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English Cff Forum => General Forum => Topic started by: Vos on January 14, 2021, 10:42:55 AM

Title: Season 15
Post by: Vos on January 14, 2021, 10:42:55 AM

Today the season 15 calendar is published.  8)

Although the WC roadrace is again in Portugal, this season 15 calendar is very different compared to season 14.
And sometimes even different than all seasons before. 2 examples ;
for the 1st time the TDU has the mountain-hills-stage ánd the long distance time trial ; for the 1st time no mountains in the Tour de Suisse.

Probably more remarkable and interesting things, but I did not examine it yet, I just had a quick look.
Up to others to post something in this topic about the season 15 calendar.

Already good luck and have fun in season 15 !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on January 14, 2021, 01:05:42 PM

Dauphine looks like a second TDU, and Tour de Suisse looks like a second BBT  :o

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on January 14, 2021, 01:26:10 PM

Interestingly there are several stages that have never been raced.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 08, 2021, 09:11:14 AM

That was a tough start. Verbeek had a mechinal breakdown in s1 and lost the lead group and his domestique. Lost 38 seconds, such a shame.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Franky on February 08, 2021, 09:16:17 AM

Not a good start for me neither...I had a lot of doubts with the tactic yesterday, if was too conservative or not...blabla. Yes, was too conservative  ;D

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 08, 2021, 04:22:55 PM

Same here, not a good season start of my team.

CFF CUP : a bad draw because I had no cobblehills cyclist, so it was easy for azerite to win. Already after round 1 ; exit SPORTLIFE.
Congrats, azerite, and good luck in round 2.

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/27707822768c9c9c00789bdb852cbeae.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

No GC ambition, my team goes for stage results.
Including the today bought flat-hills specialist Portugal, let's see if he is worth the investment of 228k.
As current 1A champion, my team starts for the first time ever with backnumbers 001, 002, 003, 004, 005.  8)

001 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Simon ( 32 ), hills
002 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Millan ( 31 ), TT
003 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/belgica.jpg) Lebrun ( 30 ), sprint
004 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Portugal ( 32 ), flat-hills
005 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Daniljev ( 32 ), hills

stage 1 TDU :
17º  Lebrun
I expected he would have big difficulties in hill s1. Despite 4 EP and good help in s1, Lebrun was in the 3rd group on 0:28"
And I gambled too much on his double active weather icons to return in s2,
because the 2 EP was not enough to make the jump to the s2 break away group of just 12.
Without help on the flat sections and not in topform yet, Lebrun could follow the chasing group and scored the first points of season 15.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 08, 2021, 07:14:04 PM

Another tough stage. Verbeek did score his first points of the season: a whopping 8! He also moved up to 5th in the GC. Tomorrow we have 2 stages that should suit him better. Hopefully we get the first podiums.

The scouts are also a bit rusty. My first 4 pulls had a salary of 560, 560, 510 and 540. A different way of saying they are completely useless as cyclist.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 08, 2021, 07:36:58 PM

stage 2 TDU ;
39º  Simon (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/sad.png)

Big tactical doubts before this stage, although I had the CFF record of this stage.
But that was with a real specialist, and not a hills specialist like Simon with a little climb skill as extra.
So I decided to take no risk and used a total of 7 EP in the first 2 sections,
and that was "good" for ; (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/sleep.png) in the chasing group on 0:31" behind the s2 break away group of 18.
Despite good help of Daniljev in s2 and in s3 ; teamcaptain+helper unexpectedly dropped to the 3rd group on already 0:43"  :o  :-[
In s4 Simon was isolated and also inexplicable ( but this time positive ) he did very well by keeping the gap on 0:43"
Of course, the damage was already done earlier in the race, and he had not much energy left to finish good.
According to CFF a missed opportunity to score many points ( Simon could challenge the 5th favorite ).
But so far behind earlier in the race with using so many EP + help in s2 ( and s3 ) ; perhaps not being in topform explains it.
Again a bad stage, let's hope stage 3 goes well. Also there my cyclists are not in topform. After last topseason no WC form cards left.

To Franky ; Congratulations with the Australian victory of Martin Hunter !  8)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 08, 2021, 07:46:34 PM

Also a bad season start in recruiting and scouting, but I'm used to that because that happens every season.
The new recruit is by far the best, but not good enough and his salary of 597 is also not good but above my average.^^

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Franky on February 08, 2021, 07:47:20 PM

 8) 8) 8)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 09, 2021, 11:35:36 AM

stage 3 TDU ;
4º  Portugal
25º  Daniljev ( free role )
Perfect race of my team who all are not in topform yet.
Portugal could not even challenge the favorites, and he proved to be worth the 228k investment of Monday morning.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: kirin on February 09, 2021, 04:28:54 PM

So far, no pressure on this season. Today we welcome Bruno Mazzarelli, desired for a long time by azerite's manager.

