Season 24

[Kekipi]

Tirreno stage 2, TT 17km ( 2x wind ) ;

43º   Yvo VanPaassen   1:47"
44º   Haan  1:47"
64º   Campos   2:11"

On the GC front, Haan is sitting 3rdº @ :16
VanPaassen is 22ndº @ 1:01 and
Campos is 26thº @ 1:08

Next up is the angst race.   

[Kekipi]

Next up is the angst race.   

And the angst was warranted!   

Tirreno stage 3, FFFhFM ( 1x wind; Cloudy )

51º   Haan   1:13"
71º   VanPaassen  1:30"
74º   Campos   1:30"

I hope Vos will comment about what happened.  Sometimes I suppose it's true that fortune favors the brave.

I thought I was being brave with the tactics I chose, but, obviously and unfortunately, I was not brave enough.

The result was a loss of several places in the GC for Haan, who now sits 7th @ :51.

I suppose it could have been worse.

In any case, we shall move on and hope for better in the final two stages. 

[Rico]

Well, it looks like Ophiuko made it a very hard race with Dusan Mattei, who is on top of the (flat)climb rankings. That caused all of the GC riders apart from Martin and of course his own Longva to lose contact with the front group in s1.

Azarov unfortunately was amongst the ones who lost time, but he still has chances to get a nice result out of this Tirreno.

[Vos]

Indeed, what happened is that OphiukoCT made the race ( with 1x wind ) superhard in s1.
There even was a s1 break away group of just 16.
I have seen it before and I expected it,
so I tried to anticipate on such a brutal attack by using a lot of energy, but that was not even enough, it should have been even more.
The positive thing is that many GC rivals were behind in s1 because of the great tactical move by Ophiuko ( bravo ! )

Tirreno stage 3, flat-climb ( 1x wind ) ;
26º  Beckham ( helper )
28º  Viñas ( teamcaptain )   0:56" 
Funny that Viñas finished with a lightbulb, according to me not justified due to s1, where he used a lot of energy but could not follow.
With a less energy start, he would have been in the 2nd group too, what was enormous with 139 cyclists. In retrospective, I wasted energy in s1.

Free roles Arnau and Conti finished just 6 seconds behind teamcaptain Viñas.
And I'm still not sure if my team captain choice is the right choice.
GC =
14º  Arnau   1:10"
21º  Viñas   1:29"
33º  Conti   2:03"
So far they are doing pretty well, considering that all 3 are not in top form ( in all stages of this Tirreno ).

[ophiuko]

The attack went great! I was very lucky though that my team captain and helper could follow Mattei, others have told me their riders didn't follow despite using the same EPs.

It was a 2º of Longva on the stage, which moves him also 2º on the GC, 7'' after Pat Martin.

Let's see if the luck continues and he can make a double Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico win!

[Vos]

Próximo nuevo distincione / Upcoming new achievement / Upcoming new milestone =

Sten Longva's trophy - Winner of Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico in the same season.

Good luck, Ophiuko !

[Atalm93]

Well, it looks like Ophiuko made it a very hard race with Dusan Mattei, who is on top of the (flat)climb rankings. That caused all of the GC riders apart from Martin and of course his own Longva to lose contact with the front group in s1.

Azarov unfortunately was amongst the ones who lost time, but he still has chances to get a nice result out of this Tirreno.

This is not entirely correct. Martin dropped in S1 too. I knew it was a risk of this happening, so I had secured myself a "safe-switch" in S3. Either attack or return depending on being in front or behind. 

[Vos]

Tirreno, stage 4, MMFFM ;
5º  Beckham ( teamcaptain )  0:00"
Very good result thanks to an excellent helper's job of the 25yo Lewis.

My 3 free role tour cyclists finished on 2:07" what is not good.
Arnau was unlucky to finish as first of a group, and Conti had a mechanical breakdown in the crucial s5 climb.
All 3 are now out of the top 20 GC.
The goal in stage 5 is to try to get Viñas into the top 20 GC, what might be difficult, not in topform and currently 35º GC.

[Kekipi]

Tirreno, stage 4, MMFFM ;
25º  Haan ( captain )  0:32"  with a (definitely relieves my angst when I get one of these) 
28º  VanPaassen (free) 0:40"

Haan remained 7th GC @ 1:07"
In a surprise, OG VanPaassen moved up to 18th GC @ 2:17"

We will see how we do in the final HHHHH race.   The hope is a top 5 GC for Haan (and also hoping I don't blow it so that he drops out of the top 10).    Also, OG VanPaassen will ride free to try and hold on to his place in the GC.

