Season 13

[Vos]

A lot of climbing in the Tour de France of season 13

The season 13 schedule is published.

little tours ;
The TDU has that 88km time trial ; PN and CAT are for climbers with a sprint ; TIR is for hills-climbers with a sprint ;
ITZ is for allround tour cyclists, it has a cobblehills stage but no time trial ; ROM is a very different little tour, but also for allrounders ;
DAU has no time trial and no sprint finish ; SUI is very diverse ; and the BBT seems different as all previous times, a lot of flat and one TT.

big tours ;
The Giro and the Tour have almost no cobble sections, it seems to me the tour cyclists with cobble will ride the Vuelta.
The Giro has 4 stages that ends in a sprint, and the most remarkable ; The Tour has 3 different TT stages + 5 mountain stages.

world championships ;
Both are in Portugal ; the TT is just 19km with 2 little hills in it, and the road race is 254,1km with 5 hills sections.

[Sjiz]

All in all a bad calendar for me

[Sjiz]

All in all a bad calendar for me

Still a good start. Verbeek opened with the win in the TDU. His 24th win in total in 1a. Lets see if we can win another and maybe do a top 10 in the GC.

[Sjiz]

All in all a bad calendar for me

Still a good start. Verbeek opened with the win in the TDU. His 24th win in total in 1a. Lets see if we can win another and maybe do a top 10 in the GC.

So far, so good. Verbeek didnt lose a second in the first 3 stages and opened up some nice gaps to other contenders. Tonight we will be at the mercy of the TT gods. Hopefully he can limit his losses and stay on a podium course. His lead on Sainz will not be enough and Stamer also looks like he will pass Verbeek quickly. After that it will be interesting. I am expecting a minute loss but it could be more. We will see. Not much i can do here.

[Vos]

A bit busy and therefore a very late post of my TDU selection, because there are just 2 more stages to go.

   selection SPORTLIFE

61 Gregorio ( 31 ), GC teamcaptain
62 Jannakopulosz ( 31 ), free role hill-sprinter
63 Kangert ( 29 ), TT
64 Sordo ( 31 ), helper
65 Witsche ( 24 ), helper

My team is not in top form yet, but Jannakopulosz did very well in free roles ; he finished as 8º in stage 2 and as 12º in stage 3.
That cannot be said of teamcaptain Gregorio although he did not bad, the current 45º GC place is dissapointing.
Hopefully he is much better than many other GC rivals in the extreme long distance time trial of 88km, so he can move up a lot in the GC.
Otherwise I made a bad strategic decision to go for the GC instead of going for stage results.

[Sjiz]

I was a little scared when i saw Verbeek finish at over 4 minutes. In the GC the damage was less. He is now 5th with 54 seconds behind on Sainz who looks destined to win the TDU again. Verbeek may end up on the podium. He will need some luck for that.

[Vos]

stage 4 TDU ;
13º  Kangert  on 0:18"
- - - - - - - - - -
37º  Gregorio  on 2:14"

Very good results considering they both have 97 form and Kangert his stamina is not very high.
Gregorio moved up 32 (!) places in the GC and he is now 13º on 1:42" behind the new GC leader Sainz (Cabrasverdes).
It looks vey good that he will score GC points. But I hoped for a top10 GC before the TDU started and I assume that will not happen.
Already a ½ minute behind the nr10 GC and most likely many GC rivals are better in the final flat-hills stage.

[Sjiz]

Aaaaand its a 4th place. Not much differences in the final stage. Unfortunately Verbeek could not ride for the stage win. Still a decent 6th. All in all a nice TDU. Not much i could have done better. Verbeek finished at 0 seconds in all stages except the TT. And thats a TT. Better than expected. Now to see what Van der Vaart can do for my team in the cobbles.