On CFF-Cup, we managed to win against SPORTLIFE, as he had no cobble-hillers on his team, and the stage was Ronde van Vlaanderen. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on our side on the draw, and we got paired against Thorarboarvesen in a flat TT, where he has the specialist McDermott while i have no fkat TTers.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 09, 2021, 07:33:37 PM

Verbeek still has it. His 4th stage win to Stirling. Now second in the GC, he will lose a lot tomorrow but maybe he can hold on to a top 10.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 09, 2021, 07:43:38 PM

Versus McDermot my team was out in round 2 as well. So, I'm happy that only azerite could conquer my new cool shirt in the CFF Cup. :)

stage 4 TDU ;
29º  Simon  (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/incidencias/sad.png)
Again a tactical failure. Very unexpectedly Simon started too slow despite a hard start ánd an active weather icon.
If Simon would have had a "normal" start and kept the wheel of helper Daniljev, Simon would have had a great race,
because Daniljev did excellent. Besides the fact that his teamcaptain was not in his wheel from the start, hahaha.
I even was so confident that the Simon-Daniljev combo would work, that I gave Portugal a free role so he might have a tiny GC chance.
Well, also a tactical failure ; Portugal has no GC chance, he should have been the back up helper, because in s1 to s4 he was with Simon.

In 3 out of the 4 TDU stages the tactics did not go well, I'm happy there is a time trial now, no tactics.  :))
I guess the SPORTLIFE manager is not in form yet. :P

To Sjiz ; congrats with the splendid victory of Verbeek. 8)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 10, 2021, 10:29:03 AM

In the end the mechanica breakdown cost only 1 place so thats not too bad. I think i should be happy with 4th. Due to the TT the win was never possible.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 10, 2021, 12:12:07 PM

stage 5 TDU ;
18º  Millan
Also "s14 decisive weapon" Millan is not in top form yet, what explains this not good result.

The TDU expectations were low. Despite this, my team even underperformed with scoring a too low total of 182 points in this "home" tour.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 10, 2021, 01:06:23 PM

. . . . . . . . . . transfer newsflash . . . . . . . . . . transfer newsflash . . . . . . . . .

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/arcoiris.gif) current world champion Bob Kluivert ( 31, ex-QuintoYtapa ) signed a contract with SPORTLIFE.  8)

He will make his debut for my team in the upcoming Omloop het Nieuwsblad.
To get in form, but despite not suited, also to try to help the other 2 new buys of my team who were a lot cheaper.
The total of VanDerVaart ( 33, ex-TeamRHB ) and Stevens ( 33, ex-CaptainOrange ) = less than 10% of the Kluivert transfer.

With this new cobblehills duo I expect to score more cobblehills points as in previous season ( = 0 , I had no cobblehills cyclists ).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Combuijs on February 10, 2021, 05:30:03 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 10, 2021, 01:06:23 PM

VanDerVaart ( 33, ex-TeamRHB ) and Stevens ( 33, ex-CaptainOrange )

I did not see any wheelchairs in the equipment list.  :P

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 10, 2021, 06:13:11 PM

Quote from: Combuijs on February 10, 2021, 05:30:03 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 10, 2021, 01:06:23 PM

VanDerVaart ( 33, ex-TeamRHB ) and Stevens ( 33, ex-CaptainOrange )

I did not see any wheelchairs in the equipment list.  :P

(https://i.imgur.com/LI4sOH0.jpg)
Jonnathan Stevens ( SPORTLIFE )  :))

A question to twice American champion Stevens ; "What are your chances in the Omloop" ?
The 32x USA international answered ; "I'm not in topform yet, but I feel like 21yo because never in my life have I drunk Combuijs beer". :P

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 11, 2021, 07:45:19 AM

In our new jerseys (thanks Franky) Zatarra was quite unlucky in Strade Bianchi.

After the second place in OhN Bart Jackson now was aiming for a consecutive top spot after last season. In OhN Nick Haringa's +1 EP strategy in s4 was insufficient to follow Jackson, but strangely riding +1 EP in S1 in Strade Bianchi was too fast for Jackson, leaving him behind.

