AUSTRALIAN NT - Season 13 - Ending of an era

[Vos]

. . . . . . . . . . NEWS FLASH . . . . . . . . . . NEWS FLASH . . . . . . . . . NEWSFLASH . . . . . . . . . .
Bern, Switzerland,
The old Australian NT bus is replaced by 2 brandnew trains to travel to the NT races in Europe. See picture below.
This season is used to test them with a NT calendar of 5 races in Switzerland, 2 races in Belgium and 1 race in Italy.
With these trains the expectation is that the Australian cyclists will be even more laidback and relaxed at the start as they already were.

Remarkable is the fact that these trains are designed by an Australian international ; Jasper Blair.
He is also the one who gave these trains their official name ; bullet trains. 
Upcoming Sunday the positive effect of this new Australian transportation can be noticable in the NT race in Bern.


the new bullet trains of the Australian NT selection 

Do you want to experience a ride in these trains ?
Send your scout to Australia and train that young Australian talent very well. He might become good enough to enjoy the ride.

[Franky]

 

you crazy as fuck, dude!

[Franky]

 

[Vos]

Great picture and it looks amazing on his profile page !   

[Aurora Australis]

Race 4   

Selections :
Richard Levin   31   Aurora_Australis
Isaac Trump   31   Aurora_Australis
Paul Clickett   30   Aurora_Australis
Ben Mitchum   31   Aurora_Australis
Christian Pinkney   30   Aurora_Australis
Kirk Workman   25   Aurora_Australis

Three more to be selected.

Prospects: Final shot at TT glory.  The next NT manager may have different ideas, however if Owen's selected this race, it'll be his last, and likely Mitchum's as well.

Results:
3rd   Ben Mitchum      31   0: 03"   225      Aurora_Australis
5th   Isaac Trump      31   0: 05"   180      Aurora_Australis
7th   Richard Levin      31   0: 05"   150      Aurora_Australis
9th   Christian Pinkney      30   0: 07"   130      Aurora_Australis
12th   Paul Clickett      30   0: 08"   100      Aurora_Australis
16th   Owen Acree      31   0: 11"   60      Aurora_Australis

27th   Kirk Workman      25   0: 15"   0      Aurora_Australis
31st   Dean Shields      26   0: 17"   0      Aurora_Australis

Unfortunately not one final victory, but still a handy point's tally.

[Aurora Australis]

Current rough score after taking into account weather.

#   Score   Name   Age   Team
1   98.30   Richard Levin   31   Aurora_Australis
2   98.19   Isaac Trump   31   Aurora_Australis
3   97.82   Paul Clickett   30   Aurora_Australis
4   97.70   Ben Mitchum   31   Aurora_Australis (1 weather)
5   97.44   Christian Pinkney   30   Aurora_Australis
6   96.33   Owen Acree   31   Aurora_Australis
7   96.20   Kirk Workman   25   Aurora_Australis (1 weather)
8   95.90   Cameron Carter   29   Antequera (2 weather)
9   95.83   Neil Bell   30   SPORTLIFE
10   95.70   Dean Shields   26   Aurora_Australis (1 weather)
11   95.52   David Wilson   29   Facha_Bartolo
12   95.50   Gilbert Byers   27   TeamSalpeter (1 weather)
13   95.45   Chris Montgomery   29   Frenkie (1 weather)
14   95.20   Charles Iverson   25   BlackHole (1 weather)
15   94.64   Steve Odom   25   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team

Workman's selected before Acree due to age.  I'm not certain Acree's good enough for selection, which really removes anybody else of advancing age, and maybe even the next 25-26 yo below Workman.  Carter's too old to play for the future, and the next age group has Shields for selection (2nd to Workman), who for NT is kinda a temporary bubble choice.  So we might go for at least one underage TTer.

(btw, just for record, most of my TTers are at 99.9 TT, as I switched from TT this week.)

[Vos]

Unfortunately this time no NT race victory.
But 3º, 5º, 7º, 9º, 12º and 16º is not a bad race result. All 6 point scoring cyclists are of your own team Aurora_Australis.
And Australia is now high ranked ; nr3 and 200 points behind the nr1 and 315 points ahead of the nr4.
Have fun and good luck in the next NT race, AA !

[Franky]

Wilt "The Gun" Frances is also gold now!


Wilt Frances   Age : 23   Wage : 817
Stamina : 73   Sprint : 95   Climbing : 26
Flat : 90   Cobblestone : 44   Technique : 72
Downhill : 24   Hills : 78   Aggressiveness : 77
Time Trial : 9   Teamwork : 71   Experience : 27

I think he is going to be Jasper's best friend 

[Aurora Australis]

Race 5

Selections :
Kirk Trump   31   $Tourmalet
Alex Byers   30   Fountain
Sam Rooney   23   Lemarche
Steve Morse   23   LanihuliCycling

Rest to be selected once I see the younger cyclists.

Prospects: Not going to happen

Results:
28th   Alex Byers      30   0: 53"   0 points      Fountain

[Aurora Australis]

AUSTRALIAN u21 - Cyclists to note

Something more interesting to look at than the upcoming NT race's prospects.  Click on paperclip (attachment) to view.

[Aurora Australis]

Because I have a policy that underaged cyclists of note should typically get one NT race for experience where there's gaps in selections (providing a team's doing everything right for the cyclist), here's a list of under 23 cyclists who've been selected in a NT race so far this season & therefore are unlikely to be selected in the final two races if spaces are free.

Marcus Glass   21   La_Vie_Claire
Jason Duffy   21   Frenkie
Norm Bush   21   Orange
Leroy Ablett   20   lasposturas
Nobby Licuria   20   Aurora_Australis
Kirk Clinton   20   Aurora_Australis
Markus Benett   20   Aurora_Australis
Bud Mount   21   ChronoTony
Marc Huling   20   CobbleCrushers

[B.E-L]

To bad Patrick Cann has an very low talent. Otherwise he would be an excellent candidate for the last 2 races 

[Aurora Australis]

Yeah, low talent is deadly, particularly with TT (you should see the list of multi-million dollar transfers I sent straight to fruit picking).

Race 6 

Selections :
Austin Burton   31   Facha_Bartolo
Royce Henderson   31   Handest
Vinnie Coleman   30   galegospolabici
Gerard Shields   24   Quickstepbronx (leader)
Zack Walkins   24   Quickstepbronx
Herbie Fredickson   23   MarquinaTeam

Three more to be selected, John Jones won't be one of them (three top tens in NTs - one podium, last NT top ten was 6th in season 11).

Prospects: Well Gerard did better than expected earlier in the season, and now he has a cold weather bonus.  And most of the other guys are creeping toward old age.  Dare we hope for a podium?  Tactics will be gambling for it.

Results:
18th   Gerard Shields      24   0: 32"   30 points      Quickstepbronx
Unexpected high result in previous NT race possibly contributed to overinflated hopes.  Late change in tactics to a more aggressive one failed, with Shields missing the split & wasting energy.

[Kekipi]

AUSTRALIAN u21 - Cyclists to note

Something more interesting to look at than the upcoming NT race's prospects.  Click on paperclip (attachment) to view.

Thanks for posting this.  For comparison purposes, it's good-to-know stuff.

As time and motivation permits, I'll post the numbers for USA's U21s.

[Vos]

Thanks for the lists / great job, Aurora Australis. 

To all Australian managers : Who will be a NT manager candidate for next season ?