TDF stage 8, FMMDF ( cold ) ;

23º Ektov 0:55" (captain)   

Ektov was the first of the second group of 50, which included his two helpers, Perry and Lyka.

TDF stage 9, MMMMM ( rain ) ;

24º Perry 1:46" (captain)
51º Ektov 2:45" (free)

Perry got help from Lyka in the first three sections but needed help in S4 to finish higher.  Meanwhile, Ektov did not do so well riding free and, as a result, dropped to 21st in the GC @ 10:32".     The goal of a top 10 finish is (obviously) not possible.   Also doubtful is a finish in the GC top 20 for Ektov.  The good news is we will likely score points in the final flat TT with Neeskens.   

TDF stage 6, FFChHF TT ( rain; 2x wind ) ;
8º  Neeskens   0:13"
46º Ektov 1:38"

Neeskens, currently the 70th-ranked flat TT in the game, became the 2nd highest points scorer for the team with this result.   He will likely score more points in Stage 10 (FFFFF TT) but probably not enough to become our team points leader. 

Meanwhile, Ektov moved up to 14th GC (@ 5:32") with three mountain stages looming.  He'll be the captain for Stage 8 (FMMDF) and will ride free in stages 7 and 9.

TDF stage 2, FHFFhF ( 1x wind; sun ) ;
36º  Espinar   0:53" (helper)
49º  Ektov   1:33" (captain)

An additional EP in S1 might have meant making the lead group of 36.  The hoped-for comeback in S3 and/or S4 never happened, so Ektov lost a minute to some of the other GC guys.   

TDF stage 3, FFFFF ( sun ) ;
24º  Espinar   0:23" (helper)
85º  Ektov   1:59" (captain)

Ektov is just a 3-star sprinter, so his result here isn't overly disappointing.   We will see how he does in tomorrow's HFFMM TT to determine if we will continue to support him as captain or go for stage results in the four upcoming mountain races.

   selection Lanihuli Cycling

Our hope is that Ektov can land in the top 10 for the GC, but that may be a stretch.  We'll try though.  At this point in the season, I believe we are doing better than we did in S24. We are currently 17th in the team standings (with 4491 pts) and we seemed poised to finish higher than 24th (with 5444 pts), which is where we finished in S24.     

161 Espinar ( 26 ), hills/sprint
162 Lyka ( 31 ), climb/hills
163 Perry ( 32 ), climb
164 Ektov ( 32), tour
165 Neeskens ( 33 ), TT

As Vos has always said, Good luck everyone!

Stage 2 Tirreno MMMMM

19º Perry  (helper) 0:44"
61º Campos  (captain) 1:40"
88º Ektov  (free) 2:36"

In this mountainous stage, Perry was able to help in S1 and S2 but rode too fast the rest of the way to help Campos, who might have finished 56 seconds faster @  0:44" if the tactics had gone right.  On the GC front, Campos is in a tie for 12th with five others @  1:18".    Leading the charge for the GC is defending Tirreno champion Sten Longva (OphiukoCT), who is tied for the lead with Nazar Usakov (Elgrand).   

   selection Lanihuli Cycling

141 Hansen ( 33 ), tour
142 Prats ( 34 ), tour
143 Rose ( 34 ), cobble/hills
144 Lyka ( 31 ), climb/hills
145 Neeskens ( 33 ), TT

Yes, late posting, I know, but for the record, here are my team's entrants for S25 of Paris Nice.   We hope to do (much) better than last season's PN results where we ended up with no one in the top 20 GC.   

Hansen will be our captain and GC hope, with (very) OG Prats (also recently bought) also entered to see what he can do in the GC contest.

Speaking of OGs, the youngest entrant for our team is Lyka, who, at 31, is a baby compared to the other four. 

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PN stage 1, time trial FFFHF

4º  Neeskens   0:04"
52º  Hansen  1:21"
62º  Prats  1:31"

We hoped Neeskens could win or podium here but 4th is still a good result.   Hansen, our GC hope, is a 4-star TTer so his result is okay.

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PN stage 2,  FFFHCh

21º  Rose (helper)  0:33"
49º  Hansen  (captain) 0:57"
78º  Prats  (free) 1:31"

Rose did his job in S1 - S3 but rode a bit too hard in S4 to provide help to Hansen.   A better result for our captain would have been 14 seconds faster @ :43.

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PN stage 3,  FHFMM

17º  Hansen (captain)  0:25"
19º Lyka  (helper) 0:25"
60º Prats  (free) 1:51"

In this stage we had to wait for, due to a tech/server issue, Lyka did his job well, helping Hansen in every section.

