The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

Ouch, we have had our first tactical misunderstanding in the last stage of the Tirreno Adriatico. Our team director Moron was adamant that Yvo de Cleer should be the leader, but both he and Tristan Prins thought they just could do what they want. As a result Yvo finishes 9th and Tristan 10th, while there is an honourable mention for Epifanio Merchan in 28th place.

In the GC Carlo Bemelmans drops out of the top 20 as expected but Yvo and Tristan join in at 13th and 17th.

Overall winner is Paul Portero (CojoNudos) while Valentijn Teffer (WinterIsComing) does disappoint a bit with third place.



Division standings after the Tirreno Adriatico:

1º      WinterIsComing   5504   2   2   5   
2º      $Tourmalet   5496   2   4   2   
3º      Combuijs   4624   3   3   4   
4º      CojoNudos   3859   1   0   0   
5º      Plopsala   3683   8   1   2   

CojoNudos is clearly bubbling up in these short tours!

For Milano - San Remo Roque Moron has ensured me that all riders know what their role will be!

[WinterIsComing]

...while Valentijn Teffer (WinterIsComing) does disappoint a bit with third place

 

I reckon you post this to check wether I am still reading this topic 

Of course I do. Just haven't found the time to actively participate in the forums these days.

I really enjoy reading this topic though. Please keep up the good work! 

Oh, and I think 3rd place for Teffer is a good position. He didn't ride a TT before in his life, so we both are happy he is still alive. 

[Combuijs]

Milano - San Remo did go well, Jules Maalderink finished 3rd while Carlo Bemelmans as a helper ended up 18th, both in the leader group. Amadeo Reig (Cojo Nudos) and Pieter Vermeltfoort (WinterIsComing) were first and second. Trust WinterIsComing to beat you in the sprint. Or to keep alive a rider in a time trial...



Tomorrow the Combuijs Honey Ale team give these riders the nod in the E3 Harelbeke:

21 Julius Maalderink
22 Carlo Bemelmans
23 Harold Helder
24 Koen Helder
25 Mads Ibsen

In the afternoon the selection for the Tour of Catalunya will be:

21 Yvo de Cleer
22 Eduard Brouwers
23 Sebastiaan Vermaelen
24 Vincent van Vleuten
25 Andreas van Zijl

[Combuijs]

Julius Maalderink really made his claim to fame this morning in the E3 Harelbeke. In a sprint with 4 you usually don't have a chance against a WinterIsComing rider, but this time winter stayed away and Julius ended up first. The Magnum bottle of Combuijs Honey Ale was no problem for him and he finished it off with a Magnum bottle of Season by the local brewery de Meester.



Domestique Koen Helder finished in 18th place.

Studio Cycling stated that Julius Maalderink really seems to be very well talented and they advised to set up training more to his liking. They also speculated about the wealth the Combuijs Honey Ale Team is gathering. One expert offered the view that it is caused by very good sales of their ale, while eyeing his empty glass speculatively.



League standings after this race:

1º      WinterIsComing   6904   2   3   5   
2º      $Tourmalet   6536   2   4   3   
3º      Combuijs   5629   4   3   5   
4º      CojoNudos   5384   2   0   0   
5º      Plopsala   4093   8   1   2   

Miele, there ain't nothing better, offered to sponsor us for a 9th place in the 5th stage of de Tour de Romandie, but we refused as there is nothing better than Combuijs Honey Ale!

[Combuijs]

Yvo de Cleer breaks down somewhere around Barcelona and in the end loses 54 seconds in the first stage of the Tour of Catalunya to Torremdebarra. Eduard Brouwers gets 21st place.



For the next stage Yvo is top favourite according to the bookmakers.

Alpina has offered a sponsor contract for the time trial stage in Tour de Romandie. They should get some experts in their commercial activities, we don't have a time trialist in our team. Nowhere near!

[Combuijs]

The big news of today is of course the transfer of talented cobblehiller Chester Laybutt from the team of Lemarche. There were several other teams that showed interest in him, but of course the thought of a Magnum bottle of Combuijs Honey Ale swayed his choice to our team. That and the fact that he is going to train with the talented Julius Maalderink. And maybe the serious transfer sum played a role as well. If it earned him 10% then he has now a ton in his pocket. Our treasurer is now frantically looking for some small change in his pockets...

