Season 24

[Vos]

I can now confirm that this is effectively my last season of competing, as I have a contract to take over a supermarket in two weeks time.  All of my younger cyclists will become available for sale, the current 31-year-olds may or may not end their days in my team.

Sad to see you go, AA.   Best to you in your supermarket and all other endeavors.

+1, best wishes AA !
And don't forget to insure the supermarket against gigantic bushfires and extreme floads.


Suisse stage 5, flat-climb ;
6º  Conti   0:33"
29º  Boyar ( helper )  1:19"
45º  Viñas ( free role )  1:33"
Magnificent result thanks to a superb helper's job of Boyar in this hard race with small front groups  ; 49 - 27 - 31 - 31 - 2.
Free role Viñas could not follow the high pace in s2 despite using energy, and this too early drop caused a bad stage result.

Conti could hold on to his 3º place in the final GC, a very nice result !
Boyar and Viñas scored GC points too, see post of Kekipi :

Swiss tour stage 4, FFMHH

38º Van Passsen   0:56" (captain)
40º  Queiros   1:05" (free)

With the prevailing windy conditions on my mind, I debated how to ride the two flat sections and finally decided to take an intentional drop.  With three concluding "dark" sections looming, I thought making up the time lost by Van Paassen was possible if the tactics were right.  As it turned out, after completing the two flats and going into S3 (mountain), VP was comfortably situated in group 2 @ 0:22" with all his EPs still to employ.  The problem was that his helpers could not help him so he rode the dark sections in isolation to finish @ 0:56".   With help in S3 or S4, he would have saved 9 to 13 seconds.

Swiss tour stage 5, FFFFM

11º Van Paassen   0:33"

This was (for once!) a good race for us.   VP got perfect help from Karin in the flats

The final GC top 20 is as follows:

1   Paul Schoonderwoerd   31   HTCHungria   0: 00"   
2   Fedir Litenko   28   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 35"   
3   Simone Conti   30   SPORTLIFE   0: 55"
-----------------------------------------------------------------   
4   Yvo VanPaassen   33   LanihuliCycling   1: 13"   
5   Manuele Miorlin   30   Shiro_Lions   1: 18"   
6   Agapito Salcedo   29   Flyvende_hjul   1: 22"   
7   Arnfried Metthe   27   ICSluj   1: 23"   
8   Alessandro Picoli   31   FaltososDeChigre   1: 33"   
9   Dada Azarov   28   CaptainOrange   1: 50"   
10   Piero Mariotti   27   ValeronIdolo   2: 00"   
-----------------------------------------------------------------   
11   Lucien Faivre   27   Elgrand   2: 10"   
12   Mark Norwood   29   OphiukoCT   2: 29"   
13   Aad De Jong   29   Bikeos   2: 32"   
14   Ramon Jesus Rodenas   30   Marcatone_Due   2: 42"   
15   Mark Boyar   29   SPORTLIFE   2: 44"   
16   Ben Camerlynck   28   QuintoYtapa   2: 44"   
17   Atila Bekker   32   team_piroshki   2: 52"   
18   Marcelo Bessa   30   Bergtoppers   2: 55"   
19   Daniel Alejandro Viñas   32   SPORTLIFE   2: 56"   
20   Tigo Grein   29   OphiukoCT   3: 10"   

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Conti is very bad in the 2 flat-cobble stages. Thé reason why I assume he cannot achieve a top GC result.
Perhaps I will go for stage results with my climbers, but my TdF-strategy is still in progress.
For now, just one thing is certain, these 5 will ride the Tour de France :

91 Szõnyi ( 28 ), climb
92 Conti ( 30 ), tour
93 Caneschi ( 26 ), climb
94 Beckham ( 28 ), climb
95 Arnau ( 31 ), tour

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

TdF stage 1, flat-cobble-sprint ;
100º  Conti   2:47"
Already isolated in s2 and he is very bad on the cobblestones.
But a teamcaptain role because maybe he can score a few GC points, despite 3x free roles in the pure mountain stages.

TdF stage 2, mountains ( 1x wind ) ;
2º  Szõnyi ( teamcaptain )  0:21"
14º  Caneschi ( helper )  1:35"
58º  Conti ( free role )  2:28"
A very bad race & result of Conti, caused by a mechanical breakdown in s1 what costed a lot of time throughout the whole race.