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PN stage 4,  CFFCC

41º  Rose (helper)  1:24"
58º Hansen  (captain) 1:41"
64º Prats  (free) 1:49"

We did not get the tactics right so Hansen was dropped in S1. He did get help in the two flat sections, so all was not lost.  We would have liked it better if Hansen finished 17 seconds faster @ 1:24", but his final result was not bad.

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PN stage 5,  FFFHF

55º Hansen  (captain) 0:58"
64º Prats  (free) 0:58"

Hansen was 2nd GC coming in to this stage, but dropped a place to finish 3rd GC.   His drop is a bit of a disappointment but the 3rd place is the first GC podium finish in Div 1 for our team, so we have cause to be  .

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== Final Top 20 GC for Paris Nice S25 ==

1    Silver Maasikmets   30   OphiukoCT   0: 00"
2    Koen VanAmerongen   29   CaptainOrange   1: 02"
3    Ken Hansen   33   LanihuliCycling   1: 12"
4    Elton Fevola   30   Bikeos   1: 20"   
5    Andrejs Podnieks   28   ICSluj   1: 27"   
6    Angelo Zeppi   32   SPORTLIFE   1: 31"   
7    Massimiliano Paleri   24   HTCHungria   1: 41"   
8    Marco Scortichini   30   vercors   1: 44"
9    Dietmar Häusler   28   ValeronIdolo   1: 52"
10    Dan Regan-Murphy   31   FaltososDeChigre   2: 09"
11    Faustino Arnau   32   SPORTLIFE   2: 30"
12    Carmine Garzelli   31   Shiro_Lions   2: 30"
13    Juan Daniel Ayuso   29   Elgrand   2: 55"
14    Flavio Castro   30   OphiukoCT   2: 59"
15    Alessandro Picoli   32   FaltososDeChigre   3: 19"
16    Bogdan Bidonov   32   °Peachy°Melocotons   3: 20"
17    Jose Damian Prats   34   LanihuliCycling   3: 30"
18    Felipe Cascos   30   BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   3: 35"
19    Lucien Faivre   28   Elgrand   4: 06"
20    Ints Kronbergs   30   Stibacycling   4: 14"

TDU stage 1 hill-sprint FFFHF 
16º  Pensec   0:21"   

Better tactics would have probably landed him in the first group @ 0:00.   

TDU stage 2, flat-TT 88km

63º  Pensec   3:34"  -->

He can't TT but he likes the cold so he likely gained a few seconds here.

TDU stage 3 hill-sprint HFFFF

15º  Pensec   0:00" 

Tactics were better here, so he finished in the first group.   

TDU stage 4 HHHHH

28º  Vien   0:26" (free)
87º Pensec 1:02"   

I did not get the helper tactics right (too fast!) so Pensec was isolated in the final three sections.   

TDU stage 5 flat/hills FFFHH

28º  Semon   0:42" (free) 
43º Pensec 0:46" (captain)

Not great results but not too bad.   In the end, Pensec finished 9th GC. 

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Final GC top 20 for TDU

1    Rafael Angel Muñoz   33   FaltososDeChigre   0: 00"   
2    Thijs VanGils   26   MarquinaTeam   0: 05"   
3    Mazim Kartashov   30   LottoStelvio   0: 07"   
4    Håkon Egemar   26   ICSluj   0: 10"   2
5    Paul Simon   28   Elgrand   0: 11"   
6    Nazar Yakovlev   24   OphiukoCT   0: 12"   
7    Ricky Elklint   31   ChronoTony   0: 23"   
8    Sem Muntendam   33   SPORTLIFE   0: 30"   
9    Yanis Pensec   31   LanihuliCycling   1: 26"   
10    Tigran Tsarenko   25   °Peachy°Melocotons   1: 32"   
11    Ismel Tlisov   31   Bikeos   1: 47"   
12    Wybe Heijmans   26   Rekutxuteam   1: 51"   
13    Sandro Matas   29   Villavante   2: 03"   
14    Jean Jacques Lunet   30   LottoStelvio   2: 03"   
15    William Soria   30   Northwest    2: 08"   
16    Julian VanBommel   28   Daybe_Team   2: 16"   
17    Ottar Granberg   32   SPORTLIFE   2: 30"   
18    Garik Fomich   25   JGMTeam   2: 34"   
19    Pedro Saenz   31   JGMTeam   2: 35"   
20    Dinar Ismailov   26   Rekutxuteam   2: 55"   

Well my team apparently did the goods in the TT WC without me, with a nice 1-2 from our seniors in the team's final full season.

No doubt about doing the goods.  The 3010 points earned by you guys is damn impressive.  Congrats! and I hope you continue to do the goods in your future undertakings.