1e pull in het nieuwe seizoen bij WinterIsComing...

Leo VanDenBroek   Age : 19   Wage : 859
Stamina : 58   Sprint : 15   Climbing : 51
Flat : 8   Cobblestone : 60   Technique : 69
Downhill : 46   Hills : 55   Aggressiveness : 53
Time Trial : 32   Teamwork : 6   Experience : 0

I played safe with Henderson and was happy to see he finished 12th. That is a place where he belongs in this race, in my opinion. More importantly, it was enough to secure the 3rd spot in the Team Classification, which was the highest possible, after a great and fun battle with TeamRHB. The gap with Cabras en CaptainOrange was already too big to close after the Giro, and they just kept scoring. So congratulations to CaptainOrange with 1st place teams and individually, and to Cabras with 2nd place.

Happy to settle for 3rd place, next to the victory of the CFF-Cup. Highlight of the season was the Riis win in San Sebastian, without TC. He did well in his first season at my team, with 6 top 10 spots in A-classics, of which 4 podiums (3x Ardennes and San Sebastian).

Now let's think of goals for next season, still not sure what to do with my team... 

CFF Cup final ; a clear victory of Aranguren ( WinterIsComing ) in this semi-hill time trial.
Congratulations WiC ! 
Also congratulations with a good CFF Cup season, Sjiz ! 

Thanks Vos. Scouts did a good job this week. Somehow disappointed to finish a Cup campaign with a TT in the final, but we had to work with it and we delivered. Glad to grab the CFF-Cup. 

Congrats to Sjiz for a great campaign as well. Our fight for 3rd place in competition continues. Good luck. 

In 1a ben ik ook in een zware strijd verwikkeld. WiC en ik staan, net als vorig seizoen, het hele seizoen zo ongeveer binnen de 100 punten. Toeval is dat we ook in de cup finale nu tot elkaar veroordeeld zijn. Het begint zowaar een echte rivaliteit te worden.

Ja, leuke onderlinge strijd. Maakt het allemaal net wat interessanter ook. 

Succes, maar niet te veel

Misschien is een volledig Nederlands podium nog mogelijk in 1a?

Lijkt lastig te gaan worden, Cabrasverdes haalt ook consequent punten binnen. Maar we doen ons best om het gat te dichten.

Very pleased to win San Sebastian with Riis. His 4th podium in a Classic this season, after 3 bronze medals in the Ardennes.

Weinig activiteit op het forum, maar lekker bezig in NT, GMV! 

The Queen stage of the Giro did bring some spectaculair racing including breaking up the group in echelons on a climb just after the start! Incledible to see. But also really useless because there is no way 5 riders can hold off a rampaging peloton. Ah well. A little showboating from the confident Hilton, remember Roglic?, and the questionable tactical choice of Pandolfi. In the end Loinaz kept his head cool and he stuck to the plan. Follow the peloton and wait for the final climb. In true boring fashion. But it did result in a better race and a nice 6th place finish. He again took some time back and now that all the non GC guys have dissapeared it becomes very clear thet Hilton is lonely at the top but behind him there is a fierce battle for the rest of the podium and top 10 with the #2 and #13 separated by just 1 minute.

Sjiz is talking about tactics a lot in this thread, but after 5 stages, of which 3 including cobbles, he should be a little ashamed of the fact that the incredible Loinaz is only 40 seconds in front of Pandolfi.