Szõnyi did well as not-favorite who could challenge all favorites, but to compete for the victory, he needed a s4 helper.
And helper Caneschi did a good job, but unfortunately he dropped in s4, just 0:09" behind the s4 front group of 6.
In that s4 front group of 6 were 4 isolated teamcaptains and 1 JGM-teamcaptain who had still a helper, what resulted in a JGM-victory.

TdF stage 3, flat-climb ( storm ) ;
22º  Conti   1:32"
As expected, it was a battlefield on the flat sections :  58 - 12 - 12 - 8 - 1.
Or maybe better to look at this stormy stage what the total combined size of groups 1 ánd 2 were :  135 - 58 - 38 - 16 - 2.

Beckham got a too risky free role, could not follow the s1 front group and finished outside the points ( 35º ).
It seemed that it was worth the very risky attempt, because teamcaptain Conti had 3 other helpers.
However, the full power starts of  Szõnyi and Caneschi were not good enough, and only Arnau could follow in s1.
In s2 the combi Conti-Arnau dropped to the 2nd group, despite both tried to anticipate on the expected extreme high pace in s2.
A sudden drop of helper Arnau in s3, caused that Conti had to do it on his own ánd missed out the important extra bonus.
Luckily he could stay in the same 2nd group of s3, but in s4 he was in the 3rd group with almost no time loss compared to s3.
A relative good final climb, because Conti likes to ride in 5ºC. But of course, this stage should have been tactically much better.

Conti is now 23ºGC on 2:03", and also in the next mountain stage he gets a free role.
So far 3 bad stages of Conti, and it gets more and more doubtfull if he can achieve his goal of scoring a few GC points.
Hopefully his other TdF goals will go better ; top results in stages 7 + 8.

[Vos]

TdF stage 4, mountains ;
5º  Szõnyi ( teamcaptain )  0:00"
17º  Caneschi ( free role )  0:49"
59º  Conti ( free role )  1:37"
A good result of Szõnyi as not-favorite who could challenge the 4th- and 5th favorites.
Beckham did an excellent helper's job, so, Caneschi could score some extra points in a free role, thanks to his 2 active weather icons.

TdF stage 5, time trial HFFMM 33km ( 2x wind ) ;
15º  Arnau  0:23"
22º  Conti  0:30"

Conti is now 24ºGC on 3:10" and he will drop after the next cobble stage.

[Kekipi]

TdF stage 3, flat-climb ( storm ) ;
22º  Conti   1:32"
As expected, it was a battlefield on the flat sections :  58 - 12 - 12 - 8 - 1.
Or maybe better to look at this stormy stage what the total combined size of groups 1 ánd 2 were :  135 - 58 - 38 - 16 - 2.

I was anxious to see how this stage played out.   My captain, Van Paassen, had split times of 0/27/55/41/99.   The eventual podium guys (Frol, Georgiev, Simsons) rode S1 - S4 in 0/0/0/0.  I found it interesting that in the top 30, only four others--Mattei (10th for the stage), Vaughn (17th), Vermeer (21st), Bush (29th)--rode 0/0/0/0 for S1 - S4.  Each of the four also took a more significant time loss (77 secs, 92 secs, 92 secs, 99 secs) in S5 than others in the top 30, which indicates to me that they likely spent 8 EPs in S1 - S4 and rode S5 with just 4 EPs.  I suppose it's also possible that a mechanical occurred in S5.   Also interesting was the ride of Groenendaal (9th on the stage), who had split times of 33/55/55/41/63.  Whereas many of us spent 7+ EPs in S1 and S2 to avoid being dropped, Groenendaal may have used much fewer (i.e. taken an intentional drop) in S1 and S2.  My guess is that he used less than 7 EPs for S1 -S4.  I've waited to comment about this race because it's taken that long for my angst to subside.            

[Vos]

I assume that almost everyone used the full 12 EP in the stormy FFFFM stage 3.
With exceptition of the favorites+almost favorites, and a few ( unsuccessful ) "daredevils".
I guess almost everyone learned from the flat-climb stages earlier this season, especially Tirreno stage 3 with 1x wind.
This TdF stage 3 had even 3x wind.