Further it was a perfect race, since Haringa was the only domestique left in the top group after S5, but yet... Jackson was missing.

It's weird to see this sometimes. One would expect that Jackson and Haringa would be in the same group after S1 when Haringa rides +1 EP as domestique... I therefore call it bad luck.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 11, 2021, 08:36:21 AM

Unfortunately zero points in both cobblehills races ; twice a 34º place.
In Strade Bianche helper VanDerVaart did a great job in 4 sections, but maybe little chance that more was possible with an even harder start.
In the more suited Omloop their manager made a tactical mistake, so that was a missed opportunity to score a few points.
In both races it did not help that the teamcaptain-helper combo were not in topform and had a bad director in one-day-races.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 11, 2021, 09:11:48 AM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/df924f77f10929a2904cfb2e4b350056.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Very high back numbers because at the moment my team is in the relegation zone.  :-[
I assume this little tour will change that, although it is doubtfull if Martinez can ride a good GC due to the 2 sprint stages ánd his form.
Therefore the 1st favorite of stage 1 gets the back number with an 1 in it. Perhaps Smith scores the most points of this selection.
Majoros gets free roles in stages 2 and 4 to score a few points, and maybe the same for Simon in stage 3.

341 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Smith ( 28 ), mountain-TT
342 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Martinez ( 32 ), tour
343 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/hungria.jpg) Majoros ( 33 ), sprint
344 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Simon ( 32 ), hills
345 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Beck ( 28 ), allround-helper

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 09:44:36 AM

(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/564826389765816343/807629395967344650/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/564826389765816343/809342109852368896/unknown.png)

This season I've decided I'll post in here the rankings from my excel database for every tour, to make it more fun and we have something else to comment. These are just my own calculations, it doesn't need to be accurate. If anyone wants to see their rider included, just let me know.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 11, 2021, 10:14:08 AM

Looking at the ages, this seems something of the past.
If that is the case, of course I'm missing the Paris-Nice winner of previous season 14 ; Marceliano Ibarrola ( SPORTLIFE ).
Ibarrola is not in 1A now, but I see more cyclists in this list who are not in 1A.
Also the Paris Nice winner of season 13 is not mentioned ; Kåre Reinertsen ( Flandria ).
Reinertsen is retired, but I see more retired cyclists in this list.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Franky on February 11, 2021, 10:25:25 AM

Reinertsen has retired?? How old he was?  :o :o I remember him as a young rider trying to bet my Kent Carey in 2a, and Kent just retired few days ago...

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 11, 2021, 11:42:14 AM

Quote from: Franky on February 11, 2021, 10:25:25 AM

Reinertsen has retired?? How old he was?  :o :o I remember him as a young rider trying to bet my Kent Carey in 2a, and Kent just retired few days ago...

Yep, he was 28. So he had a lot of seasons left in him.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Franky on February 11, 2021, 11:44:37 AM

Quote from: Sjiz on February 11, 2021, 11:42:14 AM

Quote from: Franky on February 11, 2021, 10:25:25 AM

Reinertsen has retired?? How old he was?  :o :o I remember him as a young rider trying to bet my Kent Carey in 2a, and Kent just retired few days ago...

Yep, he was 28. So he had a lot of seasons left in him.

Flandria is crazy  ???

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 05:19:13 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 11, 2021, 10:14:08 AM

Looking at the ages, this seems something of the past.
If that is the case, of course I'm missing the Paris-Nice winner of previous season 14 ; Marceliano Ibarrola ( SPORTLIFE ).
Ibarrola is not in 1A now, but I see more cyclists in this list who are not in 1A.
Also the Paris Nice winner of season 13 is not mentioned ; Kåre Reinertsen ( Flandria ).
Reinertsen is retired, but I see more retired cyclists in this list.

Of course, you will agree with me that trying to have everyone updated it's too hard. And of course I don't have every rider in the game, just the ones that go for sale or that are shared in the forum/chat. And some of them are in a old version, which means they could have changed moderately. I left the "oldies" in the database because it's a good reference when comparing your riders, and there isn't enough riders yet so that you cannot find at least 10 current candidates in 1a within the top30.
I'll think about updating the list in the future, when there are too many riders to find someone that hasn't retired yet.

About Reinertsen and Ibarrola, this is a list sorted by a coefficient calculated by the mix of percentages of all stages in the tour. So as every year the calendar changes, the fact of being the previous winner doesn't influence at all on this list. Actually I have both of them, but they don't appear among the top ones. Reinertsen (26) has a coefficient of 76.02, and Ibarrola of 72.90. Last year there was cobbles, which suit better for Ibarrola, this year he doesn't have a chance in Paris Nice.

