Season 13

[Aurora Australis]

An early look at my WC TT squad in their final WC race as favourites.

[Vos]

Let's hope another Australian TT specialist can challenge one (or even a few) of your great WC TT team, AA.
And that is your ex-cyclist Neil Bell. I estimate he is suited for this specific WC TT of 19,2km with 2 little hills in it.
But it is hard to predict, and the expected storm is not an advantage to Bell.
Despite this, I'm hopefull that he can finish top10. And hopefully he does even better, but top10 can also be too optimistic, I have no idea.
Already good luck on the WC TT, AA !

[Sjiz]

An early look at my WC TT squad in their final WC race as favourites.

I think either Clickett or Mitchum will win this one. Maybe Merisalu will be a good surprise.
And of course my Spiker will surprise everyone

[Aurora Australis]

Ok, so the best are getting ready for the TT WC, but they're 20 years old, and in poor health, and not my best 20yo, and I know others have tried it with 22 year olds & failed.

Btw Vos, good 1st win in Div1 for Bradbury, he can retire now (like Steve Bradbury).

[Vos]

Thanks AA, it was really close with your Acree who finished as 2nd on 0:00"
And maybe I have to congratulate you, AA, because there is a good chance you won a nice price in this time trial. The future will tell.
I guess my TT specialists could profit a lot of that most rivals are absent in the BBT because they are on training camp for the WC TT.

And no retirement for Bradbury, he and Kangert are just 29yo.
In contrast to your mentioned short tracker Steve Bradbury, who is now 47yo.
And known for his extreme luck when he won the gold medal in 2002. ( although I had to google this, he even has an Australian stamp with his face on it )

BinckBank Tour ;
stage 1 = 3º  Jørgensen
stage 2 = 17º  Redondo 
stage 3 = 3º  Jørgensen
stage 4 = victory !
1º  Bradbury
3º  Kangert
19º  Redondo

Despite a director with just 10 on small tours ; excellent results in the BBT. 
At the moment Jørgensen is even 2nd in the GC, what is very surprising with his low TT skill of 28.
Most likely he will not score a few GC points because he is not suited at all for the final cobblehills stage.
But he is going to try with his 1 star on hills,
although he has just 2 teammates left (and just 1 real helper), because Kangert and Redondo are abandon to prepare for the TDU.

[Vos]

BinckBank Tour ;
stage 5 ;
76º  Jørgensen  on 2:03"
WOW, a very good tactical race, an excellent race result, and luckily no big time differences for not suited cyclists in this cobblehills stage.
This resulted in a very unexpected and a very good 8º place of Jørgensen in the final GC. 

[Aurora Australis]

And no retirement for Bradbury, he and Kangert are just 29yo.
In contrast to your mentioned short tracker Steve Bradbury, who is now 47yo.
And known for his extreme luck when he won the gold medal in 2002. ( although I had to google this, he even has an Australian stamp with his face on it

If he's 47 now, he would have been 28 when he won the gold medal (btw, for those who don't know, Steve Bradbury was a speed ice skater.  He was running dead last in the semis when those in front tripped over each other, and then he was way behind when the same happened in the final, so he won gold.  Of course eight years earlier he should have won but he was pushed by a competitor, so it evened out I guess).

But anyway, any win in Div1 is great, and it wasn't like a few seasons ago (possibly season 10 - or 9), when I set my third string cyclists in for 1-2-3-4-7? because no other TTers were racing.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

31 Smith ( 26 ), mountain-TT --> stage 6
32 VanDerVlies ( 30 ), hills-climb --> stage 4
33 Jørgensen ( 31 ), flat-cobble --> stage 2
34 Sky-Bailey ( 31 ), flat-climb --> stage 8
35 Lacroix ( 31 ), hills-climb --> helper

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

Anders Jørgensen ( SPORTLIFE ) is the new GC leader thanks to his 3º place in stage 2.

[Vos]

A great solo victory of VanDerVlies in stage 4  , thanks to his excellent helper Lacroix who finished as 26º
In stage 5 VanDerVlies scored a few points ( also 26º ) despite his very low cobble skill.

So far a good Vuelta. This stage 4 victory is already the 10th race victory of my team this season. 
One more victory, and there is a new SPORTLIFE record of most race victories in one season.
Hopefully 1st favorite Smith can achieve that in the next stage 6. But so far he never won a race, probably due to his too low xp.
Or maybe due to the luck factor, or maybe due to active weather icons of rivals. This time just the 5th favorite has an active weather icon.

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 6 ;

A clear victory of Oscar Smith on the Alto de l'Angliru. 
VanDerVlies scored points too with a 18º place.

[Vos]

Overview of the final top 4 in all previous 1A seasons :

season  -  (in bold=)  -    -    -  (in red=)number 4.

s12  -  15.121 -  12.829  -  11.620  -  11.266
s11  -  17.521  -  13.692  -  12.920  -  10.653
s10  -  14.883  -  11.781  -  11.690  -  11.252
s09  -  16.667  -  11.493  -  09.798  -  09.706
s08  -  12.915  -  11.232  -  10.146  -  09.358
s07  -  12.506 -  09.553  -  08.965  -  08.513
s06  -  12.112  -  11.169  -  10.989  -  09.781
s05  -  14.610  -  14.325  -  10.572  -  08.562
s04  -  13.492  -  12.070  -  11.469  -  09.288
s03  -  12.344  -  11.998  -  11.017  -  10.465
s02  -  13.461  -  11.771  -  09.870  -  09.702

  Compare this with the current 1A ranking after stage 7 Vuelta, so still many points left in the game :

s13  -  13.973  -  13.422  -  11.961  -  11.337

The current nr4 has already the record of best scoring nr4 ever. 
No doubt the nr2 will get a record amount of points too, and probably the nr3 also.
The nr1 record holder is °Peachy°Melocotons with 17.521 points in season 11.
But who knows, maybe the 1A champion of this season 13 can beat that.
It's already sure that the 1A champion of s13 will be one of the best scoring 1A champions.

[Sjiz]

I didnt know that my last 2 4th places would have been good for a podium in many other seasons. Such a shame I guess i will be the best scoring #5 ever after this season

[Aurora Australis]

The record will be beaten again within the following two seasons, and again.  I won't be surprised to see a 20k winner within the next 3-4 seasons.

[Sjiz]

A few stages where i played it safe. This showed in the stage results, which were not extremely good, but also in the GC where no major time losses happened. So Loinaz now sits well in 6th place. If he is there tomorrow night i will be satisfied.
The true battle will now begin. Hilton will most likely end up at 4000 points this season. Verbeek currently has 2800. With 2 stages where he can score points and the world championships to go he may be able to win the gold bike. Right now i would not call him a favourite, but we will try.