Australia NT Season 16

[Aurora Australis]

Just a note, I'm ceasing my hunt for 19 year old TTers this season (one currently on the transfer list is being bidded on), and will try again next season.

[Zatarra]

Ophiuko, can you show the U23 lists once again? I'm kind of curious to see my Lucas and Haber on those compared to the other Australian ones?

[Franky]

Well, now that I stopped promoting...this are the guys that I'm training right now (hills)

Not sure what is this...haha, maybe a Tourman, maybe a hills/cobble, no idea, but is interesting, the problem is that I promoted him few days ago
Harry Lust   Age : 19   Wage : 857
Stamina : 67   Sprint : 15   Climbing : 61
Flat : 39   Cobblestone : 56   Technique : 0
Downhill : 35   Hills : 59   Aggressiveness : 80
Time Trial : 12   Teamwork : 44   Experience : 0

For sure, a cobblehiller.
Ken Coburn   Age : 19   Wage : 857
Stamina : 61   Sprint : 23   Climbing : 31
Flat : 65   Cobblestone : 65   Technique : 34
Downhill : 14   Hills : 52   Aggressiveness : 79
Time Trial : 14   Teamwork : 17   Experience : 0

Hiller with sprint and a bit of cob?  sprint-hills? no idea haha
Pete Haber   Age : 19   Wage : 842
Stamina : 58   Sprint : 64   Climbing : 23
Flat : 36   Cobblestone : 49   Technique : 45
Downhill : 7   Hills : 79   Aggressiveness : 80
Time Trial : 0   Teamwork : 12   Experience : 1

MEH
Kenny Benett   Age : 19   Wage : 802
Stamina : 27   Sprint : 32   Climbing : 16
Flat : 30   Cobblestone : 25   Technique : 32
Downhill : 50   Hills : 69   Aggressiveness : 76
Time Trial : 37   Teamwork : 11   Experience : 0

Another big MEH
Kane Martin   Age : 19   Wage : 590
Stamina : 51   Sprint : 16   Climbing : 8
Flat : 58   Cobblestone : 69   Technique : 16
Downhill : 5   Hills : 64   Aggressiveness : 51
Time Trial : 16   Teamwork : 37   Experience : 0

And then, from previous season, I still have this 2 that are training at 70% right now as nobody bought them even by 1€

Karl Pocock   Age : 21   Wage : 832
Stamina : 64   Sprint : 26   Climbing : 12
Flat : 29   Cobblestone : 28   Technique : 32
Downhill : 57   Hills : 93   Aggressiveness : 85
Time Trial : 42   Teamwork : 68   Experience : 0

Dean Seaman   Age : 21   Wage : 846
Stamina : 81   Sprint : 50   Climbing : 12
Flat : 26   Cobblestone : 47   Technique : 29
Downhill : 67   Hills : 92   Aggressiveness : 58
Time Trial : 19   Teamwork : 48   Experience : 0

[Aurora Australis]

I'm afraid Franky, those two 21-year-olds simply aren't where they should be, and will be even more so at 70% training.  If nobody else wants them, they don't have a real future.

[Vos]

If Pocock will be perfectly trained from now on, he still has a chance to get the golden icon due to his high aggressiveness.
Of course, also the ( to me unknown ) talent rating is of influence.
My advice = try to sell him once again for 1,-
Keeping him is not an option if you cannot train him good. If he is not sold again, unfortunately he has to go (but not a waste to Australia).

Seaman can get much and much higher secundairy skills than Pocock.
However, his too low aggressiveness kills his potential.
In the end he will have a few GV points less than Pocock, if both were trained perfectly.
My advice = fire Seaman immediately.
Even when he would train perfectly from now on, he is by far not good enough.

If you want me to assess your other cyclists too, please use the converter, so I can copy-paste it in my evaluator easily.
The converter =
https://dijk71.home.xs4all.nl/cff/team2table.html

1. copy paste your team in the top square.
2. click the browser you use ( there are 3 options between the top- and bottom square ).
3. now you get in the bottom square a weird text with digits ; copy all of the bottom square and paste it on the forum (or forum-pm).

[ophiuko]

Stage 4 - Villié Morgon -  Bourg en Bresse



I think this flat TT is the most difficult NT selection I've ever made. There are a bunch of Australian TT riders just at the limit of making points on this TT race. I've decided to select 7 riders for making points, and 2 young riders who I don't think they will get points, but they would get very good positions with an improved experience. For the 7 competitors, Mount and Clickett are clear, but I've selected the rest according to my values for the stage counting the experience AND weather bonus. I hope the 7 of them can get points.