[Vos]

stage 5 TDU ;
22º Gregorio on 0:00"
Unexpectedly he finished on 0:00" although his tactics included a very strong 5 EP finish what probably caused this surprising good result.
He even moved up in the GC and finished just outside the top10 ; 11º GC on 1:42"

My team scored 282 points in this TDU, and PN is the next tour to score because I have no cyclists for the 2 upcoming point-rich cobble hills races.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

221 Smith ( 26 ), climb-TT
222 Morris ( 30 ), climb
223 Basov ( 30 ), climb-TT + climb
224 Miorlin ( 31 ), climb
225 Samsonov ( 31 ), climb-sprint

stage 1 ;
1º  Gabriele Tiblias ( OphiukoCT ) 
2º  Smith  on 0:01"
15º  Basov
My team is not in topform yet in PN, with the exception of this stage 1 thanks to a WC card. Too bad 1st favorite Smith lost with 1 second.

stage 2 ;
1º  Max Hegna ( Valderend )
2º  Morris  on 0:00"
9º  Miorlin ( free role )
It was a sprint-a-deux, and a well deserved victory of Valderend thanks to great tactics, his team was the only one with a helper in s4.
But in contrast to stage 1, I'm happy with this second place for a climber who is not in topform and could not challenge the favorites.

stage 3 ;
1º  Morris  --> solo victory !
8º  Miorlin  ( free role )
27º  Basov  ( helper )
Amazing result ! Again Morris had just one helper, because Miorlin and Samsonov have free roles in PN due to maybe GC points.
This is Morris his 1st victory in his career. 
Even a CFF record with just 97 form, ánd he scored a sponsor deal of 388k.

Stage 4 is a dilema now, because the plan was to make Samsonov the teamcaptain for stage points.
Or Miorlin as teamcaptain if he is ranked good in the GC. And he is, despite no topform and free roles ; 11º GC on 1:46"
Samsonov is probably too far behind with 55º GC on 3:50", but he can sprint.
Let's go for another choice although he cannot sprint. Fun to see where he ends up in the GC. The (edit; maybe) stage 4 teamcaptain = 
Morris  ( current GC leader )

edit ; hmmm, or Miorlin as teamcaptain because I see there is hard wind in stage 4 and Miorlin likes riding with the wind. It really is a dilemma^^

[Vos]

stage 4 PN ;
1º  Mark Curry   ( CC_Porco_Jones )
8º  Samsonov  on 0:00"  ( free role )  --> very good result.
29º  Miorlin  on 1:07" --> dissapointing 5th of the 3rd group, he should have been in the 2nd group that was 0:41" faster.
52º  Morris  on 1:53"  ( free role )  --> grrrrrr, as 1st of the big 4th group, with a little more luck he could have finished 0:46" better.

It is very doubtfull that my stragic choice for Miorlin as teamcaptain in stage 4 was a good choice, probably not.
Teamcaptain Miorlin and free role Morris did not great in this stage. If they finished one group better ; a much higher GC ranking.
But with the final decisive sprint stage to come, both would not ride a good GC result anyway. As I estimated before PN started.
Samsonov is doing better as I expected, also he has a chance to score GC points because he can sprint a bit.

