Season 23

[Vos]

BBT stage 5, TT ;
22º  Granberg   2:01"

What resulted in the very first BBT-victory of a SPORTLIFE cyclist. 

BBT final GC podium ;

1    Ottar Granberg   30   SPORTLIFE   0: 00" 
2    Levan Lipko   31   Flyvende_hjul   0: 15"   
3    Spartak Falaleev   31   FaltososDeChigre   0: 24"

[ophiuko]

Congrats!

[Vos]

Thanks ! You gave Granberg the needed confidence to win the BBT. 

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Difficult last-minute decision ; hills specialist Meijer was planned to ride the Vuelta, but replaced by Arnau because he is a better helper.
Hopefully Christensen can score more points with this better help, to compensate the points that Meijer would have scored in stage 8.

Christensen was 5º GC in the Vuelta of previous season, and that is an extra reason to give him a better helper.
Perhaps I should expect such a GC result again.
The 3 selected specialists should score a lot of extra stage points. And maybe Finn can achieve a stage victory.

11 Christensen ( 31 ), tour
12 Finn ( 26 ), climb-TT
13 Neeskens ( 31 ), TT
14 Taglioni ( 29 ), cobblehills
15 Arnau ( 30 ), tour / allround helper

Vuelta stage 1, cobblehills ;
12º  Taglioni ( free role ) 
48º  Christensen   1:20"
My Italian cobblehills specialist was way too good to be a helper, and the extra points are needed in the 1A podium battle.
So, it was up to Arnau, who did an excellent helper's job as far as he could = in the first 3 sections.

[Aurora Australis]

My Vuelta, and probably the TT WC squad unless Hunter &/or Armstrong are replaced to give somebody else exp points.

281   Kirk Clinton   30
282   Nobby Licuria   30
283   Tod Henderson   30
284   Eric Armstrong   26
285   Maurice Hunter   21   

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 2, flat-cobbles ;
21º  Taglioni ( helper )
43º  Christensen   1:07"
Unexpectedly a too fast Taglioni in s4, where he used minus 1 EP compared to Christensen, just like he did in s1, there the -1 was perfect.

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 3, hillsclimb ;
26º  Christensen   1:14"
A bad race and horrible result.
Somehow Christensen could not follow in s1 and was isolated, what probably was the reason that he even could not return in dh s2.
Also in s2 and s3 isolated. In s4 he got unexpected help of Finn who dropped out of the 2nd group.
But in s4 already on 0:47" and Christensen should have been easily in the wheel of Arnau who dropped to the 2nd group on 0:10"
Unnecessary loss of points, and an unnecessary time loss of most likely 37 seconds, that is a lot.

Vuelta stage 4, hillsclimb ;
13º  Christensen   0:15"
Revanche !
This time a great race with Arnau as the important s4 helper.

Christensen is now 6º GC on 2:08" 
( He could have been 4º GC on 1:21" if stages 2 and 3 went much better. Well, let's hope the rivals made or going to make mistakes too )

[Vos]

CFF Cup final = TT : MDFFF 27km
2º  Neeskens   0:00"
A pity that this time trial was lost by less than a second.
Well, at least a nice consulation price was "won" :

Already for the 3rd time that my team "achieved" this silver CFF cup, and that is a record in CFF.
Hopefully it is possible this season, to add an other silver cup on the SPORTLIFE palmares.

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 5, cobblehills ;
9º  Taglioni ( free role )
51º  Christensen   1:46"
My hope that Arnau was good enough to help 2 or 3 sections was not justified at all, and Christensen was isolated the whole race.

Vuelta stage 6, hills-TT ;
4º  Neeskens
19º  Arnau
31º  Christensen   1:20"

Vuelta stage 7, mountains ( 2x wind ) ;
22º  Christensen   1:01"
Unfortunately Arnau was not good enough to help in s4, what I expected but not hoped. But he did a good helper's job in s1, s2, s3.

Christensen is now 7º GC on 3:36" behind GC leader Tristan Min ( 31, Flyvende_hjul ), who won the Vuelta once before.

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 8, hills ;
58º  Christensen   1:12"
A bad race, because all helpers dropped in s2.
Including masterhelper Taglioni, who kept on riding just a few seconds behind his teamcaptain till s4, and passed him in s5.
On top of this, Christensen finished as 1st of a big group, what is never good to a GC contender.

Vuelta stage 9, flat-TT ;
1º, 2º, 3º, 4º= all Australian, and all of Aurora Australis ! 
5º  Neeskens
26º  Arnau 
29º  Finn
37º  Christensen   2:20"

Christensen is still 7º GC, now on 3:39" behind GC leader Tristan Min ( 31, Flyvende_hjul ), who is going to win the Vuelta.
Arnau moved up to 20º GC, despite all stages in a helper role. But he might drop due to his very low form in stage 10.

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 10, climb-TT ( hot storm ) ;
1º  Finn  -->  victory !     
19º   Christensen   0:51"
23º   Arnau   0:59"

Vuelta, final GC ;
6º  Christensen   3:24"  --> just enough to achieve a top 6 GC big sponsordeal of 1.001.193,- 
19º  Arnau   8:55"  --> despite all stages in a helper role.

The 1A ranking looks very promising at this moment, with 3 more very points-rich races to go.
A enormous big chance that the season goal of an 1A podium place will be achieved. It even looks it is already "secured".

[Aurora Australis]

Looks like you've got 2nd in Div1 pretty much secured Vos, and good to see my former cyclist Finn winning.

My TTers are doing a bit of old times at the moment, even if they're not as good as my original cyclists (except Pocock who's the best Innsbruck TT WC cyclist this game has ever had).

[Vos]

Giro di Lombardia ;
25º  Glass

Richmond TT WC ( 2x wind ) ;

My TTers are doing a bit of old times at the moment.

1º   Nobby Licuria   30   Aurora_Australis    Congratulations !
2º   Tod Henderson   30   Aurora_Australis     
3º   Kirk Clinton   30   Aurora_Australis 
- - - - - - - - -
9º  Neeskens
19º  Mikkelson

After the WC time trial the 2nd place in 1A is officially secured, due to the gigantic gaps in points towards the numbers 1 ánd 3.

[Kekipi]

After the WC time trial the 2nd place in 1A is officially secured, due to the gigantic gaps in points towards the numbers 1 ánd 3.

Congrats on your successful season! 

I hope to make a similar announcement at the conclusion of S24, but, in my team's case, for a top 30 finish in Div 1.

It'll be an accomplishment I think is possible if I don't screw things up.

I do appreciate your regular "Season XX" posts.  There is a lot that can be learned from them (e.g. tactics, rider selection, staff selection etc.), so thanks!

[Vos]

Thanks 
You too congratulations, kekipi.
Because of your promotion and 2nd div. championship.
Even the best of all 2nd divisions, currently an impressive > 8.000 points ahead of the second best 2nd div. champion.

And you're welcome, although I wish more people post so now and then something in the season topic.

Good luck with your next season goal of avoiding relegation.
A difficult goal to achieve, because 40% of the teams relegate every season.
And for example in previous season the relegation battle was brutal, with even a record total points of the nr 30 in 1A.
As by far the best 2nd div.champion, it should be duable to stay in 1A. Of course, tactics matter too, not just the quality of a team matters.