Australian NT selection:

Paul Clickett, 33, Aurora_Australis 96.69 // 20º DT
Bud Mount, 24, ChronoTony 96.08 // 11º DT
Kirk Workman, 28, Aurora_Australis 96.02 // 22º DT
Richard Levin, 34, Aurora_Australis 95.91 // 42º DT
Christian Pinkney, 33, Aurora_Australis 95.90 // 37º DT
Peter Coleman, 29, HTCHungria 95.24 // 40º DT
Julian Frances, 26, Bergtoppers 94.32 debut // 36º DT

Walt Judd, 24, Frenkie 94.26 // 25º DT
Nobby Licuria, 23, Aurora_Australis 93.75 // 48º DT

The ones with chances that I left out:

Dean Shields, 29, Aurora_Australis 95.41 // 38º DT
David Wilson, 32, Facha_Bartolo 95.17 // 65º DT
Steve Odom, 28, Manicomicos_Cycling_Team 94.96 // 45º DT
Angel Morrison, 29, JGMTeam 94.83 // 35º DT
Charles Iverson, 28, BlackHole 94.63 // 55º DT
Cameron Carter, 32, VSC 94.48 // 84º DT
Chris Montgomery, 32, SentinelChickens 94.45 // 61º DT
Jason Duffy, 24, Frenkie 94.39 // 44º DT
Gilbert Byers, 30, Ciclastur 94.33 // 87º DT
Mark Friend, 29, Catalonia_Team 94.32 // 53º DT

I've never seen so many candidates for a NT race 

I'll be posting young talents rankings soon. I'm just waiting few days till the 19yo promotions finishes and we can see a good overall.

[Franky]

If Pocock will be perfectly trained from now on, he still has a chance to get the golden icon due to his high aggressiveness.
Of course, also the ( to me unknown ) talent rating is of influence.
My advice = try to sell him once again for 1,-
Keeping him is not an option if you cannot train him good. If he is not sold again, unfortunately he has to go (but not a waste to Australia).

Seaman can get much and much higher secundairy skills than Pocock.
However, his too low aggressiveness kills his potential.
In the end he will have a few GV points less than Pocock, if both were trained perfectly.
My advice = fire Seaman immediately.
Even when he would train perfectly from now on, he is by far not good enough.

If you want me to assess your other cyclists too, please use the converter, so I can copy-paste it in my evaluator easily.
The converter =
https://dijk71.home.xs4all.nl/cff/team2table.html

1. copy paste your team in the top square.
2. click the browser you use ( there are 3 options between the top- and bottom square ).
3. now you get in the bottom square a weird text with digits ; copy all of the bottom square and paste it on the forum (or forum-pm).

Name	Age	Stamina	Sprint	Climb.	Plain	Cobbles	Tech.	Downh.	Hills	Explo	TT	Team	Exp.	Wage	Health	Form	Raced	Points
Harry Lust	19	67	15	61	39	56	0	35	61	80	12	44	0	857	76	97	1	0
Kane Martin	19	51	16	8	58	69	16	6	66	51	16	37	0	590	82	97	0	0
Ken Coburn	19	61	24	31	65	65	34	14	54	79	14	17	0	857	92	97	0	0
Kenny Benett	19	27	32	16	30	25	32	50	71	76	37	11	0	802	82	97	0	0
Pete Haber	19	58	64	23	36	49	45	7	80	80	0	12	1	842	66	100	6	0

Steve Odom, 32, Facha_Bartolo 94.96 // 45º DT

Hey! Steve Odom is 28yo and is mine!! 

[ophiuko]

Sorry Franky, I was copy-pasting rows and I forgot to modify Odom's. Changed now.

The NT timetrial went as follows:

5    Bud Mount      24   0: 05"   180      ChronoTony
12    Richard Levin      34   0: 10"   100      Aurora_Australis
15    Kirk Workman      28   0: 11"   70      Aurora_Australis
16    Christian Pinkney   33   0: 11"   60      Aurora_Australis
21    Paul Clickett      33   0: 12"   0      Aurora_Australis
28    Peter Coleman      29   0: 16"   0      HTCHungria
52    Walt Judd              24   0: 25"   0      Frenkie
53    Nobby Licuria      23   0: 25"   0      Aurora_Australis
65    Julian Frances      26   0: 28"   0      Bergtoppers

Only 4 riders made points. Only 1 on top10. Quite sure it must be the worst result ever for Australia on a TT NT race. Clickett, who I considered the 2º best Australian TTer right now, surprisingly disappointed and couldn't make into the top20. Levin, on the contrary, improved my expectations. Good points as expected by Workman and Pinkney, and as I suspected all the rest were close but not good enough to make points. Coleman and Frances were the selected ones. Coleman, even with a weather bonus, made 28º, so probably none of the rest non-selected good TTers could have made into the top20. Frances disappointed a lot, considering how good is he and the weather bonus. Probably experience is his weakness.