But there is other big news. This morning Yvo de Cleer managed to win the second stage in the Tour of Catalunya to Vallter 2000. He really devastated all opponents, number two finished almost one minute behind him. Helpers Andreas van Zijl (12th), Vincent van Vleuten (26th) and Eduard Brouwers (27th) also managed to get some points in. Yvo van Cleer rode a really attacking race, already making a difference in the first serious climb. Master helper Andreas van Zijl could pick him up in the flat terrain after that. In the second climb of the day Yvo showed that no one could follow him.



In the GC Yvo de Cleer has a lead of about 2 minutes on Atanas Rebko (Kalarratas). He will need that because time trials are not really his forte...

Cimpor has shown some interest to sponsor us in the first stage of the Tour Down Under next season, but they did not know what kind of race that would be, so we kindly declined the offer. Stupid people...

[Combuijs]

From my own experience I know you can have a very nice cycling tour around the lake of Banyoles.



It surely inspired our riders. And in the land of no-wheelers one-wheeler is king! In the time trial Sebastiaan Vermaelen finishes 4th, Andreas van Zijl 16th and Yvo de Cleer 21st. Right, Yvo is now 2:30 in front of number two and he is wearing this very nice jersey:



And another very knowledgeable sponsor arrived: NCL just shows you that in Norway they don't know what cycling is. 4th in the 5th stage of the Tirreno Adriatico? Not a clue what to expect, so this request is filed in the garbage can.

[Combuijs]

On the Circuit de Catalunya race this morning Yvo de Cleer lost contact on the only hill of the circuit, but managed to stay within one minute of winner Simon Wiedemann (eaglesOFcarthage) thanks to helper Sebastiaan Vermaelen.


(No hill to be seen anywhere...)

Eduard Brouwers managed to stay in the leading group to finish 14th and to everyone's surprise he is now second in the GC with 2:36 minutes behind on Yvo. This is what I call domination! In the last stage Yvo de Cleer is favourite to win, so you might say that first place overall should be possible...

Some sad news also: Million euro boy Chester Laybutt is not really a long term talent it seems. Shame...

But this is a sponsor we like: Banco Santander wants 10th place in Gent-Wevelgem. They must have seen Julius Maalderink in action!


De Telegraaf has woken up late again: they reported we have bought our first rider. Welcome in the modern world with fast communications!

[Combuijs]

Yvo de Cleer could not contain himself in the Valls - Lo Port stage of the Tour of Catalunya and attacked already before the last climb began! Only four riders could follow him there, but they lost contact one by one in the climb itself. Yvo finished 26 seconds in front of Raul Arango (Jediondos). Eduard Brouwers (9th), Vincent van Vleuten (21st) and Andreas van Zijl (25th) did show themselves as well.



In the GC Yvo of course was first, but big surprise was that Edouard Brouwers could defend his second place. The result in the last Tour has swayed Lacoste to sign a sponsordeal. So we are all wearing cycling shoes from a certain french brand from now on...



We have now another report on the talent of Chester Laybutt which seems to doubt the result of the previous report in true expert style. We will await developments...

Division standings after the Tour of Catalunya:

1º      WinterIsComing   7561   2   3   5   
2º      Combuijs   7267   6   3   5   
3º      $Tourmalet   7259   2   4   3   
4º      CojoNudos   6168   2   1   0   
5º      Plopsala   4581   8   1   2   

So, back to second place, albeit with a margin of 8 points.

Tomorrow morning the line up for the Combuijs Honey Ale team in Gent - Wevelgem will be:

11 Julius Maalderink
12 Mads Ibsen
13 Chester Laybutt
14 Paul Nijboer
15 Garret Rose

In the afternoon these riders will start in Dwars door Vlaanderen:

11 Chester Laybutt
12 Koen Helder
13 Julius Maalderink
14 Paul Nijboer
15 Garret Rose

[Combuijs]

In Gent-Wevelgem this morning the first split occured in the flat cobble section and of course Julius Maalderink was paying attention and got himself with helper Garret Rose in the front group. On the Kemmelerberg Tirso Alcalo (CojoNudos) did the forcing and only Julius Maalderink and Richard Harris (WinterIsComing) could follow. In the final flat section a group of 12 was formed and it was clear the sprint would be decisive. Normally you would expect Richard Harris to win it, he is from the WinterIsComing team, but there can only be one Kristoff in the peleton and that was Julius Maalderink.

