Australia NT Season 5

[Spammie]

Why not Nelson as the leader? He did a tremendous job last seasons, top 10s in three consecutive seasons...
How much does stamina attribute to your GV?

[Aurora Australis]

Why not Nelson as the leader? He did a tremendous job last seasons, top 10s in three consecutive seasons...
How much does stamina attribute to your GV?

Opps, sorry I wrote up the wrong cyclist as possible leader.  Btw, he only got top 10s in season 3, and was outside the top 10 last season.  Dixon is 1st domestique, regardless of whether Nelson or Carter is leader.

[Aurora Australis]

Just a note, I changed the lineup to

David Dixon   LosTxinosKudeiros   23
Derek Nelson   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   23 (leader)
Markus Norwood   ProCyclingTeam10   23
Robbie Palmer   Tajteam   23
Stu Woods   Wiggo_pupils   23
Tony Carter   Vitimper   23 (free role)
Denis Freeman   almodeu   21
Oliver Stamer   FaltososDeChigre   21
Brent Hunter   WinterIsComing   19

And yes, I was unimpressed with the older options enough to take a gamble & select an unknown 19 year old for the final spot instead.  Not certain my chosen tactic is correct given what's available (7 star leader vs gold icon opponents), but we'll see in around 11 hours.

Results:
119 cyclists on same time after section 1, and the team leader isn't there.  It would have been a good tactic if he stayed with his domestiques, but I guess he just didn't quite have it in him.  The only ok thing about the disaster, is that it only cost around 70 points.

[Spammie]

Eight stars since a few days .

[Aurora Australis]

Race 4

Selections :
Richard Levin   23   Aurora_Australis (gold TTer)
Isaac Trump   23   Aurora_Australis (gold TTer)
Ben Mitchum   23   Aurora_Australis
Owen Acree   23   Aurora_Australis
Jim Slipper   23   Frenkie
Hank Kewell   23   Frenkie

One race only, feel like you're manager of the Spanish NT team.  15 cyclists all deserving to be in the top 9, and with the difference between 7th & 15th being around 0.5%, any of them has a mathematical chance of getting it.
Three more to be selected, Clyde Gill, Freddy Butcher, Fenton White, Les Rooney, Wilt Gilbee, George Bookout, Ian Mitchell, Paul Clickett, Christian Pinkney (bold = within 0.2% - and most likely contenders)

After the disappointment of last race, we head to the only area Australia has genuine top tier quality.

Predictions, either 2nd & 3rd, or 3rd & 4th.  With Mitchum have a hot icon, possibly even three cyclists in the top five.  Expect England's Denis Anderson to win one last time, particularly with the shorter length, but it's no longer a foregone conclusion.
 Levin will be pushing hard to pass him before this race.   Acree is seeking a top 10, with Slipper & Kewell good prospects for points.  Even the last three selections will have an outside chance for points, and given that Clickett & Pinkney will be certain selections next season (with Bookout also pushing), it will probably be the last chance for several cyclists to appear in an NT race.

Note: The stamina % will probably determine final selection, so PM me your opinion.

Results:
2nd   Isaac Trump      23   0: 02"   250 points
3rd   Richard Levin      23   0: 07"   225 points
5th   Ben Mitchum      23   0: 11"   180 points
6th   Owen Acree      23   0: 12"   160 points
23rd   Jim Slipper      23   0: 24"   0 points

Great news for my cyclists, the 3/4 full glass is disappointed that Frenkie's cyclists are no longer up there.  Next season shall see at least two of my cyclists making the cut, hopefully with points.

[Vos]

Good luck in the time trial, AA !
Australia can use a lot of points. Hopefully, with one very good time trial, Australia can close the gap to most other nations.

[FIO]

Not bad.

Fraser Mount   Age : 19   Wage : 806
Stamina : 65   Sprint : 11   Climbing : 4
Flat : 68   Cobblestone : 23   Technique : 45
Downhill : 0   Hills : 29   Aggressiveness : 17
Time Trial : 67   Teamwork : 72   Experience : 0

[Aurora Australis]

Good luck in the time trial, AA !
Australia can use a lot of points. Hopefully, with one very good time trial, Australia can close the gap to most other nations.

Good news is that (based on Chesspower's calculations) the Spanish cyclists are no longer a threat to Levin & Trump.  Mitchum's hot weather icon put him above their reach in this race as well.
Levin's only around 4-5 days training behind England's star now (I believe Anderson made 10 stars on Tuesday - which means Levin will be the best flat TTer in CFF before the end of this season).  The Ukrainian cyclist Anton Rozin has a hot weather bonus, so he may prevent a 2nd & 3rd (or maybe with Mitchum we'll get lucky with a 2nd-3rd-4th result).