I also assume that every teamcaptain finished with 5 EP, because s5 is the by far most heavy section, and even thé decisive section.
Energy is much more effective when it is used in a heavy section.

But who knows, maybe one or a few teamcaptains gambled with 4 EP finish and profited of the faster slipstream of faster front groups.
Not even a bad tactical strategy with how the race unvolded ( again ),
perhaps even the best tactic if all flat sections went perfectly ; no waste of energy and the energy use was just good enough to follow.
We will never know what exactly happened and how everyone raced and if those tactics were good or bad.

I.m.o. more likely is that all teamcaptains gambled (somewhere)on the flat, instead of gambling with 4 EP in a brutal mountain s5 finish.

[Vos]

TdF stage 6, flat-cobble ( 2x wind ) ;
96º  Conti   3:44"
He had help in the first two flat sections, but in cobble s3 it went wrong, helper Arnau was going a few seconds too fast, and also in s4.

TdF stage 7, MMMHF ( 1x wind ) ;
12º  Conti   0:42"
He had 4 helpers to get a top result, but his manager made a dumb mistake by making Conti the helper too, ups !

Info ; if the tactics concerning the roles are not right ( always needed are at least 1 teamcaptain and at least 1 helper ),
then the software let's your whole selection ride in free roles.
Also in this case, the 5x helper roles is not right, so, everyone got free roles.

This embarrassing mistake probably costed Conti 42 seconds.
Without the mistake he would have been 20ºGC instead of now 23ºGC.
Maybe this mistake does not even matter to his final GC result, because again he gets a free role in the pure mountains ( stage 10 ).
So, he has to perform in stage 9, otherwise this TdF is a disaster to Conti. With me to blame, and I guess  have to check the tactics now.

[Kekipi]

This embarrassing mistake probably costed Conti 42 seconds.
Without the mistake he would have been 20ºGC instead of now 23ºGC.
Maybe this mistake does not even matter to his final GC result, because again he gets a free role in the pure mountains ( stage 10 ).
So, he has to perform in stage 9, otherwise this TdF is a disaster to Conti. With me to blame, and I guess  have to check the tactics now.

In the current GC top 20 after stage 7, there are five gold icon climbers--Karatupov (8th @ 2:47), Vermeer (9th @ 2:48), Karstens (17th @ 4:14), Karpov (18th @ 4:16), and Prikulis (20th @ 4:25)--who will likely take substantial time losses (3 to 4 mins?) in stage 10 (HHHFH).   My guess is that the latter three will drop out of the top 20 to be replaced by riders like Conti.  It'll also be interesting to see if Karatupov and Vermeer, both just 24 years and both who can win stage 9, can survive.       

[Vos]

Pfff, it is clear that the SPORTLIFE manager is not in topform, because I totally forgot about stage 10, hills.   
I thought the next race was stage 9 and after that the final stage in the mountains.
But the next race FM^MDF is stage 8, then mountain stage 9 and finally, hills stage 10.
Maybe "good news" to Conti, who now has one more desperate chance (in the hills) to finish in the final top 20 GC.

[Vos]

Maybe "good news" to Conti, who now has one more desperate chance (in the hills) to finish in the final top 20 GC.

Probably I should delete the words "Maybe" and "desperate" in the quote above.
After all, Conti was 3º GC in the recent Tour de Suisse, so, top20 GC in the TdF must be duable with this reputation achieved in Suisse.
I already told Conti that his SPORTLIFE-future is in jeopardy, if he does not achieve this.

Of course, I will forgive him the 42 seconds unneccessary time-loss that I myself caused.
And not important anyway, his possible top20 GC is not the main TdF goal, it is up to my climbers to score the big points in this TdF.
What is also not really important, because this season there is almost nothing at stake. Missing out on points is even no problem.

[ophiuko]

TdF stage 3, flat-climb ( storm ) ;
22º  Conti   1:32"
As expected, it was a battlefield on the flat sections :  58 - 12 - 12 - 8 - 1.
Or maybe better to look at this stormy stage what the total combined size of groups 1 ánd 2 were :  135 - 58 - 38 - 16 - 2.

