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English Cff Forum => General Forum => Topic started by: Vos on December 16, 2019, 11:59:21 AM

Title: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 16, 2019, 11:59:21 AM
All divisions : Grand Tours

This topic is to make the CFF big tours more exciting and more fun. :)
It does not matter in what division your team is in. It is a topic for all divisions.

Here you can post everything about the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
For example posting your selection, complaining about bad tactics, celebrating great results, and so on.

Is your English not so good ? This a good opportunity to practise your English.
Google translator can help you : https://translate.google.nl/

Tu inglés no es tan bueno? Esta es una buena oportunidad para practicar tu inglés.
El traductor de Google puede ayudarte
: https://translate.google.nl/

Today the CFF Giro d'Italia started. Good luck everyone ! :)
To get even more in the mood ; a map of the real Giro 2020 that starts in Budapest.

(https://i.imgur.com/7Tp4RMr.jpg)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 16, 2019, 12:04:19 PM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8ed052732fddd78a1b24c0eb2887c9f6.png)  (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png)selection SPORTLIFE

Miorlin will be the teamcaptain in stages 4 and 5, the main objectives in this Giro.
Perhaps TT-specialist Bogarde and flat-sprinter Schäfer can score a few points extra, but that is very doubtful in advance.

201 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Miorlin ( climber )
202 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Huszta ( climber )
203 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Adorján ( 23yo climber )
204 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Bogarde ( TT )
205 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Schäfer ( sprinter )
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on December 16, 2019, 12:31:30 PM
I'm hoping Daniel can score 400 points between stages 2, 6 & 9 (even though he's not gold).  And maybe the same from the TTers in stage 3.

421 Ben Mitchum (TTer)
422 Owen Acree (TTer)
423 Daniel Cerdan (Sprinter)
424 Neil Bell (TTer)
425 Alipio Velez (Sprinter)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: EpoGlucK on December 16, 2019, 02:11:56 PM
This os the peachey team, hopefully I won't loose Many points, as I Won't compete the general clase.

Bytheway, I' ll try yo get points un 7/10 stages with this melocotons:


Ronald Blaak puré climber leader
Dominique Lorimier hill- Sprinter leader
Bryn Cook-  Mont-sprint
Tamás Hegyháty helper and leader for the flat-sprint stage
Olaf Sluijter-Helper and leader un the mount-hill stage.

I
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 16, 2019, 10:49:30 PM
stage 2 Giro, unexpected good results  :) ;
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/bombilla.png) The not so suited teamcaptain Miorlin finished with a lightbulb as 28th on 0:00"
Flat-sprinter Schäfer ( with climbskill just 9 ) surprised me also with an excellent 7th place ( in a free role ).
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 17, 2019, 11:40:04 AM
A very exciting time trial in Florence for the 1A favorites, and in the end almost no time differences :

1º     Heinz-Dieter Maurer   24   Facha_Bartolo   a 0:00"
2º     Royce Ray   24   CyKings   a 0:00"
3º     Owen Acree   24   Aurora_Australis   a 0:01"
4º   Florian Overmars   24   CaptainOrange   a 0:04"
5º   Mark Tabitov   24   Cabrasverdes   a 0:05"

And good to see that Bogarde scores points, without TC and with active weather icon :
17º   Coen Bogarde   24   SPORTLIFE   a 0:43"
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: EpoGlucK on December 17, 2019, 11:57:29 AM
CHALLENGE SENT

Olaf Sluijter(°Peachy°Melocotons) VS RóbertAdorján(SPORTLIFE)   

Ronald Blaak(°Peachy°Melocotons) VS Nicola Miorlin(SPORTLIFE)   

Public challenge :o

Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 17, 2019, 12:28:34 PM
Both challenges are accepted.  :)
( Andorján has a helpers role )
Good luck !^^
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Atalm93 on December 17, 2019, 05:25:01 PM
Very important stage for the GC in giro! After this we can start to see who will be fighting for the podium!

I almost never get challenges, and almost never those I send get accepted. Maybe, for some reason im feared   :'( ;D
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 17, 2019, 07:23:09 PM
stage 4 Giro :
Great victory of Miorlin !  8)
And his helpers scored some points extra with a 16th and a 19th place.

Miorlin 4th in the GC at the moment, although he has no GC ambition / not suited.
But for sure he has the ambition to take the pink jersey for 1 day. He has to try in the next stage, although he is not one of the favorites.

(https://i.imgur.com/ROK7BPu.jpg?1)
In section 1 an excellent job of the SPORTLIFE helpers Adorján and Huszta at the front of the leading group.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Atalm93 on December 17, 2019, 10:27:33 PM
Great performance Vos!
Fingers crossed for Miorlin in pink!
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 17, 2019, 10:56:37 PM
Thanks  :)
However, the chance is very big that Miorlin will not be in the pink jersey after stage 5, but he has to try with his home advantage.^^
The current (and new) GC leader Semon finished in stage 4 as 10th on 0:45"
I expect a smaller time difference in stage 5 and Semon has a good lead in the GC :

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_pink.png) TOP 10 GC after 4 stages :

1    Ivan Semon   24   MortoviaCycling   0: 00"
2    Mike Bauer   24   CyKings   0: 52"   
3    Santiago Castro   24   skunk   0: 53"
4    Nicola Miorlin   24   SPORTLIFE   0: 56"   
5    Antonello Lorenzetto   24   Marcatone_Due   1: 00"   
6    Karl Dahlen   24   ValeronIdolo   1: 08"   
7    Edijs Dukurs   24   TipiCyclingTeam   1: 26"   
8    Darvin Norwood   24   skunk   1: 44"   
9    Hans-Peter Fischer   24   Turrones   1: 54"   
10    Silvis Pumpurs   24   Pomilles_Balears   1: 54"   

Also interesting to see the numbers 17 and 18. Both teams are battling for the 1A championship.  8)
( Of course the current 1A champion CyKings will be again a rival with his amazing tour-cyclist Bauer )

17    Robrecht Kemperman   24   Flyvende_hjul   2: 47"   
18    Ronald Blaak   24   °Peachy°Melocotons   2: 57"

Good luck !
edit ; Peachy is not going for the GC, says his preview. But fun to mention Ronald Blaak as compensation of his loss in the challenge. :)

Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 18, 2019, 05:44:41 AM
stage 5 Giro :
Again ! This time an amazing solo victory of not-favorite Miorlin.  8)

(https://i.imgur.com/U8RmdRT.jpg?1)
Miorlin is the new GC leader and takes the pink jersey for one day. :)






Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: EpoGlucK on December 18, 2019, 08:43:44 AM
stage 5 Giro :
Again ! This time an amazing solo victory of not-favorite Miorlin.  8)

(https://i.imgur.com/U8RmdRT.jpg?1)
Miorlin is the new GC leader and takes the pink jersey for one day. :)
Nice victories Vos!! Pretty impresive 🙂
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 18, 2019, 12:47:24 PM
Thanks  :)
Already the 5th victory of Miorlin this season.
And so far he has not yet reached the 10 stars on climbing, but he should be close to that ( he is the nr114 in the golden climb list ).
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on December 18, 2019, 10:07:27 PM
With 6 out of 10 races gone, but my cyclists' best points scoring opportunities behind them, the team has gained 538 out of the optimistic target of 800.  Not a disaster, but still short of target.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 18, 2019, 11:54:12 PM
stage 6 Giro :
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_pink.png) Miorlin in his pink jersey did great in a free role and finished as 157th on 2:39"
Of course not good enough to keep the maglia rosa.
His fellow country man Lorenzetto (Marcatone) is now the GC leader, 15 seconds before Bauer (CyKings).
Already the third Italian in this Giro who wears the pink jersey. Mazzola (Ares) had the pink jersey two times after stage 2.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 20, 2019, 11:54:45 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/Uh0tLw6.jpg)
Mike Bauer wins the Giro.

Remarkable of this Giro was that 50% of the stages was won by an Italian cyclist.
And almost an Italian GC victor because it was very exciting till the very last few kilometers of stage 10 between Bauer and Lorenzetto.
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_pink.png) Final top 3 GC Giro d'Italia ( div.1A, season 6 ) :

1 (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/gb.png)    Mike Bauer   24   CyKings   0: 00"   
2 (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/it.png)    Antonello Lorenzetto   24   Marcatone_Due   0: 24"   
3 (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/ch.png)    Adam Roethlisberger   24   Rekutxuteam   1: 13"   

It was also a good Giro of my team with 2 stage victories of Miorlin, who finished as 17th in the GC.
And very satisfied with the total Giro-points of SPORTLIFE = 987 points ( almost as much as the GC points of Bauer  :) )

Next the Dauphine and the Tour de Suisse, and after those little tours it is again time for a grand tour  8) :
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/ec365cb5b403c66bf9212fc15b3d4289.png)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Flandria23 on December 21, 2019, 02:28:19 AM
Bravo VOS!

Great performance from Miorlin, see you soon on 1st div.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 21, 2019, 08:55:24 AM
Gracias  :)

Good luck with your team, I have no doubts that they will be awesome climbers. 8)
For example the 22yo Zack Thompson who won also the Giro stages that Miorlin won. 
Although maybe the 1A managers with climbers should fear more your 21yo's climbers, such as Billeschou, Mottet and Reinertsen.

In a few seasons it will be even more difficult for Miorlin than it is now already.
Miorlin has just 9 stars on climb, and not always one of the 1A favorites. But he has 2 weather icons and sometimes that is an advantage.
And I have a back up plan with a few 23yo climbers.
Probably one of them will be better as Miorlin and hopefully good enough to be a future rival for your climbers.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Flandria23 on December 21, 2019, 05:34:37 PM
So interesting that back up plan from your part. It will be a true honour to compete against your team on the mountains, given that you're the best Mountain tactical specialist manager on CFF without any doubt.

Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on December 23, 2019, 05:45:24 PM
Thanks Flandria :), but too much honor. Like every other manager I also have tactical failures sometimes.
Although Miorlin (in an experimental 11 EP tactic^^) had again a great solo victory as not favorite in stage 4 Dauphiné. 8)
He even could score GC points ( 9th GC ) despite his very low hills(19)- and TT(21)-skills.

Miorlin gets rest now, and it is up to other climbers to get good results in the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France.
Not really good climbers, because most of them are TT climbers.
Maybe with the exception of the just 23yo Basov, he is a real pure climber but also he has climb TT (as extra).
The SPORTLIFE selections in the 2 upcoming tours are the same. And the main goal is stage 5 Tour de France :

(https://i.imgur.com/9mglRl2.jpg?1)
stage 5 Tour de France ; climb TT Alpe d'Huez

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8e2fd4d4ee620c3f1192c94b40da9db9.png) & (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/ec365cb5b403c66bf9212fc15b3d4289.png)  (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png) selections SPORTLIFE

151 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Benett (24) --> climb TT.
152 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Basov (23) --> climber + climb TT.
153 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Dékany (24) --> climb TT + flatclimb.
154 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Nieuwendijk (24) --> climb TT + flatclimb.
155 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Fagan (24) --> cobble-hills-climber with little bit TT, too low flat and no sprint.

Everyone good luck in these CFF tours and also ; Merry Christmas !  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on December 26, 2019, 02:17:31 AM
For the TdF, with my cobble purchases, I've changed my strategy regarding my TTers.

341 Isaac Trump (24)  TT
342 Richard Levin (24) TT
343 Nail Tinaev (24) Cobble
344 Christian Pinkney (23) TT
345 Paul Clickett (23) TT

Only Levin & Tinaev are racing for points.  Seeking 500 points from Levin, hopefully the other TTers can pick up near 400-500 points between them.  Tinaev is racing effectively without support in stage 10, so near 90-100 points would be good from him.

Edit:  Levin did his job with two victories, however with 143 (r2) & 178 (r3) from the other three TTers, they've come a little short, although I was perhaps a little optimistic.
Edit2: 138 points from Tinaev gave me a total of 959 points for the tour.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 01, 2020, 06:14:05 PM
First of all ;  happy new year and the best wishes for 2020 !  :)

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/ec365cb5b403c66bf9212fc15b3d4289.png)
Unfortunately, the main goal in the Tour de France was not achieved ; Benett came 1 second short for stage victory on the Alpe d'Huez.
His 2nd place was the best result in this grand tour. And Fagan could score some extra points in the GC (13th).
However, the total amount of points was higher as in the Giro (987), so therefore satisfied with this Tour de France (1.163).

