Season 12

[Sjiz]

Well done WiC! As i said: deserved winner. For a whole lot of reasons i didnt put in enough effort to find the best one. You did, congrats!

In the Vuelta its going well. I only realised yesterday that Leonov did not participate and that the gap was only 342 points with the two hill stages to go. That means that Verbeek could maybe win the silver bike. Its a short worth taking. After the stage of this evening he closed the gap to 203 points. This means that he has to win tomorrow evening in order to get the silver bike (and the first non GC guy to get that trophee). But first Cook has to save his top 10. He can go all out in the hillclimb. So much to fight for always these last few races.

[Vos]

So far in the Vuelta I'm missing out many points by using my fully prepared specialists as helpers for GC rider Samsonov.
But fun to compete in the GC ! 
Unfortunately Pires and Lorenzetto are better, and with one more stage to go it seems a battle with Reinertsen for a podiumplace.

TOP 12 GC with one more hills-stage to go :

1Lazare Pires   25   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 00"   
2    Antonello Lorenzetto   30   Marcatone_Due   0: 41"   
3    Kåre Reinertsen   27   Flandria   1: 55"   
4    Dinar Samsonov   30   SPORTLIFE   1: 57"   
5    Tjerk Tusveld   30   SentinelChickens   3: 11"
6    Marzio Pantani   30   Wiggo_pupils   3: 30"   
7    Nicolas Gaspoz   30   MortoviaCycling   4: 00"   
8    Fulgencio Calderon   29   WinterIsComing   4: 20"   
9    John Footman   28   CC_Porco_Jones   4: 51"   
10    Angus Coleman   28   FaltososDeChigre   5: 34"
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Bryn Cook   30   TeamRHB   5: 40"   
12    Jacopo Palandrani   30   galegospolabici   7: 26"

[Sjiz]

Cook needs to make up 6 seconds for a top 10. We will see if he can in a few minutes

[Sjiz]

Cook needs to make up 6 seconds for a top 10. We will see if he can in a few minutes

Unfortunately 2 seconds too few. Verbeek did win the stage and is going to win the silver bike in a last second effort. Very nice

[Vos]

Bad tactics in the final stage causes that the gap remains 2 seconds.
Samsonov =  4º final GC.
A missed opportunity to finish on the podium in a big tour for the first time ever of a SPORTLIFE-cyclist.

[Vos]

Giro Lombardia ;
I guess the season is a little bit too long for my team ; again bad tactics.
A too slow start of teamcaptain Beck ( ánd isolated because his 3 helpers started well ). Beck was too far behind and could not return in s3.
Then free role rider Samsonov had to save the day. He had a good start and I expected he would be in the front of s3, but he did not.
Result :
30º  Beck  --> a staggering 25 points in this classic race.

[Aurora Australis]

3300 points in a single Div1 race 

[Vos]

3300 points in a single Div1 race 

WOW, numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Very impressive, well done, and congratulations with another world championship, AA ! 

The SPORTLIFE results :

The Aurora Australis Show ( a.k.a. WC time trial ) ;
15º  Kangert
27º   Bell
Bell was not prepared for this race. All hope was on a good result with Kangert.
In previous season he finished 10º so I'm not satisfied with this result outside the top10.

World Championship Sprint ;
7º  Perea
27º  Jannakopulosz ( helper )
A good race of both, and a good result of Perea because he could not challenge any favorites.
In retrospective ; most likely the start could have been more risky, because despite the wind, the s1 peleton was huge with 111 cyclists.
A bit incromprehensible that I did not gamble all or nothing in this race where nothing was at stake for my team, besides just a good result.
Anyway, I'm satisfied with this result and even with 1 EP less it was unlikely Perea could have won.

Congratulations to Thorboassonarvesen who made his 27yo Christian Bordeneuve the new world champion ! 

[WinterIsComing]

I played safe with Henderson and was happy to see he finished 12th. That is a place where he belongs in this race, in my opinion. More importantly, it was enough to secure the 3rd spot in the Team Classification, which was the highest possible, after a great and fun battle with TeamRHB. The gap with Cabras en CaptainOrange was already too big to close after the Giro, and they just kept scoring. So congratulations to CaptainOrange with 1st place teams and individually, and to Cabras with 2nd place.