[Kekipi]

Tirreno, stage 5, HHHHH ;
47º  Haan ( captain )  0:47"
130º  VanPaassen (free) 2:01"

Haan got good help from Hills-Climber Lyka.   The result was a rise of two places in the GC, so 5th @ 0:59" for Haan. 
VanPaassen did not like the hills so well so he dropped to 22nd GC @ 3:23"

After a disastrous Paris-Nice, it was good to get some GC points.

Next up is Milano Sanremo, where we will see what we can do with Pensec as captain.

[ophiuko]

Próximo nuevo distincione / Upcoming new achievement / Upcoming new milestone =

Sten Longva's trophy - Winner of Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico in the same season.

Good luck, Ophiuko !

Indeed!  Although that's impossible in real cycling. Here is the winner:

Sten Longva   Edad : 29   Sueldo : 2427
Resistencia : 84   Sprint : 58   Montaña : 97
LLano : 82   Pavés : 42   Tecnica : 79
Descenso : 84   Colinas : 88   Agresividad : 63
Crono : 46   TraEqui : 28   Experiencia : 83

I'm very happy that he could manage to win two very different races.

[Vos]

Congratulations Ophiuko, well done x2  ! !   

In my team no points in stage 5 (as expected) and no GC points.
Final GC Tirreno ;
25º  Arnau   3:38"   ( 4x free roles )
27º  Viñas   3:45"   ( 3x teamcaptain roles, 1x free role )
It is clear that I made the wrong teamcaptain choice in 3 stages. Arnau could have scored a few GC points as teamcaptain.

Only 117 points scored by SPORTLIFE in this Tirreno, what is a very low number.
But the goal is achieved to get Viñas, Arnau, Conti and Lewis in topform.

[Kekipi]

Sten Longva   Edad : 29   Sueldo : 2427
Resistencia : 84   Sprint : 58   Montaña : 97
LLano : 82   Pavés : 42   Tecnica : 79
Descenso : 84   Colinas : 88   Agresividad : 63
Crono : 46   TraEqui : 28   Experiencia : 83

I'm very happy that he could manage to win two very different races.

Congrats, ophiuko.   I also appreciate seeing the #s for Longva.      

[Kekipi]

Milano-Sanremo ;

22º Pensec  0:00"
I was nervous about being dropped in s1 and/or s2.  Was relieved that 25 year old Vien, a flat-hiller with some sprint skills, was able to help not only in the first two sections, but thru s4. 

E3 Harelbeke ;

5º Rose 0:00" (captain)
20º Dalen 0:26" (free)
30º Tajan 0:34" (helper)

An excellent result, especially with free-riding Dalen and one of the helpers being able to score.

   selection Lanihuli Cycling

We will be taking a risk with Queiros as our GC guy because he is not in top form.  But he is just back from a training camp at Tenerife, so the hope is the work he did there will serve him well in the two mountain stages in this small tour. 

101 Queiros ( 33 ), tour
102 Campos ( 31 ), tour
103 Perry ( 30 ), climb
104 Hummelsby ( 33 ), cobbles
105 Pensec ( 30 ), sprint/hills

[Vos]

Milano-Sanremo ;
20º Muntendam  0:00"
In theory this could have been a much better result, but no risk with a not-prepared cyclist, incl. bad team director.
Granberg did an excellent job by being the important s4 helper.

E3 Harelbeke ;
No SPORTLIFE contenders to compete for points, this race was just to gain xp and to get in form.


   selection SPORTLIFE

There were some issues with the c.f. of Uganda. The solution is that Babich is now riding under license of the Laos cycling federation.
Babich is the undisputed teamcaptain of this selection, because he tries to get a top GC result despite his just bronze tour icon.
In contrast to Paris-Nice where he had 2 free roles and in the other 3 stages almost no help of teammates due to bad helpers tactics,
now Babich will get the leader role in all stages and should have excellent support.

141 Babich ( 27 ), bronze tour
142 Beckham ( 28 ), climb
143 Conti ( 30 ), tour
144 Granberg ( 31 ), hill-cobble-sprint
145 Muntendam ( 32 ), hill-sprint

Thanks Kekipi, plagiarism is easier.
Good luck in Catalunya everyone !