The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

In the stage up the Scanuppia Yvo de Cleer did not bad, he finishes 24th. And for a moment I thought we might even gain some points on Sportlife, until my eye fell on the first place for Nicola Miorlin. Ouch, that's a lot of points...



Trust Sportlife to have a good time trialist. A certain Albert Nieuwendijk finishes 8th on the Santuario de Oropa. In total we lost 317 points on Sportlife in two races. Luckily in this weather we don't have a towel left at the moment.

In the GC Yvo de Cleer is 19th, just behind a certain Albert Nieuwendijk, but he might pass him in the last stage, which suits Yvo pretty well.

In the Dauphine Libere we will show up with:

91 Tristan Prins
92 Yvo de Cleer
93 Thomas Freitag
94 Sam Parker
95 Midas van Veldhuizen

Tristan is there for the GC and the mountains, helped by Yvo and Sam, Thomas and Midas will do the first two sprint stages.

[Vos]

As already mentioned Nieuwendijk finished as 8th in stage 9.
Stage 10 was very bad due to again a manager-mistake, and for the first time a dissapointing face icon. That "price" was not yet achieved in CFF3 and I have to gain everything at least once in this game. Tafi finished as 22nd in stage10. 

Remarkable for this Giro, way too many mistakes and almost all not even real tactical ones with energypoints but plain dumb mistakes.
Also funny to see that Nieuwendijk finished as best of my team in the GC with a 20th place and he was never the team captain, also not in the stages where scoring points was not an option.
As a reward Nieuwendijk gets rest. Al the other Giro riders have to ride the Dauphiné as well.
Nieuwendijk is replaced by his fellow countryman Engelberts.

But it was not all bad in this Giro ; the stage victory and a few other good results. And my team beat Combuijs in the Giro duel. 

[Combuijs]

In the final stage of the Giro to Reggio de Calabria we saw Yvo de Cleer finishing 36th and Sportlife scoring another 46 points with Lorenzo Tafi and Paris St. Germain.

In the GC however Yvo de Cleer finishes 18th, far above a certain Albert Nieuwendijk (20th), so in a way we have won the Sportlife challenge... It's telling that Vos had not shown the final result of the challenge...

The Giro winner was Adam Roethlisberger (Rekutxuteam), a whopping 1 second before Mike Bauer (Cykings). No doubt Cykings are filtering through television footage to see if there has been a stopwatch error somewhere.



Division standings after the first stage in the Dauphine:

1º      AJFactoryCycling   6826   1   2   2   
2º      CobbleCrushers   6143   3   3   4   
3º      °Peachy°Melocotons   5506   6   2   1   

10º      SentinelChickens   4280   2   2   1   
11º      Combuijs   4071   0   0   0   
12º      Thorboassonarvesen   4022   3   1   0   

The Dauphine Libere reported that Tristan Prins is not only an iconic mountain rider, but that he also knows his way around the hills. They wonder if that will help him in this year's tour.


We will try to sprint to the semi finals of the cup with:

1 Thomas Freitag
2 Julius Maalderink
3 Johannes Overmars
4 Arjen Rutte
5 Midas van Veldhuizen

You know you are in trouble when a 19 year old is in your cup selection...

[Vos]

In the GC however Yvo de Cleer finishes 18th, far above a certain Albert Nieuwendijk (20th), so in a way we have won the Sportlife challenge... It's telling that Vos had not shown the final result of the challenge...

You're asking or it 

Final ranking Giro duel :
100.483   versus  661

WTF !   My team lost ! I suspect a bribery scandal. The jury of this Giro duel must like Combuijs Honey Beer a lot, because suddenly they awarded 100.000 extra points because a Combuijs rider finished above a SPORTLIFE rider in the GC.   

[Aurora Australis]

No bribery needed, cycling is naturally corrupt.  After all, an Aussie cyclist last year got disqualified for "taking an unfair advantage" after going behind a pack of idiots who decided that standing on the middle of the road was the correct place to watch the race, costing him at least 35-40 positions in the peloton; then a few days later Sagan pushes through those on the side of the road & takes an actual 300 metre shortcut through a square (gaining him 150 odd places in the spread out peloton - btw, there'd been no incident prior, he just wanted to get to the front), and there's no penalty (Sagan may have won that race, don't remember).

[Combuijs]

In the La Ravoire - Vaujany stage Tristan Prins manages a 24th place. He is now on his way to the top of the GC, currently ... eg ... 179th.