Happy to settle for 3rd place, next to the victory of the CFF-Cup. Highlight of the season was the Riis win in San Sebastian, without TC. He did well in his first season at my team, with 6 top 10 spots in A-classics, of which 4 podiums (3x Ardennes and San Sebastian).

Now let's think of goals for next season, still not sure what to do with my team... 

[Vos]

FINAL 1A RANKING season 12 =

1º      CaptainOrange   15121   8   5   10   
2º      Cabrasverdes   12829   8   10   7   
3º      WinterIsComing   11620   2   0   6   
- - - - - - - - - -
4º      TeamRHB   11266   7   2   3   
5º      FaltososDeChigre   10369   0   4   3   
6º      galegospolabici   9102   2   5   11   
7º      SPORTLIFE   8342   3   2   1   
8º      Thorboassonarvesen   8225   12   4   3   
9º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   7966   6   8   1   
10º      Valderend   7652   2   8   3

Congratulations Rico, with your very well deserved first 1A championship ! 
Also congratulations to the other 2 teams that finished on the podium ; Cabrasverdes and WinterIsComing.

Unfortunately Sjiz lost the fierce battle for the 3rd place, but also congratulations because Verbeek ( TeamRHB ) won the silver bike.
And that was a really close battle with Leonov ( CobbleCrushers ) who won the bronze bike with just 47 points less.
The by far best cyclist this season was Hilton ( CaptainOrange ), also congratulations with the golden bike, Rico ! 

To my surprise SPORTLIFE finished as 7th.
The first half of the season my team was just above the relegation zone.
It improved after Romandie. But the biggest increase in ranking was made by the 2 TdF-stage victories, although still outside the top10.
Even right before the Vuelta my team was just 12th and under the 6k points.
Anyway, this 7th place is just for fun because the 1A ranking was not a season goal.

This season 12 there were almost no season goals and highlights for my team, besides of course that my team achieved the 50th 1A victory.
Also fun that my team is now the 11 times Australian champion, but also this was not really a season goal.
In contrast to the white jersey, what was also a season goal in previous season.
But in season 11 my 22yo contender was beaten by a 22yo TeamRHB cyclist. They were the only two 22yo's with points.
In this season 12 just one 22yo with points :
Joost VanLidthDeJeude ( SPORTLIFE )   
I bought him this season for just 2.250,- what was a good investment in the 2nd jersey ever achieved. ( the 1st = WC jersey in season 9 )

Now let's think of goals for next season, still not sure what to do with my team... 

Same here, maybe it will be again such an almost meaningless season as in this season 12.
And maybe I can set up a mini youth team aside, but I try that every season and always no luck in getting a 19yo (top) tour cyclist.
Also a possibility that my team will go for more points by buying a hills- and/or cobblehills specialist.
I missed out many points this season by not competing in those classic races.
For now just one thing is certain as season 13 goal ; SPORTLIFE will compete in the mountain stages.

[Sjiz]

Well done everyone! Of course Ricardo with winning both the teams as well as the individual rankings. Thats a great season forsomeone who gave up after 7 stages

For me the season ended with a sour taste. Missing the American jersey on 20 points, losing the cup final and, more importantly missing out on the main goal of the season: the podium. Still, congrats to WiC of course for beating me. I would have loved to see it different but the points dont lie.
I underperformed massively with Loinaz unfortunately.I also messed up the sprint hill stages in both the TDU as well as Paris Nice. Losing both races.

The bright light of the team, as always, was Verbeek. He got 7 wins and 10 podiums in total. A massive amount for any rider. So it was a brilliant season for him and he even became the first non-GC rider to win the silver bike. In the past we had Fossum, Walkins, Pierre and Verbeek himself as non-GC riders to win a bronze bike but none have gotten silver. I am very proud of this.

This does mean however that there is room for improvement next year. It will be all out to go for the podium again, our last chance with these riders. The calendar doesnt look very favourable but we will try. We must try