remained.

[WinterIsComing]

Glad to see that Vigo is streetwise enough to use his body just in the right way. Despite his young age, other sprinters know that they cannot fool him.

He used the Tirreno to test his legs, now let's hope he is strong enough for Milan-San Remo, although he isn't very close to the top favourites and he doesn't have good results from the past in this race. Fingers crossed.

[Vos]

Thanks Sjiz, you and WinterIsComing both good luck in MSR.
Not suited for Jannakopulosz, he is not a so called "heavy hills" sprinter and in the 2 previous seasons he even could not score points.
This season he is going to try again, but it is a windy MSR, someone put a too high hill in the middle of this race, and probably the SPORTLIFE-teamcaptain has almost no energy left for the Cipressa and the notorious Poggio.

[Vos]

Glad to see that Vigo is streetwise enough to use his body just in the right way. Despite his young age, other sprinters know that they cannot fool him.

300 meters before the finishline Jannakopulosz and Vigo were side a side in full sprint.
Jannakopulosz shouted :"Hé Vigo, say my name !"
Vigo :" huh , ok !"
But the answer took two precious seconds and the experienced, foxy SPORTLIFE sprinter switched to the other side of the road,
and took the wheel of Bentinck, always a good wheel to achieve an excellent result.
Finally Vigo had some kind of answer, although "Jannakosomething !" is not entirely correct, the 25yo Vigo saw the rookie mistake he made,
pushed Luchtenveld aside with his body, what is easy, because Luchtenveld is probably a nickname instead of a real name,
and with maximum effort Vigo could close the gap just before the finishline,
but too exhausted to do something more and finished as 4th behind Jannakosomething. 

[shalgo]

Tirreno-Adriatico GC:

1   Rafael Carlos Loinaz   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 00"   500   300000
2   Mannie Collins   28   Cabrasverdes   0: 45"   400   270000
3   Ivan Semon   29   MortoviaCycling   0: 55"   325   240000
4   Ryan Leipheimer   29   Wiggo_pupils   1: 37"   275   210000
5   Alexander Rusakov   29   Flyvende_hjul   1: 59"   250   180000
6   Juan Maria Cantero   29   Flandria   2: 05"   225   150000
7   Espen Valgren   24   SentinelChickens   2: 14"   200   120000
8   Richard Rogers   28   ProdopingPong   2: 21"   175   105000
9   Herbert Verburg   29   KunTeam   2: 35"   150   90000
10   Sven WinklerPrins   28   WinterIsComing   3: 48"   125   75000

First GC top-ten (after finishing 11th in Paris-Nice) for young Espen Valgren!

[Sjiz]

Nice shalgo, thats inpressive!

In Milano - San Remo we, again, had to go protest. Again, Vigo impacted our sprint. Verbeek was riding in the wheel of Podolja when the Cheating Spaniard gave Verbeek an elbow. He was able to stay in the bike but lost the wheel of Podolja. The Cheating Spaniard went on to win and Verbeek finished one place lower than he should, in 5th.

Still happy with the result. Podolja already proved he was worthe 25mil i paid for him. A good debut for him. He is now allowed to rest a little and then we will have the team ride for him in Catalunya.

[Vos]

Milano Sanremo :
in section 1 for Jannakoplosz, what caused he could not follow the peleton of 64 despite many energy.
Therefore a lost race, otherwise he could have been easily in the s4 leading group of 40, because even "helper" Sordo was in the front.
And Jannakopulosz for sure would have scored points if he did not had that crucial mechanical breakdown in s1.

Congratulations with the great victory of Vigo, WinterIsComing !
This is the only highlight for me in this MSR, because again 1 point has been scored in the prediction ranking.

The bis driver of SPORTLIFE does not want to go to Belgium for E3Harelbeke, so it will be a much shorter trip from Milan straight to Catalunya.

[WinterIsComing]

Thanks Vos (and Sjiz ). Impressive performance by Roman Antonio Vigo, achieving his main goal for this season by winning La Primavera.

In the first section, we ordered our Latvian helpers Timmermanis and Blumbergs to stay close to the Hungarian sprinter from Sportlife who tried to make fun of Vigo in the Tirreno. That worked quite well, and for some reason, we didn't see Jannokopoulosz in the remainder of the race. Vigo had 2 other helpers from Iberia with Bettencourt and Constantino, and both of them drove an excellent race, staying close to their leader and protecting him from flies and other bugs from TeamRHB. We were sharp all day long, and after 294 kms in windy and rainy conditions, 'The Red Viper' was a dominant force in the sprint, winning in front of Pascal Cruyff, who did an excellent job in his first MSR on the highest stage. Lauris Freivalds completed the podium, and that means his 3rd consecutive podium in this Classic. He is yet to win La Primavera though.

[Sjiz]

Another day, another 4th place. A great performance from. Nyland. Tonight Podolja can show what he is made of.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

No GC ambition in this little tour. My team goes for the points in stages 1, 2 and 5.
For lack of better and as fun-experiment the very young Witsche gets a leader role in stages 3 and 4.
The main goal in Catalunya is stage 2.
Jannakopulosz is extra motivated to get a top result after his MSR failure. Hopefully he has no mechanical problem this time.

91 Jannakopulosz ( 29 ), sprint
92 VanDerKroon ( 29 ), climbhills
93 Kangert ( 27 ), time trial
94 Colaco ( 28 ), sprint
95 Witsche ( 22 ), hills

Good luck everyone !