GC Paris-Nice, after 4 stages :
1Kåre Reinertsen   28   Flandria   0: 00"   
2    Allan Palmer   30   CaptainOrange   0: 06"   
3    Lazare Pires   26   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 57"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Fraser Morris   30   SPORTLIFE   0: 59"   
5    Mark Curry   28   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 13"   
6    Elouan Simon   31   Cabrasverdes   1: 15"   
7    Bart Ablett   31   TeamRHB   1: 15"   
8    Antonius Berner   31   OphiukoCT   1: 32"   
9    Roland Weening   31   TipiCyclingTeam   1: 40"   
10    Torbjørn Rosland   31   WinterIsComing   1: 49"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Harry Tjoens   31   El_Viejo_Acordeón   1: 51"   
12    Nicola Miorlin   31   SPORTLIFE   1: 59"   
13    István Szekér   31   HorsCategorieProTeam   2: 01"   
14    Aksel Blix   26   Aspigarri   2: 13"   
15    Nestor Cabrera   25   galegospolabici   2: 15"   
16    Sven WinklerPrins   30   WinterIsComing   2: 22"   
17    Nate Coleman   30   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   2: 33"
18    Cristian Speciale   31   Zatarra   2: 34"   
19    Anthony Hilton   31   CaptainOrange   2: 35"   
20    Marzio Pantani   31   Wiggo_pupils   2: 36"   
__________
21    Tim Bell   29   QuintoYtapa   2: 43"
22    Brent Holmquist   26   FaltososDeChigre   2: 47"   
23    Bernhard Niklitschek   31   CaptainOrange   2: 47"   
24    Eulalio Revilla   31   Valderend   2: 51"   
25    Dinar Samsonov   31   SPORTLIFE   2: 56"

[Sjiz]

Now that the mountains have passe we see the lightweight climbers dissapear from the GC. Tonight will be interesting. Ablett did a good race this morning where he finished 6th and moved up to 7th in the GC. We aim for the podium but i think a 4th should be possible.

Edit: and i almost forgot that i got the achievement for 500 challenges won Took a while but now we go for the 1000.

[Vos]

the achievement for 500 challenges won

Impressive ! And for sure this is an unique achievement for a long while ; the nr2 OphiukoCT has 255 challenges won.
SPORTLIFE is also high ranked. In the next race I hope to win 200 times. Not easy, because the opponent is your Loinaz. Good luck ! 

[Vos]

Bentinck wins the final stage, his 49th victory in 1A !    Congratulations Spammie !   (or even the 50th victory if this stage win is not updated yet in the ranking)
It is very close with also an excellent Palmer, but Reinertsen proves again he is an amazing GC rider. Congratulations, Flandria ! 
For what it is worth ( not much ), SPORTLIFE has the most cyclists in the top 20 GC.

Final GC Paris Nice ;
1Kåre Reinertsen   28   Flandria   0: 00"   
2    Allan Palmer   30   CaptainOrange   0: 06"   
3    Mark Curry   28   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 13"   
- - - - - - - - -
4    Lazare Pires   26   FrançaiseDesJeux   1: 25"   
5    Bart Ablett   31   TeamRHB   1: 43"   
6    Elouan Simon   31   Cabrasverdes   1: 43"   
7    Antonius Berner   31   OphiukoCT   2: 00"   
8    Aksel Blix   26   Aspigarri   2: 42"   
9    Sven WinklerPrins   30   WinterIsComing   2: 50"   
10    Fraser Morris   30   SPORTLIFE   3: 02"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Anthony Hilton   31   CaptainOrange   3: 03"   
12    István Szekér   31   HorsCategorieProTeam   3: 05"   
13    Roland Weening   31   TipiCyclingTeam   3: 09"   
14    Tim Bell   29   QuintoYtapa   3: 12"
15    Nestor Cabrera   25   galegospolabici   3: 18"   
16    Harry Tjoens   31   El_Viejo_Acordeón   3: 19"   
17    Odin Gustavsen   31   BorinotTeam   3: 20"   
18    Dinar Samsonov   31   SPORTLIFE   3: 24"   
19    Nicola Miorlin   31   SPORTLIFE   3: 27"   
20    Tom Cabanas   31   MortoviaCycling   3: 29"   

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Two options in this little tour ; go for the GC or go for stage results, because all 3 sprinters are in topform in the final 2 sprint stages.
Also Samsonov is in topform after riding Paris Nice. Only Beck is not in topform yet, but he should be a good helper in the first 3 stages.

61 Samsonov ( 31 ), tour
62 Beck ( 26 ), tour / helper
63 Lebrun ( 28 ), sprint
64 Perea ( 31 ), sprint
65 Jannakopulosz ( 31 ), sprint

Good luck everyone !