I was anxious to see how this stage played out.   My captain, Van Paassen, had split times of 0/27/55/41/99.   The eventual podium guys (Frol, Georgiev, Simsons) rode S1 - S4 in 0/0/0/0.  I found it interesting that in the top 30, only four others--Mattei (10th for the stage), Vaughn (17th), Vermeer (21st), Bush (29th)--rode 0/0/0/0 for S1 - S4.  Each of the four also took a more significant time loss (77 secs, 92 secs, 92 secs, 99 secs) in S5 than others in the top 30, which indicates to me that they likely spent 8 EPs in S1 - S4 and rode S5 with just 4 EPs.  I suppose it's also possible that a mechanical occurred in S5.   Also interesting was the ride of Groenendaal (9th on the stage), who had split times of 33/55/55/41/63.  Whereas many of us spent 7+ EPs in S1 and S2 to avoid being dropped, Groenendaal may have used much fewer (i.e. taken an intentional drop) in S1 and S2.  My guess is that he used less than 7 EPs for S1 -S4.  I've waited to comment about this race because it's taken that long for my angst to subside.          

I can confirm that Mattei used the 12 EPs on the first 4 sections. This stage went perfect for me as I have no interest for stage results but for the GC. Unfortunately Simsons's stages 1, 2 and 4 were terrible and therefore lost his chances of winning the Tour. Only a miracle could save that now, but I don't think Mariotti or Egle will fail.

[Kekipi]

The stage under discussion:

I can confirm that Mattei used the 12 EPs on the first 4 sections. This stage went perfect for me as I have no interest for stage results but for the GC. Unfortunately Simsons's stages 1, 2 and 4 were terrible and therefore lost his chances of winning the Tour. Only a miracle could save that now, but I don't think Mariotti or Egle will fail.

Interesting about Mattei, the #1 flat climber in the game.  Now I can understand how/why he can use all 12 EPs in S1-4 and ride S5 at 0 and still finish 10th!   I also noted that another of your team, Norwood, had split times of 0/0/0/0/1:39, so I assume he, too, used 12 EPs for S1-S4 and rode as a helper for Simsons.   

My captain, VanPaassen, also finished with the same time as Norwood but, like probably most other captains, used 7EPS for S1-4 and employed 5 for S5.

[Vos]

TdF stage 8, F(h)MMDF ;
4º  Conti   0:00"
Excellent result !

TdF stage 9, MMMMM ;
3º  Szõnyi   0:00"
26º  Caneschi ( helper )   1:33"
53º  Conti ( free role )   2:08"
To my big surprise, again Szõnyi was not a favorite.
But he could challenge the best 3 favorites, so I assume the climb competition is really close in GV.
Finishing in the breakaway group of just 3 climbers is good, and he came just a few centimeters short of being the stage victor.

Despite 3x free roles in the pure mountain stages, Conti is now 17ºGC on 5:32"
That is just 17 seconds ahead of the nr 21, so, Conti has to ride a good final stage to score some GC points.

[Kekipi]

   selection Lanihuli Cycling

201 Perry ( 31 ), climb
202 Ektov ( 31 ), tour
203 Karin ( 32 ), climb
204 Hummelsby ( 33 ), cobbles
205 VanPaassen ( 33 ), tour

I selected a bunch of 30+somethings to ride this mountains-heavy rendering of the TDF.   Our hope is that VanPaassen has recovered enough from the disaster that was Paris Nice to do a top 10 GC here.
TdF stage 1, FCCCF;
11º  Hummelsby   0:00" ( free )
63º  VanPaassen 2:20" (captain)

Was hoping that VP could have made the group that finished @ 1:44" but the tactics probably needed to be better to achieve that.
TdF stage 2, MMMMM
43º  VanPaassen ( captain )  2:28"
46º  Perry ( helper )  2:28"

Perry did a perfect job as helper but I got the tactics wrong for this race.  My biggest mistake was not having VP ride with 5 EPs for S5.     If the tactics were better, he possibly could have finished 32 seconds faster @ 1:56".
TdF stage 3, FFFFM
30º  VanPaassen ( captain )  1:39"