Anyway, I don't know who is going to participate, but what you can get from the list is the ones that are active and in 1a:
Lazare Pires 78.92
Alessandro Figueras 78.63
Rene Vrijmoed 77.91
Sven WinklerPrins 77.74
Fulgencio Calderon 77.47
Samuele DiLuca 77.33
Bekir Spies 77.20
Allan Palmer 77.20
Jose Viñas 76.24
Roland Kámory 76.23

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 11, 2021, 06:10:29 PM

Aha, very clear to me now.
I did not expect that this list is adjusted to this specific Paris Nice with different stages as before. Very impressive !

Looking at the list ; the CFF managers in the Prediction Race are way too smart.  :o  ;D
The number 1 gets 9 stars and the number 3 gets 2 stars.
( The remaining 3 single stars are for cyclists outside the list ; Blix, Rodionov and the silver 33yo Tjoens. But Blix and Rodionov do not ride PN. )

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 11, 2021, 07:00:08 PM

Quote from: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 09:44:36 AM

This season I've decided I'll post in here the rankings from my excel database for every tour, to make it more fun and we have something else to comment. These are just my own calculations, it doesn't need to be accurate. If anyone wants to see their rider included, just let me know.

Nice lists! But i think the TT counts for a lot more than you have listed in the TDU. Still, i like lists. Keep them coming!

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 11, 2021, 07:47:09 PM

stage 1 PN ;
1º  Smith --> victory !  8)
18º  Martinez  on 0:41"

Despite a minor form issue, Oscar Smith broke the CFF record of Leroy Benett, also an Australian who won twice this climb TT stage in my team.

Tour cyclist Martinez did also great. :)
He finished in the same time as GC contender Vrijmoed ( 17º ) on 0:41"
Vrijmoed is the nr 3 in the "Ophiuko-list" and he won 14 seconds on nr 1 Pires who finished as 29º on 0:55"
Nr 2 Figueras did even better and finished as 7º on 0:22"
Nr 4 WinklerPrins finished as 43º on 1:13" and the nr 5 Calderon finished as 89º on 1:58"

Thanks to this excellent stage, SPORTLIFE is now out of the relegation zone. Next target = Combuijs, who is 2 points ahead. :-*

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 08:53:40 PM

Quote from: Sjiz on February 11, 2021, 07:00:08 PM

Quote from: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 09:44:36 AM

This season I've decided I'll post in here the rankings from my excel database for every tour, to make it more fun and we have something else to comment. These are just my own calculations, it doesn't need to be accurate. If anyone wants to see their rider included, just let me know.

Nice lists! But i think the TT counts for a lot more than you have listed in the TDU. Still, i like lists. Keep them coming!

Yes, I assign a % for each stage, but that's the hardest part to decide. Usually I give more importance to mountain stages, then hills, TT and cobble all of them the same more or less, and the least importance to sprint stages. But who knows. Besides, wind always makes it unpredictable.

Also, training camps always change things a lot. If I change the skills according to +3 +2 +1 as the game specifies, usually the coefficient increases around 2 points. The hillers weren't using training camp at TDU, I don't know if the winner Gatson was.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Combuijs on February 11, 2021, 09:28:50 PM

Quote from: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 05:19:13 PM

Anyway, I don't know who is going to participate, but what you can get from the list is the ones that are active and in 1a:
Lazare Pires 78.92
Alessandro Figueras 78.63
Rene Vrijmoed 77.91
Sven WinklerPrins 77.74
Fulgencio Calderon 77.47
Samuele DiLuca 77.33
Bekir Spies 77.20
Allan Palmer 77.20
Jose Viñas 76.24
Roland Kámory 76.23

I have Yvo van Straalen on 77 (I round off because the numbers are guesses anyway) for Paris-Nice, using the same method as you do, apart from having other percentages of course  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Combuijs on February 11, 2021, 09:30:25 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 10, 2021, 06:13:11 PM

A question to twice American champion Stevens ; "What are your chances in the Omloop" ?
The 32x USA international answered ; "I'm not in topform yet, but I feel like 21yo because never in my life have I drunk Combuijs beer". :P

He did not finish in the top 30? Hmm, time for some Combuijs Honey Ale as a medicine, I would say.  8)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 11, 2021, 10:39:01 PM

