Season 21

[Vos]

stage 4 Tirreno, hills ;
49º  Cascos ( free role ) on 1:07"
88º  Montgomery on 1:47"
A more than excellent race of Montgomery ( hills-skill = 59 ), thanks to Christensen who did a perfect helper's job.
Way less time loss as expected, and Montgomery now 3º GC, split with the nr 2º GC on 0:28" behind the GC leader.
The nrs 1º and 2º have no sprint icon, but the nr 4º Gois is very close, he can sprint and he has amazing help in stage 5.

stage 5 Tirreno, sprint ;
22º  Montgomery on 0:27"
40º  Cascos ( helper ) on 1:03"
Montgomery had no good help in this stage, so Cascos had to sacrifice his free role GC position and hopefully good enough to help.
To my surprise he even could help in 3 sections. After s3 it was up to the isolated Montgomery to stay in the front in s4, and he did.
The GC leader and the nr 2º GC were behind, so, in the final s5 it was crucial to hold on to the wheel of the most fierce rival Gois.
And Montgomery did ! Gois finished as 20º in the same 2nd group.
With as result ; for the first time ever a Tirreno-victory of a SPORTLIFE cyclist.
Final TOP 11 GC =
1 Terry Montgomery   33   SPORTLIFE   0: 00" 
2    Serafim Gois   31   Flyvende_hjul   0: 22"   
3    Bud Dixon   27   Codex   0: 47"
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Marcelo Bessa   27   Fiestina   1: 15"   
5    Pat Martin   30   Flyvende_hjul   1: 18"   
6    Servais Yarkin   30   HTCHungria   1: 18"   
7    Willfried Seibel   31   FaltososDeChigre   1: 18"   
8    Martijn Heijblok   31   Mlb   1: 32"   
9    Henriks Valdmanis   31   KunTeam   1: 47"   
10    Klaus Amundsen   33   Luka_Warriors   1: 49"
- - - - - - - - -
11    Tomas Cascos   29   SPORTLIFE   2: 09"

And the temporary new leader in the individual 1A ranking = Terry Montgomery   33   SPORTLIFE 

[Vos]

Milano Sanremo ;
17º  Clemente
Perhaps 1 EP different was possible in the tactic, what would cause a better result.

E3 Harelbeke ;
20º  Laansalu
A bad race because the risky helper's tactic of Megens was a failure and he never helped.
I was hoping for a top10 result, but maybe too optimistic because both are not in topform ( so far this season still no +form WC cards won ).

   selection SPORTLIFE

Rønneberg is not in topform yet, Montgomery is not suited due to the hills stages, and Cascos loses too much in the time trial.
It is a hard decision who to make the teamcaptain, I'm still in doubt.
The backnumber that ends on 1 is for new buy  Rønneberg ( 6 M ), to give him confidence in his new team.
The other new buy Arensbak ( 185k ) is also not in topform, and he will be a helper to the still unknown teamcaptain.
Clemente can be an important helper in stages 1 and 5.

21 Rønneberg ( 31 ), tour
22 Montgomery ( 33 ), tour
23 Cascos ( 29 ), tour
24 Arensbak ( 33 ), hills-climb
25 Clemente ( 33 ), hills-sprint

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

stage 1 Catalunya, flat-hills ;
19º  Clemente ( helper ) on 0:17" --> perfect helper's job !
28º  Rønneberg on 0:17" --> 
31º  Cascos ( free role ) on 0:21"
134º  Montgomery ( free role ) on 1:57" --> his 53004 was not good enough to get into the big s2 peleton of 81. GC already out of reach.

stage 2 Catalunya, TT ;
29º  Montgomery on 1:38" --> GC = 45º on 1:44"
79º  Rønneberg on 2:56" --> GC = 24º on 1:22" ( I chose him as Catalunya teamcaptain, despite he is not in topform yet )
97º  Cascos on 3:15" --> GC = 46º on 1:45"

