Australia NT Season 6

[horace_vr]

Making it harder, two of those outside the top nine on rough calculation have weather bonuses.

To make it easier for you, Anderson also has the weather bonus 
I think Levin has better GV, but without the weather bonus... everything is possible next Sunday. Good luck! May Cancellara win anyway 

[Aurora Australis]

Making it harder, two of those outside the top nine on rough calculation have weather bonuses.

To make it easier for you, Anderson also has the weather bonus 
I think Levin has better GV, but without the weather bonus... everything is possible next Sunday. Good luck! May Cancellara win anyway 

On a short race with weather bonus, I fully expect Anderson to win (btw my team will undertake a season+ of TT training from next season to max their TT skill [currently 96] - so weather bonus mightn't be enough in the future).  What will be interesting is seeing the 23 year olds from multiple nationalities in their first serious NT race (I know my two will slot in behind Trump by next season - so that's a good yardstick for comparison).

[agtxla]

I think ANDERSON has a double weather bonus for the stage

[WinterIsComing]

I think ANDERSON has a double weather bonus for the stage

True, weather forecast says cold weather (below 10 degrees) and rain.

[Aurora Australis]

Race 4     

Selections :
Ben Mitchum   Aurora_Australis   24
Isaac Trump   Aurora_Australis   24
Owen Acree   Aurora_Australis   24
Richard Levin   Aurora_Australis   24
Paul Clickett   Aurora_Australis   23

There's four spots left.  I made an error in my previous table, with the cold weather experts not highlighted.  Taking weather bonuses into account, this is my current estimate of values of the six cyclists still in with a chance for selection (next season Bookout).

#   Score   Name   Age   Team
1   92.28   Christian Pinkney   23   Aurora_Australis
2   92.28   Les Rooney   24   Wizards (cold)
3   92.26   Jim Slipper   24   Frenkie
4   92.25   Clyde Gill   24   Frenkie (wind)
5   92.22   Hank Kewell   24   Frenkie
6   92.17   Freddy Butcher   24   Antequera (cold)

With Pinkney being 23 years of age, I'll expect him to get one spot.  Then the other three spots is uncertain (depends on how much value is on weather bonuses).

Prediction: 2nd, maybe 3rd, at least five cyclists getting points, remote chance for one or more of the remaining four to be selected to get points.

Results:
2nd   Richard Levin      24   0: 06"   250   Aurora_Australis
3rd   Isaac Trump      24   0: 09"   225   Aurora_Australis
10th   Ben Mitchum      24   0: 20"   120   Aurora_Australis
13th   Owen Acree      24   0: 21"   90   Aurora_Australis
17th   Paul Clickett      23   0: 25"   40   Aurora_Australis
23rd   Christian Pinkney      23   0: 28"   0   Aurora_Australis

725 points, which is good given they had 3 weather icons working against them, and all of their TT skills are at 96.  Hopefully next season we can take the top spot.

In more good news
2º 1195 points
5º 790 points

[Aurora Australis]

Race 5 

Selections :
Kirk Trump   24   $Tourmalet (likely leader)
Alex Byers   23   ChessPower
Nate Douglas   24   SentinelChickens
Grant Curry   24   BLOEMENAANDEMITTE
Keith Sheehan   23   Sabmazz

Four more to be selected, most likely to be Wendell Burton & Colin Ryan (both aged 24), Peter Beckham & Danny Blixter (both aged 23); with Gerard Bell, Charlie Brubaker, Lenny Pinkney, & Elliot Neville possible outsiders for selection.

Prediction: 9 star silver cobbler, no points in NTs since season 2 (by two cyclists who never made it out of bronze status), we're possibly not at attempting voodoo on chicken feet point, but the record's not that great in cobble-hills.  Still, we have hope.

Results:  42th Kirk Trump 0: 46"  $Tourmalet
I was hoping he was going to be closer, maybe next time he'll be luckier to tag in with the required groups.

[damafe]

we trust in Byers

[Aurora Australis]

Race 6 

Selections :
Anthony Garza   24   Spitz (leader)
Daniel Lucas   24   Albero
Herbie Steele   24   CaptainOrange
Kent Carey   24   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
Nate Henderson   24   AJFactoryCycling (free role)
Scott Springsteen   24   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
Trevor Winger   23   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
Kevin Bush   21   CC_Porco_Jones (may be replaced)
Colin Mount   19   Sacido

Selection changed to Keith Hamsten   19   Matterhorn (climb TTer), due to Matterhorn racing his cyclist.