Fenton White & Wilt Gilbee, who are the last two selected, would slot in just behind Saul Ayuso who's 4th on the Spanish list, so they've outside chances at points.  It would be cool if they did get points because my cyclists Clickett, Pinkney (both 22 years), and Bookout, will be taking TT NT positions next season, so we're unlikely to see them in an TT NT again.  Btw, Pinkney, 14th on our list for this race, would have made the Spanish team in 8th place.

Hoping this gives us a change in fortunes for the last 3 races.

[Vos]

815 points !

A new record of Australia in one NT race.
That record is achieved by the Australian NT manager who really deserves it the most / the most just, all his own cyclists scored the points.
Very well done Aurora_Australis, we are proud of your excellent time trial specialists !
Australia now 4th in the ranking by countries, that looks much better as before this NT race.

[Aurora Australis]

Great news for my cyclists last race, the 3/4 full glass is disappointed that Frenkie's cyclists are no longer up there.  Next season should see at least two more of my cyclists making the cut (possibly three), hopefully with points.  And maybe Anderson will be dethroned.  But first, we have another race this weekend to worry about (worry being the word of the week).

Race 5  

Selections :
Cameron Jones   IntellinetCyclingFF   23
Fraser Gailes   ZBT   23
Grant Curry   BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   23
Isaac Montgomery   vercors   23
Kirk Trump   $Tourmalet   23 (leader)
Lenny Pinkney   Wiggo_pupils   23
Nate Douglas   SentinelChickens   23
Richard Harris   TeamTimidus   23
Royce Henderson   Albero   23 (free role)

Initially was considering a choice between a 7 star cobbles with some hill, 7 star hiller with a bit of cobbles, or the all-round bronzer?  Trump ended up being selected as leader simply for the section bonuses.

Prospects:  Don't hold your breath.  The guys who scored points in season 2 are still bronze level cyclists, and it's been nada ever since.  But hey, maybe my Hail Mary tactics will work, or maybe voodoo.  Time to put that chicken feet magic to the test.

Results:
23rd Kirk Trump 23  0: 34" Tourmalet
Just several seconds off a great result.  Should have dipped the chicken's feet in tabasco sauce prior to the voodoo.

[Aurora Australis]

While we're looking at prospects, click on the pic attachment for the best of our 19 year olds (and the worst) in each category (including one cyclist who made it into both best & worst).

For anybody visiting us from other CFF groups, next season, please send your international scout to Australia.  If your cyclist is any good, I'm sure they'll be getting selected into the Aussie NT team by around age 23.
_____

Btw: On a personal promo:  For anybody promoting for selling, I'll be starting to train a new group of 19 year old Aussie TTers next season, and would buy for top prospects (don't worry, I'm keeping my current top TTers, my training schedule was slightly different to everybody elses).

[Aurora Australis]

Race 6

Selections :
Austin Burton   TeamRHB   23
Cameron Jones   IntellinetCyclingFF   23 (leader)
Steve Owens   Oska   23 (free role)
Tyler Walker   NervionBike   23
Vinnie Coleman   los_leones_del_sur   22

Four more to be selected, not sure who, maybe even one or two younger cyclists.

Prospects:  The cyclist who should have been leader at the start of the season has improved a mere 0.87% above U24 natural growth, so it's up to a 6 star cyclist to lead.  I believe we can still get points, either with Jones or free role Owens, but it's less secure than it had been several weeks ago.

Btw: A picture of the fires going in the eastern states of Australia at the moment

Results:
4th Cameron Jones 23  0: 00" 200 points
16th Steve Owens 23 0: 12" 60 points

It was the threat of making them exercise in the fire smog that got the result.

[Vos]

Those flames are extreme huge ! 
I hope you don't live too close to such terrifying fires, AA.
Well, let's hope the young Aussies are on fire too in the next NT race.

By the way :
https://cyclingforfun.org/smf/index.php?topic=390.msg15898#msg15898
Your team is amazing ! 

[Aurora Australis]

The bushland near us is mere scrub, so we won't get such fires here.  The closest fires are 35kms away, which is producing an orange/grey sky and gave me a good reason not to do my 5km run this morning.

My team is simply because I've trained them properly.  They weren't even the best TTers to begin with.  I'm hoping for six 10 star TTers by the end of next season (will have five, unsure about Pinkney - not sure where he or Clickett stands on the U23 list - or whether Levin or Trump is ahead of TeaMetal's Anderson yet [probably not yet]).

[Franky]

Great result Aurora! 260 good points, even with that is going to be hard to fight for the medals...but we know where we are with the number of teams and cyclist that we have.

Good job.

P.S: BTW, are you going to still being our NT for the next season?