But even more satisfied with the very succesfull Tour de Suisse ; the just 23yo Basov had two stage victories. 8)  8)

Friday morning the Vuelta d'Espana starts in CFF.
I'm not sure yet what the selection will be. Probably it will be posted tomorrow.
To get everyone in the mood ; the route of the real Vuelta 2020 that starts in Utrecht  :) :

(https://i.imgur.com/hLQ72si.jpg?1)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on January 02, 2020, 09:47:35 AM
Espana team

301 Alipio Velez   24
302 Fraser Morris   23
303 Pavel Lezhnev   24
304 Daniel Cerdan   24
305 Sergio Steinbach   24

Simple goal, score enough points so that Levin can secure the team's retention in Div 1 for next season.  So we're looking at
Sergio Steinbach = 200 points between stages 6 & 7
Pavel Lezhnev = 125+ points stage 9
Daniel Cerdan = 100+ points stage 10
And if Alipio Velez can steal a few points, that will be good.

If we're at least 3550 points going into the TT race, Levin will deliver 1000, taking us to 4550, and a few hundred from Bookout & Jones will see us here for next season.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 02, 2020, 05:14:22 PM
If we're at least 3550 points going into the TT race, Levin will deliver 1000, taking us to 4550, and a few hundred from Bookout & Jones will see us here for next season.

The amount of points of the numbers 30 in the past 1A seasons :

season 2 = 4.493
season 3 = 4.732
season 4 = 4.503
season 5 = 4.553

Of course past results are not a guarantee to stay in 1A.
Good luck in the Vuelta and with your battle against degradation, AA. (I estimate you will achieve that goal, hopefully I'm not wrong with my estimation)



Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 02, 2020, 06:21:45 PM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/c8892128eff206aeb674bcc6880a73a6.png)  (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png) selection SPORTLIFE

My expectations are lower as in the 2 previous grand tours of this season.
Miorlin and Benett do not have TC bonus. And all different leaders of the stages have no good support of others.
I assume this will have a big influence on the results.
But that does not matter much because already more than enough points to stay in 1A and way too far behind to finish top 5 in 1A.
Good luck everyone !  :)

111 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Miorlin (24), climber --> stage 7 (maybe also points in stages 4 and 6)
112 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Benett (24), climb TT --> stage 2
113 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Engelberts (24), sprinter --> stage 10
114 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Trautemberg (24), hills climber --> stage 8
115 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Canhoto (24), cobblehills --> stages 1 and 3
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 03, 2020, 07:53:05 PM
115 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Canhoto (24), cobblehills --> stages 1 and 3
A good 12th place for Canhoto. Hopefully he can do the same in stage 3.

112 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Benett (24), climb TT --> stage 2
(https://i.imgur.com/lAJntrk.jpg)
VICTORY on the Alto de L'Angliru  !
Excellent result of Benett (without TC bonus).  8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 07, 2020, 12:20:28 AM
115 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Canhoto (24), cobblehills --> stages 1 and 3
A good 12th place for Canhoto. Hopefully he can do the same in stage 3.
In stage 3 a 19th place for Canhoto.
I guess I should be very satisfied with that because his tactics were allright, he had no helpers and probably the competition is just too good.
In hills-sprint stage 5 Canhoto surprised me by scoring points, he finished unexpectly as 23rd.

111 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Miorlin (24), climber --> stage 7 (maybe also points in stages 4 and 6)
Excellent results of Miorlin because he had no good helpers and no TC bonus :
stage 4 = 9th
stage 6 = 13th (in hinside stage 6 could have been even better in less EP and of course he had helpers on the flat in this stage, but Miorlin is a pure climber and not a flat climber)
stage 7 = 5th (as not favorite and too bad he had no helper in s4, but a tactical choice to chose for 5 different riders in this Vuelta)

114 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Trautemberg (24), hills climber --> stage 8
Trautemberg (in a teamcaptain role) had to do this stage solo, despite that, he finished very good = 6th
His best result ever in CFF !  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 07, 2020, 10:55:30 AM
stage 9 = 8th place for Canhoto ; an unexpected and very good result.
Canhoto scored points in four Vuelta stages. And so far my team scored points in every Vuelta stage.

I assume that in the final stage sprinter Engelberts will score points too. It is a bit dissapointing that he cannot challenge one of the favorites.
But maybe logical, because he has just a silver sprint icon.The aggressiveness is too low (32). His other sprint-stats look great.

Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on January 07, 2020, 09:48:46 PM
Bolshenkov enjoyed a great Vuelta in Div. 2a, winning 3 stages and the overall classification. He shows he's  ready to make his debut in first division.  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on January 07, 2020, 10:36:52 PM
stage 9 = 8th place for CanhotoAnd so far my team scored points in every Vuelta stage.
I assume that in the final stage sprinter Engelberts will score points too. It is a bit dissapointing that he cannot challenge one of the favorites.
But maybe logical, because he has just a silver sprint icon.The aggressiveness is too low (32). His other sprint-stats look great.
3rd is a great result there, my silver sprinter got 6th (if I was starting now, I'd absolutely look at sprinting because the talents not in the game).

Bolshenkov enjoyed a great Vuelta in Div. 2a, winning 3 stages and the overall classification. He shows he's  ready to make his debut in first division.  :)
Early welcome to Div 1.

Espana team
Sergio Steinbach = 200 points between stages 6 & 7 (65 & 90 points - not achieved - 20 points stage 4 = 175 points total)
Pavel Lezhnev = 125+ points stage 9 (138 points - achieved)
Daniel Cerdan = 100+ points stage 10 (113 points - achieved - & bonus 28 points stage 5 = 141 points)
And if Alipio Velez can steal a few points, that will be good (didn't happen - but Cerdan & Steinbach did)
Total = 452 points

If we're at least 3550 points going into the TT race (3562 points - achieved)
Quote
"TT race, Levin will deliver 1000, taking us to 4550, and a few hundred from Bookout & Jones" (yet to be completed)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on January 07, 2020, 11:05:10 PM
113 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Engelberts (24), sprinter --> stage 10
I assume that in the final stage sprinter Engelberts will score points too. It is a bit dissapointing that he cannot challenge one of the favorites.
But maybe logical, because he has just a silver sprint icon.The aggressiveness is too low (32). His other sprint-stats look great.
3rd is a great result there, my silver sprinter got 6th
The 3rd place in the final stage is indeed an excellent result for Engelberts. 8)
Thanks to Canhoto who managed to stay with his teamcaptain in the first four sections.
In advance it was very doubtfull if he was good enough to do the helpers job in s4 (although he never got the hands symbol, simply not good enough).

The 6th place of your just silver sprinter Cerdan seems to me also an excellent result, AA !
Engelberts has also silver, but the whole season as 24yo he has 9 stars, so he is very close to gold.
Good luck in the WC TT with your amazing TT-specialists, AA ! 8)

The Vuelta was much more succesful for SPORTLIFE as I estimated before this grand tour started. Even more points as in the Giro :

Tour de France =  1.163 points
Vuelta d'Espana =  1.050 points
Giro d'Italia =  987 points
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 02, 2020, 01:58:19 PM
For the Giro, I only have three cyclists who will attempt to tick over a few points.

201 Nail Tinaev Age 25 (cobbles)
202 Daniel Cerdan Age 25 (sprint)
203 Pavel Lezhnev Age 25 (cobbles)

204 Kirk Workman Age 19
205 ????
With 3 weather bonuses & talent 5, Kirk's just there to get a few kms in his legs.  Fifth cyclist will be there for leg stretching as well, and will be decided after tonight's NT race.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 02, 2020, 04:34:57 PM
In azerite we are unsure about the goals for the giro, but the lineup most likely will be:

301: David Evans  (25)  (GC)
302: Reinhardt Kahn  (25)  (Cobble-hiller)
303: Mijo Bendix  (24)  (Hiller)
304: José Pierret  (25)  (Cobble-Hiller)
305: either Alvaro Vaca (25, helper) or Sandijs Dukurs (19)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 02, 2020, 06:22:43 PM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8ed052732fddd78a1b24c0eb2887c9f6.png)   (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png)  selection SPORTLIFE

It was a difficult puzzle who to select for this grand tour.
Not many points are expected, but hopefully Benett will go for stage victory in stage 3.
4 out of the 5 selected cyclists should be good enough to do well in their stages and score points (unfortunately without a good helper).

The 5th cyclist, Fagan, has probably only a chance to score points in the GC, although in advance it is very doubtfull he will succeed in that.
He sucks in sprint and has a low flat, so with 2 sprint stages and a total of 20 flat sections in this Giro, it will be very difficult.
Because his manager has a low confidence in him, most likely he has to ride 3 stages in a free role.
Hopefully Fagan can surprise me and score a few points somewhere. Anyway, it is fun to select him, even if he fails.
Presumably it was more smart to select a semi-good hillsclimber, or even better, a good sprint- or hills-helper. But imo GC fun is smart too. :))

151 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Benett (25), climb TT --> stage 3
152 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Dékány (25), climb TT --> stage 3
153 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Colaco (24), flat-sprinter --> stage 1
154 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/spain.jpg) Marin (25), flat-hills --> stages 7 and 10
155 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Fagan (25), cobblehillsclimber --> "GC" ?

Have fun and good luck everyone ! :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on February 02, 2020, 08:21:01 PM
(https://i.ibb.co/NFVhBWD/Mollema.png)

ATLANTICO
The Atlantico team travels to Italy with high expectations about our performance on this GT. Our 2nd sponsor Decathlon will transfer us an interesting amount of money ( >500k) if we achieve a top10 on the GC, and the directors wants to make them happy. So, the stages victories won't be important. The orders are clear; help "Garrapata". He must be as near as possible from Roethlisberger and Hilton, and when he "explodes" all team must to carry him to the finish line. The selected squad:

161 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) VanAmerongen (25, GC)
162 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Smeets (25, Sprinter)
163 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Bessa (25, Hills)
164 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Mescoff (25, Cobbles)
165 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Lacroix (25, Mountain-hills)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: cabrasverdes on February 02, 2020, 11:19:47 PM
        Rider                         Age   Points
141  Pio Sainz                          25   691(Hiller)
142  Daniil Tchoban               25   630(cobbles)
143  Kyril VandenBergh       25   540(Cobble-Hiller)
144  Nicolas Meerhoff               24   325(hill-sprinter)
145  Dré Degrande                 25        283(Double cobble helper)
This are the green goats that will ride in Italy. I'll try to get as many points as posible in stages, no aspirations in the general standing.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 03, 2020, 07:44:13 AM
stage 1 Giro :
An excellent start of this grand tour ; Colaco finished as 9th in a risky tactic because as expected he had no helper in section 4.
Fagan finished as 228th, almost 4 minutes behind stage winner Miksa Pelle (°Peachy°Melocotons). The GC ambition of Fagan is almost gone.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on February 03, 2020, 01:27:49 PM
Horrible result for Van Amerongen; alone in the T2 and 3'12" behind the finish line. The team are so sad right now...  :'( Only a superb cobbs result this afternoon could give us some expectations on the GC.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 03, 2020, 01:51:10 PM
Horrible result for Van Amerongen; alone in the T2 and 3'12" behind the finish line. The team are so sad right now...  :'( Only a superb cobbs result this afternoon could give us some expectations on the GC.

Same result for Evans, maybe his manager forgetting about setting the tactics had something to do ::)
Anyways, that was the worse stage type for Evans, and now its time for him to shine on the cobbles
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 03, 2020, 11:46:19 PM
All 3 "GC" riders posted in this topic ; it seems to me they have to do better in the next 8 stages, good luck !  :) :

122    Bram VanAmerongen   25   Atlantico   5: 08"
141    David Evans   25   azerite   5: 39"
161    Cliff Fagan   25   SPORTLIFE   6: 22"

Maybe it is better to focus on stage results ( mainly because I have the 1st and 2nd favorite in the next stage  :)) ) :

stage 1 = 6th Aurora_Australis, 9th SPORTLIFE and 14th Atlantico.
stage 2 = 11th Atlantico, 14th Aurora_Australis and 24th Cabrasverdes.

edit ; Maybe you should change your forum profile, Cabrasverdes. It says 2nd division, but your team is the current number 1 in 1A. 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 04, 2020, 09:13:19 AM
stage 3 Giro :
Olé, Benett did great on the Santuario di Oropa ; splendid victory !  8)
Dékány was 2nd favorite and finished as 4th.
Halfway the mountain Fagan had a mechanical breakdown. The reason he finished just outside the points (32nd, 0:00"behind the nr29).
Fagan is still far behind in the GC, but he is getting closer to Evans (just 1 second) and VanAmerongen :

92    David Evans   25   azerite   3: 35"   
97    Bram VanAmerongen   25   Atlantico   3: 49"
110    Cliff Fagan   25   SPORTLIFE   4: 17"
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 06, 2020, 02:04:52 PM
Pavel Lezhnev finishing 5th in stage 6 has picked up a final 125 points for Aurora Australis in the Giro, so every point you get will be pure gain Vos for your team's lead over mine.  My TdF team is already set, with three in training camps as we speak.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 06, 2020, 06:03:38 PM
Good result of Lezhnev, AA.  8)
I will calculate the Giro points of our teams later*. Maybe not much difference ( the difference is only made in stage 3, I presume ).
And I selected a silver hills specialist, maybe he can score a few points ( stages 7 and 10 ) although he has no good helper.
Fagan is too far behind in the GC, at the moment nr53, 3 minutes behind the nr20.
So I have no confidence in him that he will score a few GC points and he will ride the next stage in a free role.