After this TT, Australia is 5th with 750 points, 215 points less than the 1st, Netherlands. Now, three cobble-hills races in which our options are reduced to 2 riders, and both of them quite unexperienced: Marc Huling and Sam Rooney. It will be hard to choose the leader, as the next race seems a better suit for Huling but the last 2 are better for Rooney. Considering that John Aakre (NOR) has already 250 points for the individual championship, I think I will split leaders and take the best option for each race.

[ophiuko]

***Includes the best riders at every sub24 generation***
SPRINT

HILLS

TIME TRIAL

CLIMBING

COBBLESTONE

GRAND TOURS

[ophiuko]

Stage 5 - Zalla - Zalla



Well, not too many options for this race. As pure cobble-hiller, Huling is the obvious best leader for the Australian NT team. The level of Australian cobble-hillers is really poor. Only Sam Rooney, Marc Ashley and Stephen Brown can really help, maybe Trautemberg too, so all the rest of the selection will be young talents. Alex Byers was at same level than Stephen Brown, but he is too old and I don't think it's worth to bring him as domestique. Let's hope in the future our level is improved by generations of Agua_Verde and Zatarra.

Australian NT selection:

Marc Huling, 23, Turrones 84.22
Sam Rooney, 26, Lemarche 82.27
Marc Ashley, 23, TeaMetal 81.06 debut
Stephen Brown, 25, La_Vie_Claire 80.94 debut
Liam Trautemberg, 23, TeaMetal 80.53 debut
Bob Janson, 22, Agua_Verde 78.37
Brooklyn Abolins, 22, Agua_Verde 77.80
Oliver Odom, 22, Agua_Verde 76.83

Nobby Licuria, 23, Aurora_Australis

[Zatarra]

Thanks for the lists. I'm really doubting between training Haber optimally or training Lucas optimally. Lucas is talent 5, Haber is talent 4 but slightly ahead at this point (and lower on the main skills cobble+hill). Training Haber optimally would mean that I would need to train the others for a period on 70% and the other way around.

I have a few days to decide, but at this point I think I will go for Lucas...

[Vos]

Thanks for the lists, great job, Ophiuko ! 
And good luck in Zalla !

[ophiuko]

Stage 6 - Carrara-Montalcino



I screwed with the tactics on the first cobbles race  . I think I may have exceeded the 12 EP for Huling, otherwise he couldn't have lost so much on the final section. But I'm not sure as I set the tactics on Friday and didn't take a picture of them. Anyway, on S3 he had already lost contact with the front group, and on S4 he was isolated, so if I had put one EP lower on the final section, I don't think he could have made any points.
Now the turn of Rooney comes, I have no idea of his options on these 2 races, but for sure we will try to do the best. The domestiques are not the best, but I tried to choose the best Australia has, according to my own percentages, and of course with a mix of young talents. Let's hope it works.

Australian NT selection:

Sam Rooney, 26, Lemarche 82.50
Kirk Trump, 34, $Tourmalet 79.70
Marc Huling, 23, Turrones 79.50
Markus Moore, 29, Xegalaki_Pro 77.76
Oliver Segond, 30, catapunchimpon 76.32
Herbie Ashley, 24, Flyvende_hjul 75.43 debut
Nate Filsbourne, 23, PucelaBike 75.04 debut
Nick Thompson, 22, TeaMetal 74.13 debut
Oliver Odom, 22, Agua_Verde 70.88

[Aurora Australis]

You have one goal, stay ahead of the British.  If I remember correctly, the Brits have only beaten us twice (once with me as NT manager, once with Vos), both times winning the NT title.

Btw, good news with my 23-year-old TTers.  I don't know their current rank on the TT gold list, however I've been testing them in the gold World Challenges, and they're equal to all of ChronyTony's 24-year-old non-Aussie cyclists that I've seen.

[B.E-L]

Position	Name	Team	Age
12	Bud Mount	ChronoTony	24
18	Ruben Lutz	ChronoTony	24
19	Nobby Licuria	Aurora_Australis	23
25	Walter Coburn	ChronoTony	24
43	Tod Henderson	Aurora_Australis	23
47	Vladimir Pfister	ChronoTony	24
55	Alwin Neeskens	ChronoTony	24
57	Christian Pocock	Aurora_Australis	23
85	Kirk Clinton	Aurora_Australis	23
91	Tijn Landzaat	ChronoTony	24
107	Guus Oudkerk	ChronoTony	24
115	Georges Delorme	ChronoTony	24
120	Markus Benett	Aurora_Australis	23
122	Elvijs Valters	ChronoTony	24