He shared his Magnum bottle of Combuijs Honey Ale with Garret Rose (8th), Chester Laybutt (23rd) and Paul Nijboer (24th). All supporters in our team shirt also got a free normal bottle of Combuijs Honey Ale which raised sales in our shop considerably.



After the win in Gent-Wevelgem we have transferred all bank accounts to the Banco Santander for a nice fee...

[Combuijs]

In Dwars voor Vlaanderen million boy Chester Laybutt was in the leading group of 4, but both $Tourmalet riders Kirk Trump and Kane Paxton finished before him. All Combuijs riders scored points: Julius Maalderink (8th), Koen Helder (17th), Paul Nijboer (19th) and Garret Rose (24th).



Tomorrow in the Tour of Flanders we will ride with:

21 Chester Laybutt
22 Koen Helder
23 Julius Maalderink
24 Adam Neeskens
25 Garret Rose

In the Tour of Basque Country these five riders will go for glory:

21 Tristan Prins
22 Chester Laybutt
23 Adam Neeskens
24 Eddy Room
25 Garret Rose

[Combuijs]

In de Tour of Flanders we saw today an impressive win by Alberto Bettiol, ... eh ... Kirk Trump ($Tourmalet). Most impressive rider though was our Mathieu van der Poel, ... eh ... Chester Laybutt on fourth place. Altogether good team effort with Julius Maalderink 12th, Garret Rose 18th, Adam Neeskens 22nd and Koen Helder 26th.



Division standings after the three Flemish races:

1º      $Tourmalet   10024   4   6   4   
2º      WinterIsComing   9936   2   3   6   
3º      Combuijs   9477   7   3   6   
4º      CojoNudos   7208   2   1   0   
5º      Plopsala   4936   8   1   2   

The gap between CojoNudos and us is widening which is reassuring...

Our mechanic Tigran Filin got some nice compliments today because of his recent improvements on our bikes. Unfortunately he has not found a shock absorbing system fit for cobblestones.


And we hav won our first challenge it seems. There was a personal bet between Koen Helder and Niles Jameson (gzlm) which Koen has won. Great, as long as Koen does not forget to ride for the team!


Oh, and has somebody seen Gerard Brown, our marketing manager? We are longing for new sponsordeals! He might have been lost somewhere in the Bexit-swamp...

[Combuijs]

Halfway the first stage in the Tour of Basque Country leader Tristan Prins already lost contact with his helpers. In the end he lost 1:30 at the finish in Zalla. Chester Laybutt (8th), Garret Rose (10th) and Adam Neeskens (20th) were more worried about his position than their own, so they did not play a significant part in the stage, which was won by Bolaverde's Hallgeir Solhaug, who seems to be a very good GC rider. We will see if Tristan Prins can get close to him tomorrow in a race in which he is favourite to win!



And thank you Gerard Brown, we did not know you were on the way to Australia. Orika will sponsor us for a 4th place in the last stage of the Dauphine Libere which we have gratefully accepted.

[Combuijs]

Helper Eddy Room lost track of leader Tristan Prins after the first mountain in today's stage to Lekunberri. And so did all but one of the riders after the first serious climb. In the end Tristan Prins finished first with Romeu Maximo (Kalarratas) second on 7 seconds. All other riders lost a minute or more and to their regret did not share in the Magnum bottle of Combuijs Honey Ale.



That means that in the GC Tristan is now leader with a solid 1 second lead on Ivan Chiapucci ($Tourmalet). Luckily he is favourite again in the next stage...



In strengthening our training program Dutchie Oscar Meijer was bought from Kun Team. Again the cobblestone training and of course the Combuijs Honey inspired him to sign for our team.

[Combuijs]

Tristan Prins arrives first in Arrate with 25 seconds in front of Romeu Maximo (Kalarratas) and 44 seconds before Ivan Chiapucci ($Tourmalet).
That means that Tristan has 39 seconds in the GC on Romeu and 46 seconds on Ivan. The good news is that Tristan is favourite in the next stage as well. The bad news? Well, there is still a fifth stage...




Olivetti wants to sponsor a Tirreno Adriatico stage. Well, the Tirreno will be there next year, but Olivetti is something of the past I fear, so we have politely refused.