As mentioned by Vos, there was a battle in the flats that resulted in just a handful of riders being able to ride S1 - S4 in 0/0/0/0.  I had one of my helpers use all 12 EPs in the flats but still did not get it right.   Better tactics might have netted a gain of 7 seconds for VanPaassen.
TdF stage 4, MMhMMD
51º  VanPaassen ( captain )  1:18"
63º  Perry ( helper )  1:37"

The use of one less EP in S1 would have likely netted the same result (i.e. being in the lead group) and perhaps led to a better/higher finish for VP (@ 0:59" instead of @ 1:18"). 
TdF stage 5, time trial HFFMM 33km
11º  VanPaassen  0:19"
18º  Ektov  0:26
TdF stage 6, FFCCC
25º  Hummelsby (free)  0:58"
67º  VanPaassen (captain)   3:02"

I should have paid more attention to the weather, especially the wind, and expected much better results here. But the riders can only do what I assign them to do.   In S1, for example, 5 EPs for VanPassen was not enough to land him in the lead group, and I suspect one or two less EPs for S1 might have netted the same result (i.e. in 2nd group @ 0:33").   
TdF stage 7, MMMHF
6º  VanPaassen ( captain)  0:00"
29º Karin ( helper ) 0:42"

I like when the tactics play out as I anticipate, and such was the case here.   
TdF stage 8, F(h)MMDF
8º  VanPaassen ( captain)  0:00"

Another happy result for the captain.   
TdF stage 9, MMMMM 
32º  Perry ( helper )   1:45"
36º  VanPaassen ( captain )   1:45"

I was happy with this result, which meant, barring a catastrophe in stage 10, VanPaassen would achieve the goal of a top 10 GC.
TdF stage 10, HHHFH 
38º  Karin ( helper )   0:43"
48º  VanPaassen ( captain )   0:59"

VanPaassen finished 8th GC, which helped our team achieve the goal of a top 10, so we are happy about that.  Seconds saved here and there in preceding stages would have meant a final placement of a couple notches higher, but, in the end, we are glad to have survived this TDF.  Hats off to climber Abel Vermeer, 24,  of JGMTeam, who won stages 2 and 4, and rode credibly in the hills in stage 10 to preserve his place in the top 10.  Vermeer finished 6th GC @ 3:00" with tour riders Hansen (Codex) and my guy VanPassen right behind @   3:26" and 3:30", respectively.

[Kekipi]

Unfortunately Simsons's stages 1, 2 and 4 were terrible and therefore lost his chances of winning the Tour. Only a miracle could save that now, but I don't think Mariotti or Egle will fail.

And a miracle did happen, or, more likely, expert tactics and superior rider skill led to the final result. 

Congrats to Simsons and OphikukoCT!

S24 TDF Final GC standings

1    Daumants Simsons   29   OphiukoCT   0: 00"   
2    Piero Mariotti   27   ValeronIdolo   0: 02"   
3    Viesturs Egle   27   ICSluj   0: 11"
-------------------------------------------------------   
4    Marcos Iriarte   31   Flyvende_hjul   1: 40"   
5    Paul Schoonderwoerd   31   HTCHungria   1: 55"   
6    Abel Vermeer   24   JGMTeam   3: 00"   
7    Ken Hansen   32   Codex   3: 26"   
8    Yvo VanPaassen   33   LanihuliCycling   3: 30"   
9    Lucien Faivre   27   Elgrand   4: 11"   
10    Sebastiaan Groenendaal   31   Galletto   4: 53"
-------------------------------------------------------
11    Gor Karatupov   24   °Peachy°Melocotons   5: 17"
12    Andrea Serpellini   28   CaptainOrange   5: 24"
13    Simone Conti   30   SPORTLIFE   5: 35"
14    Indulis Plaudis   29   Wiggo_pupils   5: 49"
15    Manuele Miorlin   30   Shiro_Lions   5: 57"
16    Alessandro Picoli   31   FaltososDeChigre   5: 58"
17    Viktor Kartashov   32   team_piroshki   6: 23"
18    Noah Gesink   27   NukriumCycling   6: 24"
19    Denny Rabe   30   Marcatone_Due   6: 37"
20    Ruben Villena   32   Turrones   6: 41"