English Cff Forum > NT Teams
Australia s32
Vos:
NT season 32 ; again not a good season schedule.
Because this season schedule is for (flat-)hills-specialists, with 2 hills races. And Australia has low ranked hills specialists.
And it would have been much better if there was a hill-sprint race instead of a flat-sprint race.
Also a hills-TT race would have been much more benificial to Australia, than a flat-TT race.
But I'm already happy that this schedule has not 2 flat-TT races, what was the case in previous season.
It is hard to predict what Australia can achieve in this again not good season schedule. These are the 7 NT races :
season 32 schedule =
1. South Australia FFFFH 132 km
⭐⭐
Australia does not have high ranked hills specialists.
But despite Derek Jons is ranked as pure-hills specialist, I estimate that he seems quite capable of scoring points in this flat-hills race.
Although, due to the hard wind, this race is tactically very difficult and even unpredictable. A disaster race + 0 points is possible too.
2. Bola del Mundo MMMMM 169 km
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Australia has a top contender with Rick Cann ( nr 3 pure-climb of CFF ) who is going to try to compete for victory.
In previous season 2nd, but a bit worrying is that his support is devalued this season. Hopefully he can do it on his own in s4 + s5.
3. Bellinzona FFFFF 120 km
⭐⭐⭐
Hopefully the 32yo Horace Stamer is still good enough to score a top result.
Of course, it is a NT sprint and then anything can happen, from excellent race + top result, to disaster race + zero points.
In previous season Stamer dropped unexpectedly in s4, could return in s5, but a dissapointing 13th place due to the effort to return.
The Australian flat-sprint future does not look bright, because since many seasons, next season we will be missing a real top sprinter.
4. Bourgogne TT-FFFFF 35 km
⭐⭐
Perhaps 2 stars is even too much, because in the normal flat TT of previous season ; 9th and 20th, what is just 140 points.
Also this season I expect something like this, but as minimum result, because there is a possibility ( with luck ) of scoring more points.
5. northern Switzerland CCHHC^ 183 km
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A very few foreign amazing cobblehills specialists seem very hard to beat, and therefore no victory is expected
Nevertheless the max. of 5 stars, because Australia can be one of the few top scoring nations in this race, maybe even the best.
But then it has to go much and much better as in previous season, where Australia scored a dissapointing total of 180 points.
6. Ohio, USA HHHHH 175 km
⭐
Australians in the golden CFF hills ranking = nrs 30, 33, 40, 50, 84, 147, 170, 172.
So, the expectation should be very low.
But hopefull is that Derek Jons proved that he can achieve a superb result sometimes, like in previous season with a 7th place.
7. Ciudad Real CFFCC 230 km
⭐⭐
Currently we have the nr 7 flat-cobble specialist of CFF, Bob Pernom, who should do well, if the tactics go right.
In previous season he had a horrible race with as result a very bad 12th place.
Vos:
Australia u24 ( 92 cyclists ) :
Way less quantity ; 26 youth talents less than in previous season.
And the quality in the u23 DT has declined ; an all time low record of only 2 Australians in the u23 Dream Team.
And both are not useful for Australia ; a tour cyclist + a real flat-climber ( never before a real flat-climb NT race without downhill ).
CFF u23 Dream Team =
climb
5. Rick McGee ( 22, Elgrand )
tours
9. Leroy Ellis ( 22, Elgrand )
Everyone good luck with recruiting and scouting in Australia ! 8)
Vos:
RACE 1 : South Australia
13ºC
Glenelg, a beach-side suburb of Adelaide, South Australia,
Normally this is already a tactical tricky race, but now with the hard wind, it makes it even more difficult ánd unpredictable.
Let's hope that Jons is still in the front when the decisive hill begins ; Corkscrew Road = 3,7km a 6,4%, incl. a steep part of 15%.
Australia goes full power with many helpers, they are most likely very needed due to the hard wind, and it gives more tactical options.
But hills is not our expertise, therefore even 2 silver cyclists get a surprising selection ; a 35yo, and an unexperienced 30yo free cyclist.
Below the 1st dot-line ; the back-up helpers who might be struggling in this windy race, but unfortunately we do not have better.
Below the 2nd dot-line ; the last place is for my favorite xp cyclist.
( for once I post my estimated race GV, and the selection order is from i.m.o. best to worst, with xp "added" to the race GV )
Australia NT selection :
88,4 Derek Jons ( 30 ) QuintoYtapa
87,4 Callum Carpenter ( 32 ) TeaMetal
88,3 Virgil Seaman ( 27 ) Álvaro_Pino_Boys
87,5 Oliver Lewis ( 24 ) azerite
- - - - - - - - -
84,8 Paddy Friend ( 35 ) Carvalho
85,7 Pete Dix ( 24 ) OphiukoCT ( debut )
85,5 Alex Bird ( 30 ) ZwolseBalletjes ( debut )
84,7 Kirk Middleton ( 28 ) KL_Cycling_Team ( debut )
- - - - - - - - - -
74,4 Shaun Sifford ( 23 ) Villavante
Vos:
11 Derek Jons 30 0: 00" 110 QuintoYtapa
I'm happy :) with this good result, because this race could have went horribly wrong with the strong wind.
Although it seemed that section 1 was windless ; there was an enormous first peleton of 138 cyclists.
But I assume that almost all foreign NT managers "wasted" EP too in section 1.
For sure the wind played a major role in the rest of the race, if I look at the energy used of the Australians.
For example free role Seaman dropped ( unexpectedly ) in s2, despite a not risky free role tactic with just a 2 EP finish.
Also free role Carpenter dropped in s2, but he had a very risky tactic ( incl. risky s2 ) in case the wind played not a big role.
Anyway, I could try to score a few extra points, despite this was very opportunistic considering the "strenght" of Australia.
And a bit of a gamble to rely on just 1 decent helper and 4 not so good back-up helpers.
Fortunately Lewis and Bird did amazing helper's jobs by keeping their teamcaptain in the front, and gave the important extra bonus for s5.
Australia ( 110 points ) starts with a 12º place in the season ranking. Not bad with a teamcaptain who is not listed as flat-hills specialist.
The nr 3 of previous season, Estonia, scored 160 points. And current world champion Italy scored zero points.
Colombia is the leader with 310 points, so, there was not a nation that scored a huge amount of points in this NT race 1.
Next week we go to Spain for a mountain race with summit-finish on the Bola del Mundo.
Vos:
Australia u22 ( 48 cyclists ) :
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