Just like your team, also my team is looking forward to ride the Tour de France.
This Giro was an exception with just 2 cyclists (silver flat-sprinter and golden climb-TT-specialist) who have TC bonus.
In the Tour de France the whole selection has TC bonus, as usual.

*Giro points in the first 6 stages :
SPORTLIFE =  478
Aurora Australis =  331
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 06, 2020, 07:14:20 PM
stage 7 Giro :
Marin = 24th, so I can add 28 points to the total of Giro-points (see previous post / page).  :)
Fagan finished as 117th in a free role. He moved up several places in the GC but the difference to the nr20 is still 3 minutes.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 06, 2020, 10:43:43 PM
Well today was a terrible day for azerite team, Mijo Bendix got only a 14th place for 65 pts, while defying Ansan Vyturin(2nd) due to helper was not with him at t2 and later. For todays stage, we will hope for a better result for Reinhardt Kahn
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 07, 2020, 08:24:18 AM
Well today was a terrible day for azerite team, Mijo Bendix got only a 14th place for 65 pts, while defying Ansan Vyturin(2nd) due to helper was not with him at t2 and later. For todays stage, we will hope for a better result for Reinhardt Kahn
Well done in stage 8, kirin !
Thanks to a good helpers tactic of Pierret, his teamcaptain Kahn did great and finished as 3rd behind stage winner VanDenBergh (Cabrasverdes).
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 07, 2020, 08:25:54 AM
Announcement ; the new calendar of next season is published.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 07, 2020, 08:46:00 AM
Well done in stage 8, kirin !
Thanks to a good helpers tactic of Pierret, his teamcaptain Kahn did great and finished as 3rd behind stage winner VanDenBergh (Cabrasverdes).
[/quote]

Well today wasn't the hardest day on the tactics, but happy with the 3rd place, I'm in need of points.

Thoughts on new calendar?
New WC will be interesting
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 07, 2020, 11:59:58 AM
Season 8, TT death match.  It will be bloody, people will go down, but will any TT teams survive?

Look forward to TeaMetal joining Div1.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 07, 2020, 01:01:22 PM
Thoughts on new calendar?
New WC will be interesting
Many thoughts.  :)
First of all ; I really like it that every season has different stages and a different WC.
So, that is always positive to me, even if there would be a calendar that is not so good for my team.
The WC is indeed interesting, although I have no suited cyclist for that race ( yet ).
Also remarkable for next season are the many hills races.

There are many things left to say about this new calendar. For example AA mentioned the low number of flat TT races.

To pick one thing concerning my team ; Fagan is happy that ( finally ) he can ride stage 8 Vuelta in 1A, = C(h)MDMC(h) 280km.
Fagan has the CFF record, but this race only occurred once before and that was in season 1 where everyone started in the 3rd division.
If he can win is doubtfull, because of his very low talent rating and the fact that he is not well trained in my team.
But he will try to go for victory and his TC period is already known.
Now let's look at all my other cyclists, to make a good seasonplanning for my team ( and who has to go ).
One thing is for sure ( and that is the same as in all previous 6½ seasons ) ; my team needs a top GC rider desperately.  :D
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on February 07, 2020, 01:30:44 PM
Great performance for VanAmerongen last stages... He is currently 7th. We´ll see if he could to improve on his GC this afternoon... 8) What's about Fagan and Evans?
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 07, 2020, 01:53:23 PM
Great performance for VanAmerongen last stages... He is currently 7th. We´ll see if he could to improve on his GC this afternoon... 8) What's about Fagan and Evans?

The 5th cyclist, Fagan, has probably only a chance to score points in the GC, although in advance it is very doubtfull he will succeed in that.
He sucks in sprint and has a low flat, so with 2 sprint stages and a total of 20 flat sections in this Giro, it will be very difficult.
Because his manager has a low confidence in him, most likely he has to ride 3 stages in a free role.
Hopefully Fagan can surprise me and score a few points somewhere. Anyway, it is fun to select him, even if he fails.
Presumably it was more smart to select a semi-good hillsclimber, or even better, a good sprint- or hills-helper. But imo GC fun is smart too. :))

155 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Fagan (25), cobblehillsclimber --> "GC" ?

Too bad my preview was correct and there is a good reason Fagan has a back number that ends on 5 instead of the 1 of VanAmerongen. ;)
At the moment Fagan is 2:41" behind the nr20 GC, that seems to me too much, so no GC points are expected (and free role in stage 10).
But he has a new objective now ; trying to beat Evans in the GC. :))  ( although the chance is high Fagan will fail in that too, hahaha )

7    Bram VanAmerongen   25   Atlantico   5: 08"   
32    David Evans   25   azerite   8: 11"
36    Cliff Fagan   25   SPORTLIFE   9: 01"   

Well, despite the very low amount of total points in this Giro, I'm satisfied that SPORTLIFE wins 10% of all Giro stages. :P
Good luck with VanAmerongen in the final 2 stages, michinoo. I see that the battle for top10 GC is fierce with little time differences.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on February 07, 2020, 02:00:37 PM
But he has a new objective now ; trying to beat Evans in the GC. :))  ( although the chance is high Fagan will fail in that too, hahaha )
Jajaja It seems that Evan's performance is clearly worst than Fagan... I always support your aussei rider ;D Go Fagan!!! Congratulations for your victory in Climb TT!
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 07, 2020, 02:05:35 PM
Thanks  :)   ( and also Fagan says thanks, he really needs the support to achieve his new goal  ;) )
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 07, 2020, 04:39:31 PM
Great performance for VanAmerongen last stages... He is currently 7th. We´ll see if he could to improve on his GC this afternoon... 8) What's about Fagan and Evans?

The 5th cyclist, Fagan, has probably only a chance to score points in the GC, although in advance it is very doubtfull he will succeed in that.
He sucks in sprint and has a low flat, so with 2 sprint stages and a total of 20 flat sections in this Giro, it will be very difficult.
Because his manager has a low confidence in him, most likely he has to ride 3 stages in a free role.
Hopefully Fagan can surprise me and score a few points somewhere. Anyway, it is fun to select him, even if he fails.
Presumably it was more smart to select a semi-good hillsclimber, or even better, a good sprint- or hills-helper. But imo GC fun is smart too. :))

155 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Fagan (25), cobblehillsclimber --> "GC" ?


But he has a new objective now ; trying to beat Evans in the GC. :))  ( although the chance is high Fagan will fail in that too, hahaha )

7    Bram VanAmerongen   25   Atlantico   5: 08"   
32    David Evans   25   azerite   8: 11"
36    Cliff Fagan   25   SPORTLIFE   9: 01"   

Well, despite the very low amount of total points in this Giro, I'm satisfied that SPORTLIFE wins 10% of all Giro stages. :P
Good luck with VanAmerongen in the final 2 stages, michinoo. I see that the battle for top10 GC is fierce with little time differences.

Evans perfomance has not been as good as i thought, so he's getting a helper role today, hoping Alvaro Vaca will get some points.
So it seems that Fagan will archieve his new objetive, since Evans is not the best of the hillers. Sadly, i had to decline the challenge from Bram VanAmerongen today.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 07, 2020, 11:21:44 PM
hoping Alvaro Vaca will get some points.
He did and scored 45 points, well done !

Fagan surprised me by finishing as 28th, his first 18 points in this Giro.

edit ; And still 0:12" behind Evans in the GC. He can forget his new goal to beat Evans, because Fagan is too far behind the nr20 GC and he has to be a helper in the final stage, despite he has no hills icon and a too low flat.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 08, 2020, 09:16:19 AM
stage 10 Giro :
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/sad.png) No points for Marin. He had a bad start ; somehow he could not follow the big peleton of 105 cyclists in section 1. Remarkable, because he is a flat-hills-specialist with 84 flat. Also remarkable that he could not return in s3 despite his 4 EP in section 2. He even had a helper in s3, but with that extra bonus and again 4 EP in section 4 he was far behind in a group of place 67 to 90. The 52nd place on the finishline is a dissapointing result.

In this final stage Bendix (azerite) scored some maybe very needed points with a good 9th place.
VanAmerongen (Atlantico) finished as 9th GC, well done michinoo because the battle for top10 GC was fierce with little time differences.

The posted symbol above is also a good illustration of the total Giro points of my team ; just 524 points.
Way too low for a grand tour, although I expected approximately such a very low total points in this grand tour.
I assume that my team will score many more points in the Tour and the Vuelta.

But first the little tours Dauphiné and Suisse. In each little tour there are 3 climb stages, so my climbers must perform and score points.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on February 08, 2020, 10:47:40 AM
VanAmerongen (Atlantico) finished as 9th GC, well done michinoo because the battle for top10 GC was fierce with little time differences.
Thanks Vos, but my 2 last stages were a disaster... The 5-6th place it was on my hand...  :'(

Total points for Atlantico: 710p
Expected points: >1050p
Potential points if the team doesn`t race for the GC: 750p

At least I get the sponsor's money :'(
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 08, 2020, 11:09:44 AM
I may have only gotten 331 points in the Giro, but given I had no expectations besides taking whatever points I could, I'm happ enough with that.
Pavel Lezhnev   190 points
Daniel Cerdan   141 points

I've calculated my expectations for the TdF, and I'm wanting around 688 points from each TT stage, giving a total of 2000 points for the tour.

Gap from Sportlife to Aurora_Australis is 346 points.  I'm expecting that to close by 200 in the Dauphiné, and maintain or close by a few dozen points in the Suisse.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 11, 2020, 04:07:01 PM
I got only 478 points on the Giro, while expecting around 700.

The best result was a 3rd place in the stage 8 by Reinhardt Kahn while he was not one of the favourites, happy with that one.
Overall, poor balance for azerite team, and the chances of not getting demoted were heavily damaged.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 11, 2020, 09:09:06 PM
Gap from Sportlife to Aurora_Australis is 346 points.  I'm expecting that to close by 200 in the Dauphiné, and maintain or close by a few dozen points in the Suisse.

Wrong expectations. ;)  :))

SPORTLIFE vs Aurora_Australis :

stage 1 Dauphiné (mountain) =  43 vs 10
stage 2 Dauphiné (time trial) =  0 vs 316
stage 3 Dauphiné (mountain) =  250 vs 12  ( and stage victory of Miorlin )
stage 4 Dauphiné (mountain) =  196 vs 43
stage 5 Dauphiné ( sprint ) =  43 vs 0
GC Dauphiné =  20 vs 0

Total points Dauphiné =  552 vs 381

And in the Tour de Suisse there is no time trial.
Both our teams did not score points in stage 1 ( hills ).
In stage 2 a great victory of Basov, and a 9th place for Miorlin (free role) =  227 versus 15

At the moment a gap of 729 points between our teams in 1A.
So SPORTLIFE will have a good lead before the Tour de France starts.  8)

And keep in mind I have a strong TdF team.
I would be very surprised and impressed if your team will be ranked higher in 1A right after the Tour de France, despite your many flat TT points.
Good luck in the Tour de France, AA ! So far it is a nice battle for the Australian championship.  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 12, 2020, 01:46:02 PM
Tomorrow the Tour de France starts. Have fun and good luck everyone !  :)

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/ec365cb5b403c66bf9212fc15b3d4289.png)   (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png) selection SPORTLIFE

Climber Basov is doing great in the Tour de Suisse, therefore he deserves the number that ends with 1.
Maybe he will be the teamcaptain in mountain stage 4, but at the moment that is not sure yet.

Because the main goal of this grand tour is to score GC points.
Dékány and Nieuwendijk should be the best GC contenders of my team, but for now difficult to estimate who will be better.
The Tour de France starts with 3 time trials, so I can postpone the decision about the TdF-strategy.

Just one cyclist of this team is already sure of his role (= helper in stages 5 and 6 ), that is silver flat TT specialist Bogarde.
Hopefully he can score some points in the 3 flat TT stages, despite the expected very fierce TT competition.

141 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Basov
142 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Dékány
143 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Nieuwendijk
144 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/ukrania.jpg) Telkov
145 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Bogarde
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on February 13, 2020, 09:25:36 AM
Cholet | 13.03.2020
LE TOUR DE FRANCE

(https://i.ibb.co/L1kpZyr/Tour.png)

This afternoon begins in Cholet (France) the most prestigious tour of the season; the Tour presents full of time trials (one of them in climbing) and two stages of high mountain. The absence of hills and cobbs is a very good notice for some specific riders.