[Vos]

stage 3 Catalunya, MMFMF ;
1º  Montgomery ( teamcaptain ) --> victory ! 
4º  Rønneberg ( free role ) on 0:00"
24º  Cascos ( free role ) on 0:00"
Excellent race !
Rønneberg (1st fav) was not in topform yet, so I guessed that Montgomery(4th fav) had more chance to win.
This is Montgomery his first stage win in his career, and his recent Tirreno GC victory was his first win ever.
Too bad Catalunya does not count in the CFFantasy game.
And not just because of Montgomery, but also because I picked current GC leader Pat Martin ( Flyvende_hjul ) as only one too.
GC =
8º  Rønneberg  on 0:50"
14º  Montgomery  on 1:12"
15º  Cascos  on 1:14"

[Vos]

stage 4 Catalunya, hills ;
17º  Rønneberg  on 0:55" --> with  
23º   Arensbak ( helper ) --> excellent job with 5x hand-symbols.
72º  Cascos ( free role ) on 1:41"
122º  Montgomery ( free role ) on 2:23" --> in s1 a mechanical breakdown, although, without it, probably also a start in the 2nd group.

GC =
5º  Rønneberg  on 0:24" behind new GC leader Valdmanis ( KunTeam )
12º  Cascos  on 1:34"
23º  Montgomery  on 2:14"

[Vos]

stage 5 Catalunya, sprint ;
17º  Clemente ( helper )
23º  Rønneberg  on 0:00" 
46º  Montgomery ( free role ) on 0:36"
59º   Cascos ( free role ) on 0:58"
The SPORTLIFE-teamcaptain was finally in topform, and as 5º GC on 0:24" before this final sprint stage,
it was a good opportunity to test out what is max.possible in a very risky "no guts no glory" tactic.
And it was glory ! 
Because none of the GC rivals finished also in the 1st group, and this even caused the GC victory in Catalunia ! 
With big thanks to the perfect helper's job of Clemente.
TOP 10 GC =
1 Lasse Rønneberg   31   SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   
2    Afonso Rio   32   OphiukoCT   0: 20"   
3    Henriks Valdmanis   31   KunTeam   0: 33"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Willfried Seibel   31   FaltososDeChigre   0: 40"   
5    Xavér Kövér   30   HTCHungria   0: 44"   
6    Martijn Heijblok   31   Mlb   0: 50"   
7    Pat Martin   30   Flyvende_hjul   0: 53"   
8    Daniel Alejandro Viñas   29   Fiestina   1: 02"   
9    Norman Coy   33   Plopsala   1: 17"   
10    Ferney Cabrera   32   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 51"
- - - - - - - - - -
And some extra GC points of my 2 other tour cyclists :
14    Tomas Cascos   29   SPORTLIFE   2: 07"
18    Terry Montgomery   33   SPORTLIFE   2: 26" ( incl. a stage victory )

[Vos]

Unfortunately no points in GW ( 48º ) and DDV ( 56º ), but the tactic in RVV was much better :
Ronde van Vlaanderen ;
24º  Laansalu

   selection SPORTLIFE

Only one mutation compared to the Catalunya selection ;
hills-sprinter Clemente is replaced by TT-specialist Makarov.
 
41 Rønneberg ( 31 ), tour
42 Montgomery ( 33 ), tour
43 Cascos ( 29 ), tour
44 Arensbak ( 33 ), silver hillsclimb
45 Makarov ( 32 ), TT

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

stage 1 Itzulia ;
1º  Rønneberg  -->  victory !
15º  Montgomery ( helper ) on 0:00"
stage 2 Itzulia ;
15º  Rønneberg  on 0:08" --> excellent help of Arensbak and Cascos.
66º  Montgomery ( free role )  on 0:38" --> with mechanical breakdown in the crucial s5, what costed time.

Rønneberg is still the GC leader, but there are 4 other rivals on 0:00" also.

[Vos]

stage 3 Itzulia, TT ;
12º  Makarov --> a dissapointing result, because he could challenge favorites.
31º  Montgomery  1:41" --> with 2x mechanical breakdowns( ! ! ) he finished in the same time as the nr 30º.
55º  Rønneberg  2:27"

GC =
3º  Montgomery  0:30"  --> incl. bad luck, already 3x mechanical breakdowns so far.
5º  Rønneberg  0:43"

[Vos]

stage 4 Itzulia ;
6º   Rønneberg  0:13" --> excellent result, thanks to a magnificient helper's job of :
12º  Arensbak ( helper ) 
104º  Montgomery ( free role )  2:01"  --> not suited, due to too many hills in this stage.
GC =
3º  Rønneberg  0:33"  --> behind GC leader Valdmanis ( KunTeam ), who most likely wins this Itzulia.
18º  Montgomery  2:08"  --> a drop of 15 places after this stage 4.

