s2 : Australia NT

[Vos]

[Vos]

RACE 2 :  FRENCH PYRENEES
0ºC

Lézat-sur-Lèze, France,
No high expectations because the competition will be very fierce.
Hopefully the young Aussies will do well and score some points on Pla d'Adet at 1.669 meters altitude.

Australia NT selection ( in blue the xp ) :

Herbie Steele (20) CaptainOrange    10
Kent Carey (20) TeamEuroscalt    15
Nate Henderson (20) FlyEaglesFly    12
Niles Black (20) oroel    5
Ali Lindsay (20) Sacido    0
Daniel Lucas (20) SPORTLIFE    5
Anthony Garza (20) CatalunyaKricks    0
Jason Springsteen* (20) Sacido    0
Nobby Kellman (20) $Tourmalet    13

[Atalm93]

Good luck! Australia is welcome to score some points behind the norwegians 

[Vos]

Far behind.   
And again congrats, Atalm93 ! 

Teamcaptain Steele finisht just as 19th.
And the other Australians on places 76, 102, 106, 117, 138, 142, 143 and 147.
I wish I could say these bad results were because of bad tactics. But that was not the case, unfortunately the Aussies are not good enough.
I gambled to save energie in s1. In hinside that was perfect, a full peleton in s1. And 6 (or5) Aussies rode full energy on the mountain in s2.
Just 2 of them could follow the peleton of 41 riders. And maybe this is "positive" ; with a little bit more luck the teamcaptain and his best helper could follow also because they were 1st and 4th of the 2nd big group. So in future mountainraces he might be a few places better with a little bit more luck. And of course an even bigger influence for future races is the training and the talent rating.
Anyway, a bit dissapointing to see these results. Hopefully next week better results in the NT sprint race, but there is a big chance Australia is even worst in sprint than in climbing.

Just 20 points in this race, that means Australia is now 11th together with Estonia.
I don't expect many points in the next NT race, so hopefully the last 4 races are more suited to score points.
Only Norway and Germany are far ahead. The nr3 France has just 230 points more as Australia ; a lot of countries are close together.

[Franky]

Good to see my guys between the best Climb-hillers and cobblers...hehe. BTW, for sprint-hills, which % are you using, in mines, Nate Farrell is better than Alpin...

About yesterday race...well, keep going, don't worry too much about this races, this kind of races are not our best terrains... We don't have too many teams in Australia training climbers...

g0 Aussies!!

[Vos]

Those are the percentages of the Australian NT evaluator. I will send the top-secret hills-sprint percentages to you by pm.
I adjust it in most races, including all hills sprint NT races because there are different kinds of such races.

And you're right, no worries in Australia. There is more to see in Australia as just the bad NT results of the young Aussies.
This is one of the many examples : 



Perhaps I should hire her as NT-crisis-manager, then for sure the young Aussies will be extra motivated.
But maybe that is not necessary, because in Australia we have a good punishment if they not perform :
no top10 at the end of this season means I will send them to Europe where they have to sing on a rotating stick. 

[Franky]

no top10 at the end of this season means I will send them to Europe where they have to sing on a rotating stick. 

WTF?? I've seen many weird things in Europe, but not this thing...hahahahha

[Vos]

no top10 at the end of this season means I will send them to Europe where they have to sing on a rotating stick. 

WTF?? I've seen many weird things in Europe, but not this thing...hahahahha

This weekend these 3 Australian ladies were punished during the Eurovision songfestival : 
( the young Aussies better do well in the NT, otherwise the same fate awaits them^^ )

[Franky]

ahhh, truee, I heard something about this...hahaha, but I didnt see the contest...xD, I just heard something about a Palestinian Flag, Madonna, and my fellow spaniard being almost last (as usual) xD

[Aurora Australis]

no top10 at the end of this season means I will send them to Europe where they have to sing on a rotating stick. 

WTF?? I've seen many weird things in Europe, but not this thing...hahahahha

It'll be the next Eurovision thing, because talentless guys who think they're girls butchering a song written on a napkin whilst drunk & on drugs is so last year.

[FIO]

Think Ive got a very nice cobhillsprinter this morning. Salary of 852 with 7 on climbing and 2 on Time Trial:

Arnold Davidson   Age : 19   Wage : 852
Stamina : 42   Sprint : 67   Climbing : 7
Flat : 51   Cobblestone : 54   Technique : 53
Downhill : 32   Hills : 64   Aggressiveness : 57
Time Trial : 2   Teamwork : 18   Experience : 0

[Vos]

My knowledge about such a rider is limited and not much to compare with, so for what it is worth ;
I think you're right, and perhaps he is even more than just very nice because of his amazing sprint as extra.
There could be very suited future NT races for him, he is in my opion for sure an asset to Australia. 


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT :

At the moment there are 45x 19yo's, so finally enough to make special u20 lists this weekend.

If you want your 19yo cyclist on these lists ; send your scout to Australia. 

[Vos]

11x 20yo cyclists (with < 10 sprint) are not on the lists. Too much effort to search who they are. My apologies.
There are 305 x 20yo cyclists, so these lists are of 294 x 20yo. Next week hopefully complete lists.
And of course I added all 19yo's also, but none of them made it into the top15. But I will make u20 lists in a few minutes.

u21 lists

[Vos]

u20 lists ( 48 cyclists )


Australia has a number of good 19 yo's, but also missing riders in a few disciplines for example hills and sprint.

[Vos]

RACE 3 : SPRINT


5ºC

Pau, the south of France,
Today a sprint race with finish in Revel. That is not far from last week's NT race 2.
Back in 2016 the Tour de France finished also in Revel, and Australian Matthews won the sprint of the break away group (see picture).

There is one Australian in the sprint dream team (Stu Woods, as 6th) but he is a hill-sprinter and not the best flat-sprinter.
The best Australian flat-sprinter is David Dixon, so he will be the team captain.
With zero races and zero experience I have nothing to compare with, so I don't know what to expect of him. He seems to me not a sprinter who can achieve a top result, but hopefully he will do well and scores some points.

Six sprinters are selected. Also 3 xp cyclists are selected, that is the first time this season.
The "teamcaptain" of next week is selected, TT-specialist Freddy Butcher.
Possibly the best Australian, flathills-and hills-specialist Stu Beal, gets also an xp selection.
As a reward that he races a lot and that he achieved 2 CFF records this season in 1A.
And for the first time one of the good and promising 19yo's is selected ; flatcobble-specialist Angus Friend who rides a lot in his team.
Next week another already experienced 19yo will get an xp-selection for sure. That is TT-specialist Christian Pinkney (Aurora_Australis).

Australia NT selection ( in blue the xp ) :

David Dixon (20) LosTxinosKudeiros    0
Stu Woods (20) kingmiller    9
Derek Nelson* (20) Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling    4
Bobby Jordan* (20) LosTxinosKudeiros    0
Earl Foster* (20) kingmiller    1
Nick Burgess (20) LosTxinosKudeiros    0
- - - - - - - - - -
Stu Beal* (20) $Tourmalet    9
Freddy Butcher* (20) Antequera    8
Angus Friend (19) Marineros    4