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/3estrellas.jpg)
Tjerk Tusveld (Wizards), Siegmund Paulsen (Atlantico), Romeu Rosario (KunTeam), Eduard Zijlaard (BetisCFF)

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/2estrellas.jpg)
Rafael Carlos Loinaz (Wizards), Mariano Caro (Wiggo_pupils), Elouan Simon (Cabrasverdes), Lucio Portela (Rekutxuteam), Dario Fernandez (Skunk), Allan Palmer (HTCHungria), Igor Paraje (Bloemenaandemitte),

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/1estrellas.jpg)
Richard Rogers (Ciclokillers), Håkon Møller (Ciclokillers), Oliver King (Combuijs), Alan Brady (FaltososDeChigre), Casey Robertson(FaltososDeChigre), István Szekér (FlyEaglesFly), Valery Ziborov (LosRayosDeLarry), Dainis Vitols (Psychoedge), Sven WinklerPrins (WinterIsComing)

ATLANTICO
The Atlantico team travels to France with very high expectations about our performance on this GT. Like GIro, our sponsor considerer this stages a key for his bussines, so Mercadona has offered us an interesting amount of money ( >650k) if we achieve a top10 on the GC, and the directors wants to make them happy. So, the stages victories won't be important (really never was...). The orders are clear; help "Paulsen". He arrives in a very good form after his overall victory on Dauphine. He must ride so strong on the 1-3 stages to take advantage before 5-6 (sprint and cobbs). We'll see...

161 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Paulsen (25, GC)
162 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Victorov (25, Mountain-sprint)
163 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/suiza.jpg) Schilling (24, Cobbles-hills)
164 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Kloosterman (25, Mountain)

PD: good luck to everyone! and sorry if I forget someone ;D
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 13, 2020, 12:57:41 PM
Gap from Sportlife to Aurora_Australis is 346 points.  I'm expecting that to close by 200 in the Dauphiné, and maintain or close by a few dozen points in the Suisse.
Wrong expectations. ;)  :))
SPORTLIFE vs Aurora_Australis :
stage 1 Dauphiné (mountain) =  43 vs 10
stage 2 Dauphiné (time trial) =  0 vs 316
stage 3 Dauphiné (mountain) =  250 vs 12  ( and stage victory of Miorlin )
stage 4 Dauphiné (mountain) =  196 vs 43
stage 5 Dauphiné ( sprint ) =  43 vs 0
GC Dauphiné =  20 vs 0
Total points Dauphiné =  552 vs 381
Well I screwed up on stage 1, I rested the wrong cyclist, and had the wrong cyclist as leader.  Then I didn't bother to rest the cyclist who should have been leader in stage 1 to be a good domestique for the rest of the races, so the leader was essentially without a domestique for both small tours.
And yes, I now expect you to still be top Australian team at the end of the TdF.

My selections
251 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Richard Levin    25
252 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Paul Clickett   24
253 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Christian Pinkney   24
254 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Neil Bell   24
255 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) George Bookout    25

Target 2000+ points
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: bronx on February 13, 2020, 06:22:33 PM
Cholet | 13.03.2020
LE TOUR DE FRANCE

(https://i.ibb.co/L1kpZyr/Tour.png)

This afternoon begins in Cholet (France) the most prestigious tour of the season; the Tour presents full of time trials (one of them in climbing) and two stages of high mountain. The absence of hills and cobbs is a very good notice for some specific riders.

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/3estrellas.jpg)
4ºTjerk Tusveld (Wizards),3º Siegmund Paulsen (Atlantico), 2º Romeu Rosario (KunTeam),1º Allan Palmer (HTCHungria)

;)
[
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 13, 2020, 06:33:20 PM
After a decent Tour de Suisse (371 points), with a 5th place overall for Erki Aus (probably could be better if manager wasn't so bad and set Aus on a wrong role on stage 1), we are ready for the Tour!
Here's my selection for it:
271: Alvaro Vaca   25   GC Leader
272: Erki Aus     25   Helper or free role for mountain stages
273: Luca Rochat    25   Helper for mountain stages
274: Richard Frances   25   Looking for some TT points to help the team
275: Rezsõ Somfalvi   25   Cobble-Hiller-Sprinter, most likely on a helper role

We have a top 5 sponsor for the GC that seems complicated, and the objective is getting a top10 on the Tour GC, along with some extra points on stages.
Target points: 700 points
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 13, 2020, 06:34:22 PM
Cholet | 13.03.2020
LE TOUR DE FRANCE

(https://i.ibb.co/L1kpZyr/Tour.png)

This afternoon begins in Cholet (France) the most prestigious tour of the season; the Tour presents full of time trials (one of them in climbing) and two stages of high mountain. The absence of hills and cobbs is a very good notice for some specific riders.

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/3estrellas.jpg)
4ºTjerk Tusveld (Wizards),3º Siegmund Paulsen (Atlantico), 2º Romeu Rosario (KunTeam),1º Allan Palmer (HTCHungria)

;)
[
Forget about Allan Palmer here, he's not a contender for the 1st place without TT
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 13, 2020, 10:52:00 PM
stage 1 Tour de France :
A very bad start of SPORTLIFE  :-\ :
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/pinchazo.jpg) GC rider Dékány had a flat tire, so too much time loss.
Although my GC riders are not mentioned in the top 20 of favorites, they are motivated to beat Paulsen ( Atlantico ) in the GC.  :))
Even with a flat tire Dékány was 0:26" faster as Paulsen. Hopefully no bad luck in stage 2, so he can win more time.
But maybe Nieuwendijk will be the teamcaptain for the GC.
Just 10 sconds between my 2 GC contenders, normally that gap should be much bigger in a flat time trial.
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/pinchazo.jpg) Also a flat tire for Bogarde, and that was the reason he did not score points and finished as 32nd, 2 seconds behind the points.
But maybe I should be happy that he is good enough without a flat tire to score TT points. In advance that was very uncertain.
Hopefully he can score a few points in the next TT stage.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 14, 2020, 07:23:58 AM
stage 2 Tour de France :
This time trial was much better ; No mechanical breakdowns, no crashes and no flat tires for the SPORTLIFE cyclists.  :)
Bogarde scored the first points, he finished as 26th.

But these little points are nothing compared to the awesome results of Aurora Australis in this stage 2 ; 1st 8), 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 13th
Congrats, AA !
In stage 1 also many points for you ( 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th and 11th ), but of course not satisfactory to finish 2nd on 0:00"
It seems to me you scored even more points as you expected in these first 2 time trials.
And at the moment your team has a lead of 387 points in the battle for the Australian championship. I presume that is temporary.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 14, 2020, 09:33:43 AM
No doubt you'll have more points by the end of the TdF.
Actually this is the number of points I was expecting.  Stage 1 was disappointing, but it's ok if Kun had put Pico into training camp before the race, which I suspect he did.
Stage 1 676
Stage 2 778
= 1454
I'm not going to get this many points in stage 8, and can only hope they don't lose too many positions.

Time for you to win stage 3 Vos.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 14, 2020, 12:30:23 PM
Dékány is 3rd favorite, but he cannot challenge the 1st favorite Rosario, who is the CFF record holder of this stage.
And that means Rosario has a much better GV, and I assume he has also TC bonus.
In previous season this exact same stage was also in the Tour de France ; Rosario won and Dékány (with TC) 4th on 0:23"
Unfortunately that is a way too big time gap to expect a stage victory of Dékány.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 14, 2020, 01:20:31 PM
Dékány is 3rd favorite, but he cannot challenge the 1st favorite Rosario, who is the CFF record holder of this stage.
And that means Rosario has a much better GV, and I assume he has also TC bonus.
In previous season this exact same stage was also in the Tour de France ; Rosario won and Dékány (with TC) 4th on 0:23"
Unfortunately that is a way too big time gap to expect a stage victory of Dékány.

Previous record holder of the stage, my rider Alvaro Vaca, can only challenge one favourite, Richard Rogers.
At least i expect some decent points from todays stage.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 14, 2020, 11:29:30 PM
A nice total of 273 points for my team in stage 3.
Results ; 4th Dékány, 10th Nieuwendijk and 17th Telkov.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 14, 2020, 11:35:43 PM


Previous record holder of the stage, my rider Alvaro Vaca, can only challenge one favourite, Richard Rogers.
At least i expect some decent points from todays stage.
The only explanation i have for today is everyone was more doped than Armstong
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 15, 2020, 05:16:34 PM
Let's post and enjoy this when I still can / when it is still looking good !   :) 8)

GC TOP 10 TOUR DE FRANCE, after 4 stages :
1    (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_yellow.png)Romeu Rosario   25   KunTeam   0: 00"   
2    Ethan Foster   25   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   0: 48"   
3    Allan Palmer   24   HTCHungria   1: 08"
4    Albert Nieuwendijk   25   SPORTLIFE   1: 12"
5    Zoltán Dékány   25   SPORTLIFE   1: 17"   
6    Dario Fernandez   25   skunk   1: 25"   
7    Daniel Basov   24   SPORTLIFE   1: 32"   
8    Richard Rogers   24   Ciclokillers   1: 38"   
9    Siegmund Paulsen   25   Atlantico   1: 42"   
10    Huub Meppelink   25   ProdopingPong   1: 46"   

Probably cobble hills stage 5 will be a massacre for my team.  ;D
I can only hope that the rival GC contenders suck in stage 5 also.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 17, 2020, 11:19:55 AM
Tour de France :
stage 5 = As expected very bad results for my team. Only one could stay in the top20 GC (as 19th), the other 3 just outside the top20 GC.

stage 6 = Bogarde had a bad helpers tactic, despite that, this sprint stage went as expected. The 4 GC riders 1 or a few places up in the GC.

stage 7 = A good 3rd place for Basov.
Although it was very difficult who to choose as teamcaptain (and helper) for this stage.
I don't know yet if it was a good decision to go for Basov and therefore go for stage result.
Nieuwendijk, Dékány and Telkov were all on not very good GC positions before stage 7.
Even Telkov was sacrifised as helper in this stage and therefore big time loss.
At least he could help 2 sections and therefore a good stage result of Basov.
In contrast to climb stage 4, where Basov finished just as 7th because he had a too slow start with flat TT specialist Bogarde as "helper".

stage 8 = Excellent result of Bogarde, he finished as 18th, probably because of his active weather icon.
However, this was not a good stage, because just as in TT stage 1, again 2x a flat tire.
This time it was for Telkov and for Basov. Especially the flat tire for Basov in section 5 was bad news.

GC TOP 25 TOUR DE FRANCE, after 8 stages :

1    (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_yellow.png)Romeu Rosario   25   KunTeam   0: 00"   
2    Allan Palmer   24   HTCHungria   0: 21"
3    Dario Fernandez   25   skunk   0: 31"   
4    István Szekér   25   FlyEaglesFly   1: 58"   
5    Elouan Simon   25   Cabrasverdes   2: 00"   
6    Ivan Tossato   25   Flyvende_hjul   2: 21"
7    Lucio Portela   25   Rekutxuteam   2: 24"   
8    Zoltán Dékány   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 28"  -->  4x free role  :-[
9    Mariano Caro   25   Wiggo_pupils   2: 39"   
10    Albert Nieuwendijk   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 40"  --> 2x free role in both important mountain stages  :-[
11    Huub Meppelink   25   ProdopingPong   2: 43"   
12    Richard Rogers   24   Ciclokillers   2: 43"   
13    Jérémie Dupont   25   Oska   2: 57"   
14    Siegmund Paulsen   25   Atlantico   3: 08"   
15    Tom Panes   25   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   3: 17"   
16    Eduard Zijlaard   25   BetisCFF   3: 30"
17    Sven WinklerPrins   24   WinterIsComing   3: 38"   
18    Ethan Foster   25   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   3: 43"   
19    Daniel Basov   24   SPORTLIFE   3: 50"  -->  2x free role  :-[
20    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   25   Wizards   3: 59"   
- - - - - - - - - -
21    Philipp Aeschliman   25   MortoviaCycling   4: 09"   
22    Karin Telkov   25   SPORTLIFE   4: 10"  -->  3x free role and 1x helper  :-[
23    Tjerk Tusveld   25   Wizards   4: 16"   
24    Oliver King   25   Combuijs   4: 23"   
25    Baron Ooms   25   Wiggo_pupils   4: 24"   

 :-[= To show no matter what the final GC results will be, it will be some kind of dissapointing. Next time just 1 GC rider, that is much easier.:))
Probably I should not have chosen Basov as teamcaptain in both mountain stages, but all support to the GC of Nieuwendijk or Dékány.

Also because I accepted (more than one season ago) a sponsor deal for top 4 GC of 1.298.727,-
That will be very difficult to achieve now, although I really cannot estimate how the last 2 stages will go compared to the GC rivals.
And again a difficult choice who to make the team captain. Most likely again Telkov will be sacrifised as helper.
Let's hope the last 2 stages of this Tour will go well (without flat tires for example^^) and my team can score enough GC points.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 17, 2020, 11:42:42 AM
It can still work out well if one of your guys can bump themselves up towards 4th.  Here's to a hoped $1.2m sponsor bonus.