Prediction:  Points, not sure how many, they all appear to be missing that one final touch to be possible winners, or near to it.  Maybe top 15.

Results:
6th Anthony Garza 0: 13" 160 points
15th Scott Springsteen 0: 44" 70 points
22nd Trevor Winger 0: 53" 0 points

230 points is good, although I feel as if Nate Henderson should have been able to have gained something.  On the other hand, I noticed some odd selections in other NT teams (who selects 24 year old bronze cyclists to fill the squad?), so maybe I should be happy with this.

One race to go, currently 2nd.  Let's see if we can hold off the French.

[Franky]

at the end, was a good race, again...6th, 15th and 4 guys in the top30. And we are 2nd in the Ranking by countries with the highest points per user and cyclist right now

[Aurora Australis]

at the end, was a good race, again...6th, 15th and 4 guys in the top30. And we are 2nd in the Ranking by countries with the highest points per user and cyclist right now

Your cyclists did well.  Slightly disappointed that AJFactoryCycling's Nate Henderson wasn't up there, particularly with your Scott Springsteen getting 70 points in a domestique role, but those are the breaks.  Hopefully it won't affect us finishing in 2nd.

Good news for the TTers, all three of my 23 year old TTers are now golden, which makes 7 golden Aussie TTers in my team.

[Aurora Australis]

Race 7 

Selections :
Dylan Gilliam   24   Antequera
Eric Kelly   24   Antequera (free role?)
John Battle   24   Antequera
Kent McClure   24   CobbleCrushers (free role?)
Angus Friend   23   Marineros (leader)

Four more to be selected.  Current AV

1   87.68   Jonny Glass   24   Aurora_Australis
2   87.45   Ron Dardar   24   Antequera
3   87.33   Henry Foster   24   Antequera
4   87.26   Jake Hamilton   24   Plopsala
5   87.24   Jasper Sandfort   24   Antequera
6   87.22   Denis Mitchum   24   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
7   87.12   Gary Dowden   24   Astanadena

Predictions:  Top 5.  Don't expect this race to be as easy as last season, but we have a decent chance of finishing the season in 2nd overall (it's us or the French, anybody wanting to nail & tack the Frenchie tyres?).

Results:
4th   Angus Friend      0: 02"   200 points
18th   Eric Kelly         0: 29"   30 points
22nd   Gary Dowden          0: 29"   0 points

[Vos]

A good 4th place in the final NT race and a splendid, excellent result in the final ranking by countries : 2nd 
You did an amazing good job as Australian NT manager, Aurora Australis, bravo !
Good luck next season and hopefully a better season scedule for Australia as this season.

[Franky]

SIMPLY AMAZING!! Great great job Aurora! Another amazing season for our sad (this days) country...

[Aurora Australis]

Season 6 Results
Australia - 1655 Points
Position 2nd

TT 725 points : Climbs 370 points : Paves 230 points : Sprint 180 points : Hills 150 points

Most Points : Race 4 TT - 725 points

Cyclists

250 points   Richard Levin  24   Aurora_Australis 1*2nd
225 points   Isaac Trump  24   Aurora_Australis 1*3rd
200 points   Angus Friend      23   Marineros
180 points   Derek Nelson      24   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling
160 points   Anthony Garza      24   Spitz
150 points   John Jones      24   Oska
140 points   Kent Carey      24   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
120 points   Ben Mitchum      24   Aurora_Australis
90 points   Owen Acree      24   Aurora_Australis
70 points   Scott Springsteen   24   Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
40 points   Paul Clickett      23   Aurora_Australis
30 points   Eric Kelly      24   Antequera

Great news is that our non-TTers have scored more points than our TTers, 930 vs 725, which is timely given that time trial races are now going to start getting more difficult with some well trained cyclist coming through.  Still, I feel we've been lucky because some areas are weaker than results indicate, especially sprint, but also cobble-hills & pure climbs, so for any managers training up 19 year olds, send your international scout down to Australia, and give your cyclists the best chance for bonus NT experience.

[Aurora Australis]

AUSTRALIA         ENGLAND   

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