The Hungarian national coach did not call up Adam Balogh. Adam is very disappointed with that, the Bornem-Geraardsbergen stage is part of his daily training routine. Adam has noted that several non-cobble-hillers are selected from the Intellinet Cycling FF team. Guess who is the national coach... Who said that cycling is naturally corrupt?

The Dauphine Libere now stated that Sam Parker is an iconic time trialist. He certainly is, a pity he is not that good after the first few kilometers. But he is working on it!

[Combuijs]

In the quarter finals of the cup we lost to Psychoedge with more than an edge. Only Thomas Freitag could keep one of them behind him in the final sprint, the other four did seal our fate. So again we stumble in the quarter finals...

In the last stage of the Dauphine to Albertville we were lucky that the roads were not overflown with mud. Tristan Prins finished 30th and got 45th place in the GC, far behind winner Adam Roethlisberger.



Division standings after the Dauphine Libere:

1º      AJFactoryCycling   7413   2   2   2   
2º      CobbleCrushers   6210   3   3   4   
3º      Flyvende_hjul   6054   1   0   1   

11º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   4105   2   1   1   
12º      Combuijs   4097   0   0   0   
13º      IKIBASQUE   4064   3   2   0   

To quote Bruce Springsteen: "I'm going down, down, down, down, I'm going down, down, down, down...". Nice song, but sad to be behind Flowers at the Finish...

O dear, de Telegraaf sports editor has read the Dauphine Libere: we have an iconic time trialer. Big news indeed...


Luckily they also had news which was new to me. We now apparently have a rider who scored international points. Ah, yes, Chester Laybutt finishes second in Bornem-Geraardsbergen after Belgian Yannick Pierre. Well done by Chester and very well done by Great Britain coach CC Porco Jones!


As a consequence sales in our shop have gone up again, which is nice. No Adam Balogh in the Hungarian selection, and so they scored no points. We can only shake heads at that...

These riders love the Swiss cheeses:

111 Arjen Rutte
112 Robert Brubaker
113 Julius Maalderink
114 Johannes Overmars
115 Sam Parker

Arjen's main point of attention will be in Frauenfeld, although he might do a nice GC as well. Julius will help him everywhere, Sam, Robert and Johannes in some stages and for Robert we have a nice time trial as well...

[Combuijs]

In the time trial around Bern Robert Brubaker collected 15 points with place 26.



The JuJu's of the Tour de France will be:

121 Arjen Rutte
122 Carlo Bemelmans
123 Julius Maalderink
124 Eddy Room
125 Garret Rose

As this Tour seems to be designed for JuJu we have assigned the leadership to Arjen.

[Combuijs]

Last season Arjen Rutte won in Frauenfeld, but while he developed his hill climbing skills other riders have gone on with cobble training and so this time he finished 8th. Zatarra's Amund Svendsen missed a podium opportunity with 6th place, winner was Iki Basque Bram Travin. In the GC Arjen is now 40th and we hope this can be halved tonight.

Lots of fans gathered in Frauenfeld:


The Frauenfelder Zeitung thinks Adam Neeskens is apart from an iconic cobble rider also an iconic hill rider. We agree, and he can show what he can in the coming Binck Bank Tour.

[Combuijs]

In the last stage of the Tour of Switzerland Arjen Rutte just fell out of points, but it was good enough not only to half his 40th place in the GC, but even to finish 14th, 3:17 behind winner, who else, Cyking Mike Bauer.

Thanks to this result he was named as a favourite for the Tour de France by an internet pundit.

In the second stage of the Tour to Digne-les-Bains Arjen Rutte scored our first podium place this season as he finished 3rd. He was helped very well by Julius Maalderink. Halfway the stage they let go a lot of too ambitious riders, which they all got back in the second half, except for winner Ketil Fossum (Thorboassonarvesen) and Cobble Crusher Lenny Seaman. Garret Rose and Julius Maalderink finished 17th and 18th.



After 3 stages in the Tour Arjen Rutte is on place 69 on 5:37 from leader Amando Almansa (Codex).

Division standings after stage 3 of the Tour:

1º      AJFactoryCycling   7688   2   2   2   
2º      CyKings   6833   2   2   4   
3º      Flyvende_hjul   6795   1   0   1   

10º      SentinelChickens   4739   2   2   1   
11º      Combuijs   4503   0   0   1   
12º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   4491   2   1   1   

We have passed the Flowers, but of course they will only be handed out at the finish of the season.