Happy with my guys stage 7 results (665 points), particularly with me not recharging Levin's or several others health.  That makes my final TdF total

Stage 1 676
Stage 2 778
Stage 8 665
= 2119 points
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 17, 2020, 12:23:30 PM
2.119 points is impressive, AA !

My team scored so far 604 points, and it all will depend on the GC points if this Tour will be successful.
As I expected before the Tour de France started.

2 things I did not expect/estimated right ; I expected more time won in the TT stages ánd I expected more time loss in the mountain stages.
In hinside this explains my maybe not so good stratigical choices.
With the current knowledge, my TdF strategy could have been much better and then 4th GC would be easy (I suspect now).
Maybe in that case even the GC podium was possible, although the current top 3 GC is really good too. And as I estimate it now, it is a consulation that even if I would have had a perfect TdF GC strategy, Rosario seems to me too good to beat.

Anyway, it is fun :) to compete like this and there is maybe still a little chance to score that big sponsordeal.
If so, it would be the by far biggest sponsordeal I ever scored ( including all 28 seasons CFF2 ).
But that is a big if at the moment. Maybe it is impossible because the GC rivals are too good in the last 2 stages, I don't know.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 17, 2020, 07:51:45 PM
stage 9 Tour de France :
WOW, a battlefield ! Thanks to a hard tactical attack in s1 by Atlantico, what benefits his GC rider Paulsen a lot, who finished as 4th.

I thought I anticipated on a hard attack in s1, but the 1 EP of the teamcaptain Nieuwendijk, 3 EP of helper Telkov, and 2x 2 EP of the free roles Dékány and Basov were not enough to follow the peleton of just 32 cyclists in s1. Nobody of my team got the sleeping icon, and that is a good sign and a bad sign at the same time.

The start was bad for my team in this stage that went like this ; 32 - 31 - 50 - 49 - 1
In bold section 3. And luckily teamcaptain Nieuwendijk was one of the cyclists that could return in the front group.
But he was isolated and no extra bonus for him in s5.  Despite that, a good result ; 12th on 0:34"
In the GC Nieuwendijk gained 4 places and now 6th.
But unfortunately the gap towards the nr4 (= sponsordeal target) increased with 11 seconds.

With one more stage to go, the gap of 0:53" towards the nr4 is most likely too much.
And besides that, what makes it also very difficult or impossible ; he has to overtake 2 instead of 1, and nrs 7 to 12 are just little seconds behind.
Maybe top10 GC is not even certain, although I don't expect that. However, my expectations in this Tour de France were wrong before, so I will see what happens in the exciting final stage.

Dékány and Basov dropped in the GC (2 places and 1 place) because of their free role results (36th an 37th) on more than a minute.

There is a new GC leader after this stage, it will be exciting between Palmer and Rosario who will win, and maybe the nr3 can surprise.

GC TOP 25 TOUR DE FRANCE, after 9 stages :

1    (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_yellow.png)Allan Palmer   24   HTCHungria   0: 00"   
2    Romeu Rosario   25   KunTeam   0: 07"   
3    Dario Fernandez   25   skunk   0: 38"   
4    István Szekér   25   FlyEaglesFly   1: 54"
5    Lucio Portela   25   Rekutxuteam   2: 31"   
6    Albert Nieuwendijk   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 47"   
7    Elouan Simon   25   Cabrasverdes   2: 48"   
8    Siegmund Paulsen   25   Atlantico   2: 58"   
9    Huub Meppelink   25   ProdopingPong   3: 02"   
10    Zoltán Dékány   25   SPORTLIFE   3: 03"   
11    Ivan Tossato   25   Flyvende_hjul   3: 08"   
12    Mariano Caro   25   Wiggo_pupils   3: 09"   
13    Tom Panes   25   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   3: 24"   
14    Eduard Zijlaard   25   BetisCFF   3: 31"   
15    Jérémie Dupont   25   Oska   3: 33"   
16    Ethan Foster   25   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   3: 39"
17    Richard Rogers   24   Ciclokillers   3: 42"   
18    Sven WinklerPrins   24   WinterIsComing   3: 56"   
19    Oliver King   25   Combuijs   4: 36"   
20    Daniel Basov   24   SPORTLIFE   4: 37"   
- - - - - - - - - -
21    Tjerk Tusveld   25   Wizards   4: 51"   
22    Alessio Annini   25   Marcatone_Due   5: 06"   
23    Philipp Aeschliman   25   MortoviaCycling   5: 08"   
24    Karin Telkov   25   SPORTLIFE   5: 09"   
25    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   25   Wizards   5: 15"   

Everyone good luck in the final stage ! :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 18, 2020, 08:45:27 AM
Tour de France victor Palmer wins the final stage. Rosario was 3rd in this stage, so he kept his 2nd GC place on 0:07"

SPORTLIFE cyclists Dékány (14th), Nieuwendijk (27th) and Basov (34th) finished in the big second group on 0:31"
So they did good in this stage, because there were just 5 cyclists in the leading group.

In the GC nothing changed for Dékány (10th) and Basov (20th). And Nieuwendijk dropped 1 place and ended up on 7th GC.

Nieuwendijk had a free role in the 2 most important mountain stages, and finished just on 0:54" of the nr4 GC.
Dékány had a free role in all 6 stages and finished just 1:10" behind the nr4 GC.
For sure the big sponsordeal was possible to achieve with one of my GC contenders.

In hinside and looking just at the points, I estimate that my strategy did not matter much. If Basov was not a teamcaptain in those 2 mountain stages, he would have scored less points in this Tour. Probably about the same loss of points as I would have won with Nieuwendijk or Dékány in the GC if they would be the teamcaptain in those 2 stages.
So, most likely no points loss, but only a loss of a big sponsor deal in this Tour de France.

However, there could be a little chance I missed out a podiumplace or even better, a TdF victory. This could only be the case for Dékány with his 6x free roles. I estimate this is not the case, but who knows, maybe a possibility. In advance I would not have expected that because of his low pure mountain GV. And after his flat tire in stage 1 my expectations of Dékány were a little bit lower.

The total Tour de France points scored by my team = 1.334
I hoped for more points, but not really expected that because of in advance too many unknown factors.
And it is many more points as in the Giro of this season, that was just 524 points.
Also more points in this Tour de France than a grand tour of previous season :
Tour de France =  1.163 points
Vuelta d'Espana =  1.050 points
Giro d'Italia =  987 points

My team moved up to the 10th place in 1A.  :)
Also funny to mention is that my team is above Aurora Australis in 1A, despite that team scored a dazzling 2.119 points in this Tour.
The difference between our teams is just 359 points at the moment.
With still 3 more flat TT races to go this season, including the very point rich WC TT, I cannot estimate who will be the Australian champion.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 18, 2020, 09:43:41 AM
The difference is my screwup on Dauphiné stage 1, which flowed through both small tours.  Without that screwup, I'd probably be ahead by several hundred points.
The Giro TT won't matter, I have too many TTers at the end of the 100% form, which is needed for the WC (although I might send Bookout), we'll see.  You have a bunch of climb-hill races which I can't compete in, and better possibilities in the mountain stages, so I suspect that you should win the Australian title again unless you do poorly.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 20, 2020, 01:16:39 PM
unless you do poorly.
Always a possibility.  :)
Most likely I will select 5 climbers for the Vuelta (and they are not GC contenders).
This means a limited amount of points.

Probably I can get more points out of the Vuelta, for example by selecting a sprinter and/or a stage 1 specialist.
But the Australian championship has no priority and fun to see how my climbers will perform. A good testcase for the WC roadrace.
It could be that my team will score enough points in the mountains ( including Lombardia ) to stay ahead of your team. That is a possibility.

But I estimate the Australian championship will be decided in both point-rich world championships.
I expect zero points in the WC TT. So it could be that it will be a battle between my climbers and your TT-specialists in the final 2 races.
And if your team will be the Australian champion, for sure you deserve it. Beating SPORTLIFE is always worth a big trophy to everyone. :))

We will see what happens, for now it is very close with a gap of just 339 points.
That needs to be much bigger before the WC TT starts, otherwise no 7 times Australian championships in a row^^. ( 6 times in a row is also fine by me )

My Vuelta selection will be posted this evening. I have some little doubts and no time now.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 21, 2020, 02:10:35 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/uiP30ld.jpg?1)
picture of the fictonial future ; the SPORTLIFE teamcaptain on his way to victory on the Bola del Mundo. :))

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/c8892128eff206aeb674bcc6880a73a6.png)    (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png) selection SPORTLIFE

A climbers team in this grand tour ; 4 pure climbers and 1 climb-TT-specialist.
This choice will cost my team some points, but the Australian championship and top10 in 1A are not important objectives this season.

More important ; the two main goals in this Vuelta are :
stage 8 = Bola del Mundo ( region Madrid )
stage 10 = Col de la Gallina ( Andorra )

I expect also points on the Alto de L'Angliru ( region Asturias ).
Because two stages finish on this famous mountain ; stage 3 with four sections flat, and stage 6 the mountain time trial.
Benett has the CFF record in stage 6, but this time he will ride without TC bonus and therefore not a top-result is expected.
About stage 3, hopefully one of my climbers is good enough to score some points.
This should be possible if the tactics are right, despite the not so good flat skills of my climbers.

It is not yet enterily certain who will be the teamcaptain, probably Crouzel will make his debut as leader on the Bola del Mundo.
And probably Miorlin will be the leader in Andorra, and perhaps in stage 3 also. But the only silver climber of this Vuelta team, Adorján, might be better in stage 3 than Miorlin. So he is an option too.

81 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Miorlin ( 9 star climber ) --> 12 victories in 1A, including 2 Vuelta stages
82 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Crouzel ( 10 star climber )
83 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Dotto ( 9 star climber )
84 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Adorján ( 9 star climber )
85 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Benett ( 10 star climb-TT-specialist ) --> 6 victories in 1A, including 2 Vuelta stages

Have fun and good luck everyone !  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 21, 2020, 05:15:05 PM
Since i don't have a rider that can score good points on this Vuelta GC, i'll be running for stages, just like you.
My selection will be:
301   Osvalds Ksenzovs         25   (hills sprinter)
302   Jort Slippens            25     (hills sprinter)
303   Joseba Andoni Salazar     25         (mountain sprinter)
304   Ross Shields       25        (mountain flat)
305   Alexander Steverink       25      (hills sprinter)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 21, 2020, 06:25:21 PM
My team selection

121 Cato Kvam   age 24 (flat climb)
122 Fraser Morris   age 24 (climb)
123 Nail Tinaev   age 25 (domestique)
124 George Bookout   age 25 (TT)
125 Daniel Cerdan   age 25 (sprint)

Stages 2 (sprint), 3 (flat climb), and 9 (TT) are my main interests for points, with top 10 to top 5 expectations in each of these.  Expecting at least some points in stages 8 & 10 (both climb), and if lucky I might have hope for a few bonus points at either stage 1, 4, &/or 7.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 23, 2020, 10:36:57 AM
stage 3 Vuelta :
A good 11th place for Adorján, and Miorlin in a free role 30th. The first Vuelta points for my team on top of the Alto de L'Angliru.
I expect Benett will score points too on this same mountain in stage 6.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 24, 2020, 10:34:02 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/lAJntrk.jpg)
stage 6 Vuelta, mountain TT on the Alto de L'Angliru :

First favorite Benett finished as 6th on 0:16"
Although I told him he did a good job by scoring some points, Benett was too dissapointed and he decided to abandon this Vuelta.
No worries, without him the team is still strong to perform well in the 2 upcoming mountain stages.
Adorján and Crouzel showed in this mountain TT that they have excellent form with their unexpected point-scoring results ; 24th and 25th.

Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 25, 2020, 11:21:20 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/uiP30ld.jpg?1)
stage 8 Vuelta :
Olé, great solo victory of (not-favorite) Miorlin on the Bola del Mundo !  8)

Thanks to his excellent teammates who performed superbly and dominated this stage.  :)
S3 : leading group of 8 cyclists, including all 4 SPORTLIFE cyclists.
S4 : leading group of just 5 cyclists, including 3 SPORTLIFE cyclists.
Helpers Adorján ( 29th ), Dotto ( 8th ) and Crouzel ( 6th ) scored also points.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on February 25, 2020, 04:08:48 PM
Impressive performance Vos.  :) Guess we know the top favourite for the World Championship.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 25, 2020, 11:53:20 PM
Thanks  :)
My climbers are for sure not the top favorites for the world championship.
For example, in stage 8 not any of my climbers was a favorite.
Miorlin and Crouzel could challenge only the 5th favorite, this means the other favorites have a much better GV.

More info ; stage 8 winner Miorlin never reached the 10 stars on pure climbing and he is the nr 157 in the golden climbers list.
Good tactics and that the 3 best climbers had an active weather bonus, was the key to victory.