Yvo 74.32, but I have his skills with 23 yo. I assume he has changed a lot since then.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 12, 2021, 09:20:35 AM

Well, balls. Again a breakdown for Verbeek in a hillsprint and on a crucial moment. Now in S5 which cost him a top 10.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 12, 2021, 11:04:04 AM

stage 2 PN ;
11º  Majoros ( free role )
- - - - -
82º  Martinez  on 1:32"
Beck did an excellent helper's job in all 5 sections, thé reason Martinez finished in the 4th group despite his very low sprint skill.
At the moment Martinez is 12º GC on 1:19" behind new GC leader Figueras ( RemcoEvenpoelckx ).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Franky on February 12, 2021, 11:17:07 AM

Another not good race...this time probably was that I spent too much in that 3rd sector..  :-\

2 times 1st fav, a 10th and a 5th  :-[ I need to still improving in sprint races

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 12, 2021, 09:57:25 PM

Beal loves this stage. Verbeek got second a decent result, but thats not what i am here for with a rider like him.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 13, 2021, 12:56:54 AM

stage 3 PN ;
11º  Simon ( free role )
- - - - -
71º  Martinez  on 1:18"

I guess that my free role riders like to finish just outside the top 10 in this Paris Nice. One place better and their manager is happy.
More importantly ; the GC battle of Martinez.
He was already isolated in s2, what was not good and two sections too soon.
But on his own he had a decent race + decent result, and he moved up one place in the GC ; now 10º GC on 1:29"
A final top 10 GC would be great, although Martinez fears the upcoming flat sprint stage.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 13, 2021, 01:29:37 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 13, 2021, 12:56:54 AM

I guess that my free role riders like to finish just outside the top 10 in this Paris Nice. One place better and their manager is happy.

Always nice when my cyclists listen well and want to make me happy.  :)

stage 4 PN ;
10º  Majoros ( free role )
- - - - -
84º  Martinez  on 1:34"

Beck did a good helper's job and stayed with Martinez in all 5 sections.
The first 3 sections were perfect, both in the front. But in s4 they dropped to the 2nd group on 0:39"
Unfortunately and unexpectedly they dropped even further in the final section to 1:34" what is a way too big time difference.
Usually the time difference gap is not so big, so I guess Martinez was a bit unlucky. Although he did well with his 36 sprint skill.

Martinez dropped six places and now 16º GC on 2:27"
I'm very optimistic that he can score GC points, because stage 5 will be his first race in topform.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 13, 2021, 07:17:50 PM

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/564826389765816343/810211372583223337/unknown.png)

Others:
Samuele DiLuca (30) 80.47
Xavér Kövér (24) 80.41
Tjerk Tusveld (32) 80.39
Sven WinklerPrins (31) 80.08
Bekir Spies (32) 79.92
Sandis Stabulnieks (26) 79.85
Murat Aeschliman (27) 79.81
Jaime Roman (30) 79.76
August Thoelen (25) 79.75

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 13, 2021, 07:50:19 PM

stage 5 PN ;
2º  Martinez on 0:07"
WOW, very surprising good result ! :)
Thanks to risky tactics and great help of Beck, who made the jump with his teamcaptain from 3rd group in s2 to the front group in s3.
Beck had even full power left to launch Martinez superhard into hillsmountain section 4, what caused that he was in the breakaway group of 4.

Thanks to this great result, Martinez moved up five places and almost finished in the top 10 ; final result = 11º GC.

A promising result, because Paris Nice was a preparation for the much more suited Tirreno Adriatico.
Looking at the ranking of Martinez in the Ophiuko-Tirreno-list, now my expectations are even higher as they already were.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 13, 2021, 08:20:41 PM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/1d29f44d0e03d78eff360ca0987b1b20.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Main objective = top GC result of Martinez.
Proudly I present his teammates  8) :
the PN stage 1 winner, the world champion, the Russian champion, and a young golden climber who makes his NT debut tomorrow.