[Combuijs]

The Tour went abroad to Antwerp and Arjen Rutte finished 25th over the cobbles. We had expected a bit more, but Arjen complained about being tired. Which is understandable half way the Tour.

In the hilly stage to Lyon Carlo Bemelmans worked on his reputation by finally scoring points in a free role, he finished 16th. Eddy Room did only a little bit less and finished 24th.



Arjen Rutte has now entered the top 20 and is 4:01 behind Amando Almansa.

[Combuijs]

In the hilly stage to Monthermé Carlo Bemelmans again proved his worth and finished 9th in a free role. Arjen Rutte is getting nearer to the top in the GC, he is now 9th on 2:41 of leader Amado Almansa. Unfortunately he will lose some places in the time trial.



L'Equipe called Robert Brubaker an iconic time trialer. He can prove that in the Vuelta, not in the next stage of the Tour...


They also estimate that Johannes Overmans is not very high talented, which is a pity...

In the Clasica San Sebastian these five are our classics:

101 Tristan Prins
102 Carlo Bemelmans
103 Sam Parker
104 Eddy Room
105 Midas van Veldhuizen

Our Binck Bank Battlers will be:

101 Adam Neeskens
102 Carlo Bemelmans
103 Ørjan Henningsen
104 Eelco van der Laan
105 Chester Laybutt

All for Adam, Adam for all...

[Combuijs]

Time trials and sprint will never be Arjen Rutte's favourite hobbies, but that goes also for three quarters of all riders, and also for the GC riders in the Tour. Arjen is now 9th in the GC, 3:33 behind leader Tyler Carpenter (AJFactoryCycling). The only way is up now, but can he reach the podium? We will see it tonight.

This was the man who won the Roubaix-Reims stage in 1973:

[Combuijs]

After the last stage of the Tour to Paris there was still another stage. That was lucky for us because in Reims Arjen Rutte finishes 11th, 13 seconds behind winner Ikibasque Bram Travin. With that result he could climb upon the final podium in Reims as he became third in the GC, 2 minutes after winner Tyler Carpenter (AJFactoryCycling) and 11 seconds after Lenny Seaman. That final result waa a bit unexpected for us, although we knew Arjen had a good Tour de France in him.

Tristan Prins finishes 22nd in the Clasica San Sebastian, which makes him the Gregor Mühlberger of our universe. The Remco Evenepoel of our universe was Daniele Kolb (Codex). Tristan Prins had a bad start, all his helpers except Sam Parker were far in front of him. He still did a good job to finish where he did, but things could have gone far better.



Sales in our shop have soared after the Tour de France podium. It is not only the Honey Ale that is popular, everyone wants to be seen in a Combuijs Honey Ale shirt. Especially sizes XXL, XXXL and XXXXL are en vogue.

Le Figaro remarked that the third place of Arjen Rutte in the Tour de France was the first time a Combuijs Honey Ale rider reached the podium in a Tour.


They analysed that Arjen Rutte got there partly through the guidance by the young, but very experienced Julius Maalderink.


Division standings after the Clasica:

1º      AJFactoryCycling   9046   2   2   2   
2º      CyKings   8169   2   2   5   
3º      CobbleCrushers   7761   3   5   4   

9º      Rekutxuteam   6175   2   1   0   
10º      Combuijs   5496   0   0   1   
11º      IKIBASQUE   5364   5   2   1   

Now, can AJFactoryCycling stay in front? And can we finish in the top 10? To the former I say yes, to the latter I say no...

That tenth place will be defended in the Vuelta by:

91 Oliver King
92 Robert Brubaker
93 Yvo de Cleer
94 Ørjan Henningsen
95 Julius Maalderink

Oliver and Yvo will be our GC men, though in what order is still unclear. If we were team Ineos that would mean we would finish first and second, but we are not that good. Ørjan and Julius are there for the cobble stages and Robert for the time trial.

[Vos]

Great GC podiumplace with Arjen Rutte in the Tour de France, well done Combuijs. 
If we had a big tour duel in this TdF, you would have won with a giant lead.

Good luck in the BBT and the Vuelta, a good season for your team so far.
My team is almost in the red zone (29th) and zero points are expected in the BBT, so in this way also an exciting season for my team.