In the upcoming stage 10 it looks much better compared to stage 8, although again my climbers are not among the favorites ;
Crouzel can challenge 3 favorites.
Dotto can challenge 2 favorites.
Miorlin can not challenge the favorites ( but again he has an active weather icon ).

Crouzel will be the teamcaptain in the world championship, for sure a good contender because he will have excellent helpers and also there he has an active weather bonus, but he will not be a favorite for the WC.
That does not mean he cannot win it, he for sure will try.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 25, 2020, 11:59:27 PM
And good luck to your team in the final 4 races of this season, WiC !
Hopefully you (and Combuijs) can stay in 1A, it will not be easy because the competition is fierce.
The upcoming many Vuelta GC points are very welcome. Good luck with GC contender Bolshenkov in stage 10 !
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: aurelio_uccheddu on February 26, 2020, 08:25:38 AM
Second Vuelta for "il Lore"...great victory for Antonello!
Well done, now the more important race of the World, the Girod'Italia!
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on February 26, 2020, 09:19:15 AM
And good luck to your team in the final 4 races of this season, WiC !
Hopefully you (and Combuijs) can stay in 1A, it will not be easy because the competition is fierce.
The upcoming many Vuelta GC points are very welcome. Good luck with GC contender Bolshenkov in stage 10 !

Thanks Vos. General Classification in Vuelta gave me much needed 580 points, but relegation is still very well possible.

My team was not strong enough this season, and the calendar didn't really suit my team either. If I can stay in first division,  I think I will do better next season.

Oh, and I wasn't talking about the list of GV-favourites in WC. I think the past seasons showed you are favourite in any pure climb-stage. You've won more mountain stages than any other team, I think.

Congrats Aurelio, Lorenzetto was clearly the best this Vuelta. Well done.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 26, 2020, 10:14:53 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/DnPpXPb.jpg?1)
Antonello Lorenzetto ( Marcatone_Due ) celebrates his 2nd Vuelta victory

The nr2 on 2:23", that is an impressive and superb GC victory. Very well done, Aurelio !  8)

stage 10 Vuelta :
Solo victory in Andorra for Crouzel !
Adorján, Dotto (12th) and stage 8 winner Miorlin (7th) did great jobs as helpers.

A good rehearsal / practice for the upcoming mountain WC in Colombia. These Vuelta mountain stage results looks very promising.
However, the WC mountain race is 2½ times (!) as long as this stage 10 Vuelta, and that can make a difference.

The results of Miorlin in this exact same WC race = 2nd (s2) and 5th (s5).
Let's see how Miorlin will do as helper this time, because most likely Crouzel will be the teamcaptain. He likes the 38ºC in Colombia^^

Well done in the GC, WiC, 5th and 17th brings a good amount of points. And at the moment your team is out of the relegation zone.
And as you already said, it will be exciting and nothing is yet certain with the point rich last 3 races of this season.

Hopefully Combuijs can stay in 1A too, although that seems maybe too difficult a this moment with a 32nd place in 1A.
Maybe his TT specialist can surprise again, as he did in the TT stage of the Vuelta with an excellent 3rd place.
Then he has a chance to stay in 1A. Although, I expect the competition is much more fierce in the WC TT.

Good luck WiC and Combuijs in the exciting relegation battle !
Title: Re: All div: G:rand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 26, 2020, 11:43:40 AM
Well the Vuelta hasn't gone really well for me with only 423 points, including a 3rd place in stage 7.

The team is right now in the first place among those who relegate, with 3898 points, and salvation seems difficult.
In case i get relegated, i will start a new generation of riders selling everything(maybe not Dukurs if hes not sold now).
For Il Lombardia, the team will rely on:
311      Alvaro Vaca
312      Luca Rochat
313      Kendall Whisman
314      Erki Aus
315      Mattias Nuzzolo

For the TT WW in Doha, only Richard Frances has any hopes of getting points.
For the WC in Duitama, Erki Aus and Mattias Nuzzolo will be the ones racing for the team salvation.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 26, 2020, 12:52:23 PM
Also good luck in the exciting and fierce relegation battle, kirin.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Combuijs on February 26, 2020, 02:28:24 PM
I fail to see how we could stay on the World Tour, so I've put up 9 riders for sale, to start a new generation of 10 riders, preferable for the GC. I don't believe in miracles...
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: kirin on February 26, 2020, 08:40:47 PM
I feel like i'm already relegated after today's stage so i'm selling all my riders
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 26, 2020, 09:12:26 PM
Woeful failure in the Vuelta along with the Dauphiné & Suisse screwups have handed the Australian title to Vos yet again, who clearly deserves it.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on February 27, 2020, 08:21:40 PM
Despite the WC roadrace did not go perfect, a very good podiumplace ( 3rd ) of not-favorite Crouzel.  8)
And a sponsordeal of 463.535,- is scored in this WC roadrace, that is nice too.
Helpers Miorlin ( 17th ) and Dotto ( 20th ) scored some points also.

To my big surprise this means SPORTLIFE finished as 4th in 1A !  8)
By far the best result of my team (also in points) although the 1A ranking was not a season goal.

Also not a season goal was the Australian championship, and as I expected that title went to top-favorite Aurora Australis in this flat-TT-season.
But also as I predicted, this title was not a gift and AA had to battle for it.
"Good" to see the gap is too big towards the awesome TT-team of Aurora Australis, so I have no regrets that my main objectives were trying to win the 2 Vuelta mountain stages and the WC road race. With a back up helper in a free role my team would have scored more points, but not as many as 452 points extra.

And maybe a kind of miracle that my team could be a fierce rival for the Australian championship, ánd even more a kind of miracle that my team finished so high in 1A.
A good illustration ; AA had at least 4 times more favorites in races than my team had.
Besides the 4 mountain TT races, my team had only once a favorite (maybe twice) in the whole season.

Also my team has no good tour cyclists, only one with a silver tour icon and he scored just 101 points in the whole season.
Although I have to point out that my TT-flatclimbers were good tour cyclists (7th and 10th) in this TdF with many TT kilometers, just like the TdF of season 5 (4th and 10th).
But very surprising and remarkable that my team finished as 4th in 1A. (I expected just out of the top10 as always, I have not a topteam)
If I only knew this 4th place in advance, it for sure would have been a season goal to finish podium in 1A.

I think that AA did not expect also to finish so high this 1A season, and writing about that team :
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/camiaustralia.gif)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/AustraliaG.jpg)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/3equipos.gif)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/arcocrono.jpg)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/camiclasicas.jpg) + NT world champion.
Congratulations Aurora Australis, for sure an amazing season 7 for you !  8)

Too bad Combuijs, azerite and WiC could not stay in 1A.
But maybe for WiC a good opportunity/challenge to smash the record in points of a 2nd division champion next season.

A very nice season 7 for my team, despite just a few top 10 GC results in all tours, but in all previous seasons this was the same.
Happy with the 7 victories this season ( 5x with a not-favorite ) and the very unexpected 4th place in 1A.  8)

Up to next season !
Luckily that will not be a very remarkable TT season like this one, but for sure AA will be a fierce rival again for the Australian title because the many points he can score in the point rich WC TT race.
5 golden top teamcaptains without tactics that can go wrong or not perfect, and this season AA had even the 1st, 2nd and 4th favorite with his 5 top teamcaptains in one race. But maybe (most likely) AA has more good rivals next season, because in this clear flat TT season, every 2nd division team with top TT cyclists will promote.
And I don't have a TT specialist in my team (the sold silver Bogarde could score a few points, but just a few), what makes this 4th place in 1A even more remarkable. But I think I mentioned that in this long text already.  ;)  :D
Anyway, up to next season, hopefully again such a fun season as this one !^^
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 20, 2020, 10:04:07 PM
As a response to coronavirus, and to maintain proper social distance of cyclists to help limit the spread of the virus, I call on all NT & Grand Tour races to be a mixture of TT races.
This will help ensure the health of our cyclists & reduce the risks of races being cancelled.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 22, 2020, 11:18:47 AM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8ed052732fddd78a1b24c0eb2887c9f6.png)  (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png)selection SPORTLIFE

It is almost a tradition that my Giro selection is not good.
Also this time. And with the exception of Crouzel, this selection most likely will be sold this season.
In previous season my team scored just 524 Giro-points. The objective this season 8 is to improve that. I estimate it will be close.
SPORTLIFE has no GC contender, so the points must be scored in the stages.

Marin needs revanche after a very bad hills-classics-campaign, but I expect that also in this Giro his competition will be fierce.
Probably only Crouzel has a chance to get a top stage result. In previous season he won a Vuelta stage and was 3rd in the WC climb race.
This season in Romandie ; a dissapointing 12th place in stage 1 as leader, but he made up for that with his 6th place in stage 3 as helper.

121 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Crouzel ( climb ) --> stage 1.
122 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/spain.jpg) Marin ( hills ) --> stages 4, 5 and 7.
123 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Adorján ( climb ) --> stage 8.
124 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Engelberts ( flatsprint ) --> stage 9.
125 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/dinamarca.jpg) Gregersen ( hills ) --> helper.

The nasty coronavirus did not mutate to a computer virus, so we can ride the CFF Giro. Good luck everyone. And of course also ;
All the best to everyone in this difficult pandemic period, and success in everyone's important personal struggle not to spread the virus.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 22, 2020, 12:21:33 PM
As a response to coronavirus, and to maintain proper social distance of cyclists to help limit the spread of the virus, I call on all NT & Grand Tour races to be a mixture of TT races.
This will help ensure the health of our cyclists & reduce the risks of races being cancelled.

I am more in favour of cancelling all other races this season. The regular competition as well as the national calender. I want to emphasize that this has nothing to do with a personal agenda and is purely in the interest of the wellbeing of our cyclists.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 22, 2020, 12:33:53 PM
Team presentation TeamRHB
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/454373.png)

So far the season is going well. In many places we got better results than expected. Of course there are also some dissapointments but on the whole this has been a great start. It looks like maintaining my status as World Tour team this season will not be an issue. However, there are still some goals left. I want to win both Dutch championships. My team and my rider.

With this in mind the Giro is vital for Arno Verbeek. He needs to keep scoring here to make sure he can win it. Hugo Gunnewijk will ride as a free role in the hills and can try to ride a nice GC. In addition to this i have also brought along Arve Nyland. The number 3 of the Tour of Flanders. He can ride for a good result in stage 2 and can support Verbeek and Gunnewijk when needed. Then we have Austin Burton and James Tweed. They will ride in support for the leader of the day.

I'm looking forward to the race! I just hope the crowds stay home.

The team:
The superstar: Arno Verbeek
The GC dude: Hugo Gunnewijk
The wild card: Arve Nyland
The assistant #1: Austin Burton
The assistant #2: James Tweed

Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 22, 2020, 08:09:49 PM
Giro Season 8
331 Cato Kvam   25 (stage 8)
332 Fraser Morris   25 (stage 1)
333 Sergei Wild   26 (sprint domestique)
334 Daniel Cerdan   26 (stages 9 & 10)
335 Christian Pinkney   25 (because he has nothing better to do)

The game is apparently currently listing Fraser Morris as favourite for race 1, which isn't going to be fact by race time.  Still, it would be nice.
Seeking good points with potential top ten results in races 1 - 8 - 9 - & 10.  The idea of points in stages 3 &/or 6 is a bit of a daydream, but we'll try.

Goal: To score enough points to move closer to staying in Div1 for season 9.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 23, 2020, 09:53:12 AM
121 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Crouzel ( climb ) --> stage 1.
Excellent start of the Giro ;
Adorján did a great job as helper in the first 3 sections. In section 4 a solo attack of Crouzel, 0:10" ahead of Bing (Ares) and Morris (AA).
First favorite Morris had a very good solo descent in s5, but luckily he came just 1 second closer and this means ; victory of Crouzel !  8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on March 23, 2020, 10:25:48 AM
Congrats Vos, another nice victory for your Mountain Clan.

In Division 2b, Bolshenkov shows his good form (he already won Romandie and was 2nd in Frankfurt) and wins the first stage, although 3 other cyclists were able to close the gap in the last downhill section. It seems they spent too much effort in their chase, so Bolshenkov could easily win the sprint. His climbing helper Mercado finished 7th, free role Michael Hvid did well with a 22nd place.

Goal is to win the Giro with Bolshenkov and finish top 5-10 with Hvid.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 23, 2020, 10:56:00 AM
Thanks WiC. You too congrats with the stage 1 victory of Bolshenkov, and good luck with his goal to win the Giro.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 23, 2020, 12:07:18 PM
Gunnewijk placed 37th this morning. 1:47 lost. Nothing really bad. His strengths are in the hills. Well see how far he can go. Tonight Nuland can score some points and then the stages for Verbeek are coming.

