US Nat team season 17

[Kekipi]

S17 RACE 1: Les Vieilles Forges - Monthermè


Pre-race commentary: Gilbert Workman, 25,  is the top-ranked hiller in the game. Both #2 Sidorenkov of Ukraine and #3 Kangert of Estonia are 24, so we'll see how these young guns fare in this race with the one flat section.   Speaking of which, the #2 (Emerton of Australia) and #3 (Cabeza of Spain) hills w/flat riders are also just 24, and it will be interesting to see how they do.

How it went: Workman finished 4th  @ :18, Sidorenkov 31st @ :36, Kangert 129th @ 1:17, Emerton 133rd @ 1:17, and Cabeza 15th @ :30.    Using as conservative tactics as I dared, Workman had helpers in the first three sections but, unfortunately, none in the critical S4. If he had help there, he likely would have podiumed and possibly won.  He's young and his team, Caracoles, is now in Div 1 and has six (6!) other golden hillers on the roster, so he and his young mates are likely to make some noise in the first two stages of the TDU.  Good luck to all!

[Kekipi]

S17 RACE 2: Savigliano - Sestriere



Best results for the team:

13 Matt Janson
21 Jonathan Edwards (winner of the close-but-no-cigar award)

Comments:  Huard of Belgium, Mikalsen of Norway, and Kelly of Britain were the podium guys for the race.   I noted that Kelly is not among the top 20 pure climbers but was undoubtedly the beneficiary of outstanding tactics.   His section splits were 0/27/25/22/8 compared to Janson's (a similarly ranked climber) 0/8/25/33/53.   This comparison led me to guess that Kelly rode 03045.  He also had a helper in S4 whereas Janson did not.  That was key.

[Kekipi]

S17 RACE 3: Almaden - Talavera de la Reina



Comments

10 Andrew Truex @ :15

Truex was the captain and there were no free riders.  He was not in the lead group after the first section but he always had help.  There was hope to replicate his podium (3rd place) finish of race 6 of S15 but I'm not dissatisfied with what he did considering he's the 41st (of 53) golden flat sprinters.   

[Kekipi]

S17 RACE 5: Bornem - Gerraadsbergen



Comments

9 Julian Finn @ :14
31 Bryan Whisman @ :45
38 Bob Shea @ :49
88 John Hamilton @ 1:04

Because he has a cold-weather icon and because he has more experience (100) Finn (ranked #38 gold cobble-hills) was the captain and Hamilton (#26 GCH) was riding free. Finn had help in the first three sections but Whisman and Shea could not hold on in S4 to provide him the critical assist he needed to vault into the top five.  Barthez (#54 ranked) of France was at :06 in S4 with Finn but he had a helper (Clement) who undoubtedly gave him the boost to finish 4th, just off the podium.  And Clement himself finished in the points at 17th. 

Félicitations à l'équipe de France. 

[Kekipi]

S17 RACE 7: Giffoni Valle Plana - Frosinone



Comments

3 Pete Vorel @ :10
36 Ryan Carpenter @ :38
41 Eric Hoffman @ :38
55 Shaun Norcross @ :49

Vorel is the 26th ranked flat cobbler in the game, so it was deemed that conservative tactics were not the best way to go.  Accordingly, the plan was to ride aggressively in the first four sections and then wait to see how the dust settled.  Good fortune was with him.   

Feeling like a need for a break, I'm going to hand over the reins of the NT to another American coach.  Frier_Accounting looks to be the guy.  Good luck to him.