[Vos]

stage 5 Itzulia ;
8º   Rønneberg  0:19"  --> with a lightbulb 
12º   Arensbak ( helper )  --> today not even sold for 1,-

Final GC =  3º   Rønneberg  0:43"

No GC points for Montgomery. I used him as extra helper in stage 5.
But he was not good enough, and he had his 4th mechanical breakdown in this Itzulia.
Due to this final stage, Montgomery dropped many places outside the GC, 31º on 4:04" This was clearly not his tour.
Arensbak came very close to extra GC points, 21º on 3:21", just 4 seconds short, despite all stages in a helper's role.


Paris Roubaix ;
2º  Hummelsby   
Magnificient result of this not-favorite who finished solo as nr 2º, without TC bonus.

[Vos]

Hmmmm, not a good hills-campaign.
In AGR and FW my teamcaptain-helper combo started too slow.
In AGR the damage could be repaired thanks to Meijer, including the important help in s4.
But in FW Meijer was also the s4 helper, despite this, an embarrassing result in FW that should suit Rubiera the most out of the 3 races.
Probably also in LBL the tactics could have been a bit better, but at least Rubiera was in the front of s1&s2&s3, instead of starting too slow.

Amstel Gold Race
7º  Rubiera
Flèche Wallonne
30º  Rubiera   
Liège–Bastogne–Liège ;
10º  Rubiera

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

41 Christensen ( 29 ), tour
42 Abolins ( 24 ), climb
43 Beckham ( 25 ), climb
44 Makarov ( 32 ), TT
45 Arensbak ( 33 ), hillsclimb

stage 1 Romandie ;
9º  Abolins ( free role )
16º  Christensen  0:20"
20º  Beckham ( free role )
Bad result of Beckham, who was the 3rd favorite. Abolins and teamcaptain Christensen did very well.

[Vos]

stage 2 Romandie, cobbles ;
47º  Christensen  2:03"
stage 3 Romandie, TT ;
13º  Makarov
49º  Christensen  1:53"
stage 4 Romandie, flatclimb ;
1º  Christensen  --> a very surprising solo victory !   
stage 5 Romandie, stormy climbhills ;
13º  Christensen  0:44"
28º  Arensbak ( helper )

Final GC = 1º  Christensen  --> Romandie victory ! 


Eschborn-Frankfurt ;
4º  Rønneberg
24º  Arensbak ( helper )

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

This is not a great Giro selection, and even a cheap selection with 3 new bought cyclists this season ;
Norman Coy 1½M  &  last-minute buy Duncan 171k
& Arensbak 185k, who I tried to sell for 1,- before Romandie. Good nobody bought him, he helped perfectly in Romandie ánd Frankfurt.
And due to lack of good cyclists in this Giro, he extends his stay in my team and hopefully will be a good helper again.

Abolins is recruited by myself, so he was just 5k, if you do not count the 5 seasons training what represents a big value, i.m.o.
The most expensive cyclist of this selection is the recent Romandie victor, Christensen, who was bought in previous season for 3,2 M.

Christensen is not suited for this Giro due to the 3 sprint stages. Also in the time trial he is not so good as most GC contenders.
He does have a good cobble skill, so maybe he can surprise by scoring a few GC points.

His teammate Coy is bad on the cobblestones, but he is much better in sprint, and has a better TT skill, so he will be the teamcaptain.
Unfortunately he seems to me no top GC contender in this Giro.
Probably again the sponsor deal ( top10 GC ) of previous season will not be achieved.
Also I do not expect many points in this Giro. I guess SPORTLIFE is better in little tours ( 3 little tour victories this season, a p.record )

31 Coy ( 33 ), tour
32 Christensen ( 29 ), tour
33 Abolins ( 24 ), climb
34 Duncan ( 27 ), silver sprint
35 Arensbak ( 33 ), silver hillsclimb

stage 1 Giro, hills-sprint ;
28º  Duncan ( helper ) --> excellent job, 5x hand symbols, also on 0:23"
33º  Coy ( teamcaptain )  0:23" --> very good result !
113º  Christensen ( free role )  2:04"