Grats Vos. Nice win.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 23, 2020, 12:43:31 PM
Thanks, and good luck in the GC and in the hills stages, Sjiz.
By the way, the rumor goes in another topic that Verbeek wants to join my team. Can I rent him for one day after the Giro ?
I will pay 3.000.000,- rent for Verbeek for just 1 day (during the Dauphiné). He will return in your team before the Tour de Suisse.
And let's hope CFF Cup quarter finale opponent WinterIsComing reads this. :))
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Rico on March 23, 2020, 01:51:51 PM
After all the good news, time for something negative. I screwed up my chances of a good result by placing both Ros and Ribes as a domestique. The real domestique (Ribes) managed to get a 5th place, so with a proper role the leader should have been able to get on the podium...

 :(
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 23, 2020, 02:49:18 PM
I can only assume there were loads of climbers helping weaker tour hopes, I'm happy with 2nd behind your cyclist Vos, my climbers are missing 30 experience plus a little extra to truly compete (they're like the 8th wheel trying to be in a five man TT train).

We're cheering for your hillers Vos.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 23, 2020, 07:35:12 PM
10th for Nyland as free rider. Satisfied with it. Gunnewijk jumped a little in the GC despite his crap cobble stat. 14th now. So thats going well. Now the stages for Verbeek are here. Tomorrow will be a warming up as i dont expect much from him. A nice result will be welcome.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 24, 2020, 06:54:16 AM
Great result. The first grand tour stage win for Verbeek. Happy with it. I hoped he could, but didnt expect it.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 24, 2020, 02:41:01 PM
Very nice vitory, Sjiz, congrats ! 8)
Verbeek will score many points in the next stage also, he likes the cold ánd the rain.

My both hills cyclists only like hot weather.
Hopefully the leader does better than in the hills-classics, but maybe I should be happy with every point he can score.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 24, 2020, 07:15:00 PM
Thanks Vos. Verbeek does like bad weather. He a real Dutchie. Despite the assault of Peachy and losing all domestiques in s2 he came out ahead. Happy with it. Tomorrow another chance.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 24, 2020, 08:34:32 PM
stage 4 Giro :
The instruction for silver hills rider Marin was simple ; keep the wheel of Verbeek as long as possible !
And he did, ok, not much energy left for the final section because Verbeek and the leading group have a energy consuming hard pace for Marin.
But an excellent result with this adapting tactic ; an 8th place behind (again) stage winner Verbeek of TeamRHB.
Also thanks to Gregersen who did a great job as helper in the first 3 sections.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 25, 2020, 10:50:48 AM
Unfortunately no lucky 3. Caracoles' hill tandem proved to strong. I need to sort out my domestiques. No one surroundinh Verbeek from s2. This is costing me victories.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 25, 2020, 12:28:59 PM
stage 5 Giro ;
Again a good performance of the SPORTLIFE hills riders, and also this time Marin managed to be in the front group of s4.
That s4 leading group was bigger than in s4 of stage 4, so the result was a few places less.
But a 13th place is still very good, and for example much better than his results in the hills classics.

So far it is going very well ( stage results = 1st, 8th and 13th ) with a total of 415 points halfway the Giro.

In the past halfway the Giro meant that the race schedule of next season is revealed. Not the case now, hopefully it is shown tomorrow.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 25, 2020, 01:50:32 PM
The new schedule is shown after race 50 Vos.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 25, 2020, 01:55:50 PM
Ok, thanks for this information, Sjiz. I'm very curious how the schedule of next season will look tomorrow, after race 50.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Rico on March 25, 2020, 02:30:04 PM
I think it's even after training 50, so that's 12 hours earlier!  :D 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 26, 2020, 06:29:48 AM
That was the worst race in a while for my team. Unfortunately Verbeek got dropped but this time the domestiques did stay in the front group. He couldnt get back. Painful.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 26, 2020, 11:56:48 AM
stage 7 Giro :
Magnificent race of silver hills rider Marin, he finished on the podium ( 3rd ), his best result ever in CFF. 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 26, 2020, 10:19:41 PM
stage 8 Giro ;
Again an amazing stage !
Only the helpers of TeamEuroscalt and the helper of SPORTLIFE managed to be with their team captain in s4.
And it shows how important that is ; both team captains attacked in s5 and it became a sprint-á-deux on the finishline.
Too bad silver climber Adorján lost to favorite Zinikov, but this 2nd place on 0:00" is an excellent result. 8)
Also because Adorján was not a favorite, and he had just one top10 place (6th in season 5) on his palmares. Again a best result ever.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: agtxla on March 26, 2020, 10:45:41 PM
stage 8 Giro ;
Again an amazing stage !
Only the helpers of TeamEuroscalt and the helper of SPORTLIFE managed to be with their team captain in s4.
And it shows how important that is ; both team captains attacked in s5 and it became a sprint-á-deux on the finishline.
Too bad silver climber Adorján lost to favorite Zinikov, but this 2nd place on 0:00" is an excellent result. 8)
Also because Adorján was not a favorite, and he had just one top10 place (6th in season 5) on his palmares. Again a best result ever.

Vos complimenti per i tuoi fantastici risultati... in montagna una vittoria ognuno è stato molto bello :D

ma da adesso, soprattutto al Tour, saranno tutte mie vittorie... nessuno mi potrà fermare 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 26, 2020, 11:00:42 PM
Grazie agtxla  :)
Complimenti per la vittoria 8) e l'impressionante gara della tua squadra ( 3 nel s4-gruppo principale di 11 ciclisti  :o )
Informazioni sul Tour de France;
dì ai tuoi scalatori che non hanno alcuna possibilità di vincere, perché Basov e Miorlin saranno i vincitori in montagna.:-*
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 27, 2020, 07:49:47 AM
A few less important stages for me. Tonight Verbeek is a long the favourites again. So we will go for a good result again. Perhaps i can eliminatie the bad tast of the last hill stage ;)
In addition to this we are happy that we have signed Strucktov. If the first half of the season thought me two things its that Verbeek is better is many stages than i thought and i really need a better domestique for him. With Strucktov i have one that can be there in the final.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on March 27, 2020, 08:56:15 AM
Very good signing for your team indeed, Sjiz. He will be a great help for Verbeek.

In 2b, things look good for Bolshenkov. Tactics weren't spot on in every stage, but it seems we've done enough to secure the pink jersey. We are 1"20 in front of Valentin Trezeguet (CataloniaTeam) and 2"42 in front of Steinar Jonsson (Gepetto_Broders). We should be able to bring the Pink to Lissone (Lombardia). Stay safe everyone.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 27, 2020, 10:47:45 AM
stage 9 Giro :
Sprinter Engelberts had to do it on his own, because no good helpers were selected for this sprint stage.
And without the extra bonus in s5 and for a just 8 star flatsprinter, he had a good result ; 13th.

Stage 10 will be the last time that Engelberts is the teamcaptain for SPORTLIFE.
Although he is not suited for this stage (no climb, no downhill) and he will be far behind in s1, he is going to try to score a few points.
Most likely he will be transfered after the Dauphiné, where he will be the helper for my other silver flatsprinter.
He was bought in season 3 due to the WC sprint race that season, where he almost won but came 0,00001mm short and finished as 2nd.
In hinside his best performance in CFF, because he never won a race in his career.
But he came close for victory with another 2nd place and 6x 3rd places.
And I was happy he was in my team with a total of 24x top10 race results, and once a surprising top10 GC result (season 7, 6th GC TIR).

And even when Engelberts cannot score a few points in stage 10 ;
Already I'm very satisfied about the results of my team in this Giro.
1x stage victory, 1x 2nd, 1x 3rd, and together with the other results is a total of 1.003 points. Way more as I expected. 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on March 27, 2020, 07:12:51 PM
Thats the end of a mixed Giro. The first half went well with 2 victories and a second place for Verbeek. But in the second half we made mistakes. Twice we were caught out in the first section in a stage where Verbeek was one of the favourites. All in all that cost us 400 points. I think that at the end of the season this will be very painful. Sometimes this really is a shit game, especially when you have high hopes :P
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on March 27, 2020, 08:57:18 PM
Goal is to win the Giro with Bolshenkov and finish top 5-10 with Hvid.

Check. Bolshenkov wins Pink Jersey, Hvid is able to finish 10th place in free role.  :D
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on March 27, 2020, 10:28:18 PM
In stage 10 Engelberts finished as 18th, thanks to a good tactic, and thanks to his team who helped him in the first 3 sections.
These extra points gives a total of 1.048 points in this Giro.

The most fun of this grand tour was that the 2 managers whom I had  a lot of contact with about this Giro ; both won the pink jersey ! 8) 8)
Let me be very clear ; it was just debating about some tactical doubts or issues.
The tactics were their own entirely, even of the less experienced manager.
Congratulations to these 2 Giro winning managers ! Exciting, impressive and fun to see  !  :)

Also congratulations to WinterIsComing, who wins this Giro too. 8)
With a giant lead his team is first in his division. It seems to me that the French team Astanadena is the main rival of WinterIsComing. ;)

edit ; and I see just now that Combuijs wins this Giro too, also well done and congratulations ! 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 01, 2020, 10:10:45 PM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/ec365cb5b403c66bf9212fc15b3d4289.png)  (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png) SPORTLIFE

The objectives are good results in the mountains of the Tour de France.
Basov (stage 4 winner) and Miorlin (3rd stage 2) had a good preparation in Switzerland.

No doubt they both are selected for this grand tour.
Also no doubt that climb TT specialist Benett is selected, although he has no TC bonus.
This season he won 2 climb TT stages ( PN & TIR ) already.
And with just 1 climb TT stage next season, he has to ride this climb TT stage on the L'Alpe d'Huez as well.

The remaining 2 spots in this selection were more difficult.
I decided that flat-sprinter Colaco had to stay at home, although he is prepared with TC and he could finish top10 in stage 1.
Instead of him I selected an extra helper for the mountains, Crouzel, because the mountains are the main goals.
And there was the choice between climb-sprinter Riley and flat-climb-TT rider Dékány.
Despite Dékány can score points here, for example top10 stage 6, I chose Riley.
Riley can score points too (stage 3) and he can be a better extra helper as Dékány.

So, maybe less points with this adapted TdF selection. But it is a strong team and for the first time ever they all have a golden icon.
A stage victory would be amazing, because my team never won in the Tour de France. In contrast to the Giro (6x) and the Vuelta (6x).

101 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Basov, climber
102 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Miorlin, climber
103 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Benett, climb-TT
104 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/usa.jpg) Riley, climb-sprinter
105 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/francia.jpg) Crouzel, climber

Good luck everyone !  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on April 02, 2020, 10:40:07 AM
271 Paul Clickett    25
272 Fraser Morris    25
273 Cato Kvam    25
274 Pavel Lezhnev    26
275 Nail Tinaev    26

Late on the announcement because the team wasn't decided until the last minute.  Our main prospects are our cobblers, with Lezhnev seeking at least one top ten result.  Morris is here just to tick over a few points in the mountains.  Clickett begged to come, with the goal of getting enough points in the TT-hills to be favourite to be Australian champion this season, which is a jersey that hasn't been worn for the last two seasons (with Levin wearing other jerseys).

Other then that, our main goal will be cheering on the other Aussie teams.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on April 02, 2020, 11:41:13 AM
We were able to send a few good men to the Tour de France.

61. Jose Vinas (team leader)
62. Sven Winklerprins (free role)
63. Germain Pegaz (helper in mountain stages)
64. Tamás Oszlánczi (free role in flat sprint, helper in cobble stages)
65. Ramon Antonio Vigo (helper in flat sprint)

We are aiming for a podium spot for Jose Vinas, and a top 5-10 for WinklerPrins.

First stage went well, with a 3rd place for our Hungarian sprinter in a free role, and our tour men in a group of riders at 1"00 from the head group, along with only a few other tour cyclists. 
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on April 02, 2020, 02:01:47 PM
It is going to be a difficult last part of the season for my team. Everywhere we ride it will be all about scoring what little points are possible. Also in the Tour. With retention almost a certainty we really only have one goal remaining for the team and that is to keep CaptainOrange and Yvo_Meppelink_Pro_Team behind us in the national standings.

The team:
91. Faustin Jobet (Climber)
92. Jose Mota (Climber)
93. Dino Moresi (Climber, TT)
94. Arve Nyland (Cobblehill)
95. Dylan Gilliam (Cobble)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 02, 2020, 08:31:40 PM
stage 2 TdF :
A perfect race of my team, but as expected also a perfect race of TeamEuroscalt, my main rival, see link :
https://cyclingforfun.org/smf/index.php?topic=616.msg19716#msg19716

Both our team captains were not a favourite, but battled for stage victory in a sprint á deux on top of the Val Lauron.
The jury could not see who won, so a finish photo was needed ;
Stage victory for Rossland ( TeamEuroscalt ), he won with 1 millimeter :o, a 2nd place for Basov ( SPORTLIFE ).

Congratulazioni, Agtxla !  8)
( la mia vendetta nella prossima montagna etapa  ;) )
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Flandria23 on April 02, 2020, 08:45:17 PM
Great fight.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on April 02, 2020, 09:47:31 PM
Great fight.

+1

Congrats Agtxla.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 03, 2020, 09:46:01 AM
stage 3 TdF :
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/tools.png) Ups, the climb to the top of the Aubisque was a really bad moment for teamcaptain Miorlin to get a mechanical breakdown.
Therefore he was suddenly in the 3rd group in section 3 on 0:38"
He came back into the 2nd group in the downhill, and finished in the 1st group on 0:00", but his 25th place gave a (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/sad.png)

Riley was riding in a free role, I expected he was better as Miorlin, but very unexpectedly Riley could not follow the big peleton of 109 riders in s1.
Just like Miorlin he came back in s5, what was way too late also, and he finished as 24th.

Basov was not suited for this stage ( for example sprint is 12 ).
But his start was good and he is a very good climber, so he was in the 2nd group on top of the Aubisque in s3.
One group better as the unfortunate Miorlin who was riding full energy there too.
But unlike Miorlin and Riley, Basov could not return in s5 from the 2nd group to the 1st group. He finished as 40th and "lost" 0:47"

I don't know if my climbers are able to score a few GC points. I don't expect that and it would be a bonus.
Basov and Miorlin are really bad in the upcoming hills-cobble stage 4, both have a very low hills skill.
What is also bad for Basov in stage 10, who has TT as extra. Miorlin is really bad in TT, but his flat cobble skills are better than Basov.
For now Miorlin is doing great in the GC ; 11th on 2:42" despite his helpers role in stage 2.
Basov is 29th on 3:42" despite twice a free role.

But to look at the GC is probably just for fun ; the focus will be on the finish lines in Loudenvielle, on the Alpe d'Huez and in Albertville.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on April 03, 2020, 08:45:55 PM
Not much interesting in the Tour so far. Until the last stage. A wonderful 3rd place for Nyland. Happy. Hopefully Mota wont get bad luck tomorrow.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 04, 2020, 11:02:43 AM
stage 5 TdF ;
Early solo attack of Miorlin ! He likes the storm and the rain.^^
Rosland (TeamEuroscalt) and Aus (ValeronIdolo) in the counter attack, but Miorlin took a gap of 20 seconds before the final climb.
On the Col du Peyresourde only Rosland was a real threat and he came close but finished as 2nd on 0:07"
Solo victory of Miorlin !  8)

This is the first ever SPORTLIFE-victory in the Tour de France.
And now Miorlin won at least one stage in each big tour and therefore he earns the Pierino Baffi Trophy.  8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on April 04, 2020, 12:02:22 PM
Congrats Vos, nice victory and achievement well earned.  :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on April 04, 2020, 12:16:37 PM
Congrats Vos!

On a safe distance from Miorlin Mota finished 13h. Not bad, but really not interesting as well. Still, 70 points.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 04, 2020, 05:45:34 PM
Thanks x2  :)
These were my 2 main season goals ; stage victory in the Tour de France and the Pierino Baffi Trophy.
And finally I could achieve these, because these were goals in many previous seasons also.

Now the focus will be on the less important, but also nice season goals. ( and of course ; the focus is already on next season too )
Staying in 1A is an achieved season goal also ; and maybe I should add top10 in 1A as season goal.
Because my team was long time 11th in 1A, and because of these stage 5 points, now 8th. Just below TeamRHB.
And just like that Dutch team, I keep an eye on the lower ranked national rivals too.
In my case that is Aurora Australis, at the moment 30th with 2.993 points less than my team.
So it seems exaggerated that I still see him as a rival ; but that team can score a few thousend points in just 1 race, the WC TT.

But despite this, I'm confident that my team will be the Australian champion again.
TeamRHB can have a more fierce battle for the national championship, although this season there are just 3 Dutch teams in 1A.
But the other 2 teams are really good also, and there are still a lot of points in the game.
Good luck Sjiz !

Also WinterIsComing good luck, not because of the national championship (maybe next season), but good luck in the Tour de France.
Because I see you have 2 riders in the top 3 GC at this moment.
And also a chance your team will be the best team of all 2nd divisions after this Tour.
Thanks to Combuijs who is giving a hard time to your only 2nd division rival ; Combuijs 1st and 2nd GC, your French rival 4th and 5th GC.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on April 04, 2020, 07:08:54 PM
Thanks Vos ;)

In the important battle for points the climbing TT resulted in another 100 for my team. No real result but still, a welcome 100 points. Hope that tomorrow Mota can do his best race and finish top 10. He can challenge favourites so there is a chance.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 04, 2020, 07:33:25 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/9mglRl2.jpg?1)
stage 6 TdF, mountain TT on L'Alpe d'Huez ;

Benett (without TC) finished on a good 3rd place on just 0:05" of the numbers 1 and 2.
And Basov did great, he finished as 6th on 0:08"

Miorlin has a low TT-skill and finished as 59th on 1:03", but to my surprise he is the current 9th GC, 3:30" behind yellow jersey Palmer.
Basov is 18th GC on 5:01"
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 05, 2020, 09:42:31 AM
stage 7 TdF :
A leading group of just 5 cyclists were descending to the finishline in Albertville, including two SPORTLIFE climbers.
Outstanding results : stage victory for Basov ( teamcaptain ), and Miorlin ( free role ) finished as 2nd.  8) 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on April 06, 2020, 07:34:43 PM
Luckily the Tour is over. Moresi finished with a nice 8th place in the stage. This just wasnt the race for me. The battle for the Dutch championship got intense again. Only 40 points between Ricardo and myself.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 06, 2020, 07:56:39 PM
First of all, congratulations to Rico (CaptainOrange) ; Overmars wins the final stage and (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_yellow.png)Hilton wins the Tour de France  8)

stage 10 TdF :
53. Basov on 2:01" and 170. Miorlin on 3:32"
This was good enough to score some unexpected GC points ; 15th GC Basov and 13rd GC Miorlin.  :)

Very satisfied about this Tour de France ; 2 stage victories, 2x 2nd, 1x 3rd and a total of 1.614 points.
Especially stage 7 to Albertville was a highlight ; 1st Basov and 2nd Miorlin. 8)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Rico on April 08, 2020, 10:32:57 AM
Sorry, a bit late, but thx!

Hilton was able to use his advantage on the cobbles, when a tired Palmer (after running out of training camp high altitude effects) had to let go. I don't know if he would have managed a win otherwise, but there will probably be a rematch in future seasons  ;D
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 09, 2020, 09:22:54 AM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/c8892128eff206aeb674bcc6880a73a6.png)   (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/full(CFF).png) SPORTLIFE

A team of adventurers who barely scored points this season.
Only Judd ( 20th EF ) and Takács ( 6th stage 3 BBT ) scored each 75 points. Hopefully Takács can score a few GC points in BBT also.
The Vuelta objective of this team is to score as many points as possible in seperate stages.

61 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Tafi ( climbsprinter ), stages 2 and 5
62 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Fagan ( cobblehillsclimber ), stage 8
63 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/inglaterra.jpg) Finals ( hillsclimber ), stage 1
64 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Takács ( cobblehills ), stages 9 and 10
65 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/inglaterra.jpg) Judd ( hillsclimbsprinter ), helper

Good luck everyone ! :)
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Aurora Australis on April 09, 2020, 09:34:13 PM
Great result in the tour Vos, hoping to see your team to do more of the same in the Vuelta (& for Tourmalet to get 1k+ points as well).

Anyway, my team

301 Kirk Workman   20 (fifth wheel)
302 Nail Tinaev   26 (cobble dom)
303 Sergei Wild   26 (sprint leader)
304 Pavel Lezhnev   26 (cobble leader)
305 Daniel Cerdan   26 (sprint dom)

Seeking top 5-10 in stages 7 & 3, points in stage 6, hope for points in stage 5.  Cheering for any team around the red zone bubble without decent flat TTers.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 10, 2020, 12:49:09 AM
Thanks AA  :)
The Tour-selection (5x gold) was much stronger than this Vuelta-selection (1x gold, 4x silver), so I expect much less points now.
Good luck with your team in the Vuelta, AA.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Sjiz on April 13, 2020, 10:03:28 AM
Almost done with this painful Vuelta. Hopefully i can surprise myself in teh last stages and take the lead back in the Dutch championship but with Hilton racing for the win i am not counting on it anymore.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 13, 2020, 02:21:41 PM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/c8892128eff206aeb674bcc6880a73a6.png)
stage 1 =
In a tactical good race, Finals scored points with a 14th place.

stage 2 =
A good stage for not-favourite Tafi, he finished as 5th. His helper Judd finished as 24th.

stage 3 =
No riders for this stage. Fagan was the teamcaptain, with some phantasy and 3 excellent final stages he might score a few GC points.
But probably this was whisfull thinking. ( after 7 stages Fagan is 54th on 10:30" )

stage 4 =
Great race of Fagan with an excellent result ; 7th. His best result ever in a pure mountain stage.

stage 5 =
Tafi was 5th favorite, and in hinside I was not satisfied about his tactics, that could have been better.
And not satisfied at all that helper Judd was not good enough to be in s4 with Tafi. Anyway, the result is not good, but also not bad ; 4th.

stage 6 =
Very surprising to me that Tafi could score points in this hill-sprint stage, he finished as 21st. in a free role.

stage 7 =
Well, if Tafi can score points in stage 6, he might do it also in a flat sprint stage because his hills skills are low.
This time as teamcaptain, but due to the hard storm and the lack of good helpers it resulted in a place outside the points.
No problem, almost never he scored points in another sprint stage than a mountain-sprint stage, his speciality.

So far it is going fine in the Vuelta ( a bit as expected ) ; after 7 stages a total of 491 points.
But stage 5 was dissapointing, and before the Vuelta stage 5 and stage 8 were the only chances of a real top stage result or victory.

Fagan has the CFF record for the upcoming stage 8, but that was in season 1 and now he is not even one of the favourites.
But he can challenge 2 favourites, so he has a chance to get an excellent result.

Tafi is the current nr 9 GC, but his cobbleskill is 9 and he has low dh-and hill-skills, so he will drop many places and for sure no GC points.
But the GC was not a goal. For stage 8 it will be Fagan, and for stages 9 and 10 it will be Takács.
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 13, 2020, 07:37:27 PM
stage 8 Vuelta ;
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/happy.png)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/happy.png) Perfect race of not-favourite Fagan, who got twice a fresher-than-symbol in the first 2 sections.
In s3 he was in a leading group of just 6 isolated teamcaptains, and in s4 a fierce attack and only VanAmerongen (Atlantico) could follow.
In the final s5 it was a sprint-á-deux between these 2 cyclists, and too bad favourite VanAmerongen won.
But this 2nd* place is an excellent result. 8)
The total Vuelta points of my team is now 491 + 200* = 691
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: WinterIsComing on April 14, 2020, 10:59:16 AM
Exciting finish in 1st division, with Leipheimer and Hilton within 7 seconds, and perhaps VanAmerongen will try and attack to close the gap of 48 seconds behind them.

In 2nd division b, things are going well for my team, with Michel Hvid and Sebastien Bolshenkov trying to go for a 1-2 in the general classification of the Vuelta. A few more stages, and my team will join 1st division again. Hopefully to stay there this time, as my team has grown better since last time I was at the highest stage. 
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: michinoo on April 14, 2020, 04:22:48 PM
Exciting finish in 1st division, with Leipheimer and Hilton within 7 seconds, and perhaps VanAmerongen will try and attack to close the gap of 48 seconds behind them.
For sure Winter! He'll try it to the end!

By the way... 8)

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/vueltabronce.jpg)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/montanaplata.jpg)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/adoquinbronce.jpg)(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasbronce.jpg)
Bram VanAmerongen (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/vision.php?ciclistaid=7006)   Edad : 26   Sueldo : 2499
Resistencia : 79   Sprint : 65   Montaña : 94
LLano : 53   Pavés : 82   Tecnica : 63
Descenso : 84   Colinas : 83   Agresividad : 63
Crono : 10   TraEqui : 40   Experiencia : 65
Precio : 14 900 000 Dias Quedan : 1
Title: Re: All div: Grand Tours
Post by: Vos on April 14, 2020, 08:53:56 PM
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_red.png) An extreme close final GC ranking in this Vuelta  :o ;

1    Ryan Leipheimer   26   Wiggo_pupils   0: 00"   
2    Anthony Hilton   26   CaptainOrange   0: 07"   
3    Bram VanAmerongen   26   Atlantico   0: 10"   

That was a really fierce battle and because of that, in my opinion all these 3 managers deserve a congratulations.  8) 8) 8)

Vuelta stages 9 and 10 ;
Silver cobblehills rider Takásc did great in the final 2 stages ; 9th and 6th.
The total Vuelta points of SPORTLIFE = 894 points.

My team dropped 2 places in 1A, but still 9th, so top10 in the final 1A ranking should be doable.