131 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Martinez ( 32 ), tour
132 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Smith ( 28 ), climbTT
133 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Kluivert ( 31 ), hills
134 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Basov ( 32 ), climb+climbTT
135 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Macannazi ( 24 ), climb

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 13, 2021, 10:42:30 PM

I was deciding whether to retire Owen Acree now, as I have two 19 year old hillers for sale taking up 19th & 20th spots, however I've decided to give him & Ben Mitchum their swansongs at the Dauphiné & Suisse tours.
Trump & Levin will have their final NT race in a couple of weeks (assuming Pinkley races it'll be his final one too - probably Clickett's too, it'll be assumed to be his final NT), then their swansong races will be decided.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 14, 2021, 12:16:51 PM

stage 1 Tirreno ;
12º  Martinez  on 0:14"
27º  Macannazi ( free role )

My two climbers are not in topform yet, and probably the reason the helper's tactic of Basov was too risky.
But back-up-helper Smith came to the rescue on the flat sections, and kept Martinez in the front s3+s4 peleton of 62.
Smith is not suited for this stage, so he had no energy left to launch his teamcaptain hard.
Otherwise maybe a 7 seconds better result of Martinez if Basov could have helped on the flat sections.
But this result is great too and much better as I expected.

Martinez finished in the same time ( 0:14" ) as possible GC rivals Gois, VanStraalen, DiLuca, Mulikov and Pires (title defender).
And he won a few seconds on other GC rivals, for example Figueras (nr1 PN) and Vrijmoed (nr2 PN) finished on 0:21".
The only GC contender who was better than Martinez, that was 4 times TdF winner Palmer who finished on 0:07"

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 14, 2021, 11:29:11 PM

stage 2 Tirreno ;
1º  Smith  --> victory !  8)
11º  Basov
17º  Martinez  on 0:54"

A very close victory of Smith because rival Gregory Debie ( 26, RemcoEvenpoelckx ) finished also on 0:00"
Martinez moved up to 4º GC, just on 0:09" of new GC leader Alessandro Figueras ( 32, RemcoEvenpoelckx ).
But just tiny differences in the GC, a matter of seconds. Even the top 22 GC is less than 1 minute behind Figueras.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 15, 2021, 12:49:47 PM

stage 3 Tirreno ;
2º  Martinez  on 0:19"  8)

A very surprising and amazing result of Martinez.
Although it was a big gamble and maybe a miracle that it did not go wrong, because there were just 58 cyclists in the s1 front peleton.
And for example (best) helper Macannazi unexpectedly started too slow.
Luckily I had a back up plan that helper Basov had a "many EP in the flat sections"-tactic, and he did a great job in the first four sections.

Martinez moved up to 2º GC on just 0:03" of GC leader Figueras.
But still very tiny differences in the GC, and the top 17 GC within one minute.
The next stage has a sprint finish and Martinez does not like that. And the storm will make the crucial stage 4 even more difficult.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 15, 2021, 11:18:47 PM

stage 4 Tirreno ;
61º  Martinez  on 1:43"
Hmmmm, it seems to me Martinez was a bit unlucky by not finishing one group earlier on 1:18", what is a big difference of 25 seconds.
Dispite this, still satisfied because it was a good race in the storm and helper Kluivert did an excellent job.

Martinez dropped to 6º GC on 0:39"
A podiumplace is not possible due to his hills GV. Hopefully the final hills stage goes well and he ends up in the top 10 GC.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 16, 2021, 08:57:07 AM

4th for Verbeek, not enough in s2. Still an ok result.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 16, 2021, 12:23:25 PM

stage 5 Tirreno ;
5º  Kluivert ( helper )
76º  Martinez  on 1:15"

Remarkable good result of Kluivert in a helpers role. Less good was that he only could help in s1.
After a good start,  clearly Martinez had not his day with his bad race and bad result.

Martinez ended up as 8º GC on 0:57" behind Tirreno winner Daniel Mulikov ( 29, IKIBASQUE ).
A little dissapointing GC result, because I hoped that the mountains had more influence on the time differences than the hills.
It seems to me the hills were more decisive in this Tirreno.
Despite this doubtfull GC result, it was a good Tirreno of my team with these stage results ; 12º, 1º,  2º,  5º.

Hopefully Martinez can ride a good Catalunya, although that tour is much less suited than this Tirreno was.
But Martinez finished as 11º GC in the also less suited Paris-Nice, so maybe he can compete for top 10 GC in Catalunya as well.

First my team has to play the role of spectator in the classic races MSR and E3H. Unfortunately no suited cyclists and 0 points.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 16, 2021, 07:05:56 PM

Oldie Verbeek does it again: a solid top 10 without TC in MSR, his 31st in a classic. Happy with the result.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 17, 2021, 07:14:09 AM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8abb6ca97e11114a4e4395f49de88023.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Martinez finished 11º GC Paris Nice and 8º GC Tirreno Adriatico, again he will try to ride a GC result.
Probably it will be more difficult in this less suited Volta a Catalunya. Martinez has also the ambition to score points in stages 2 and 4.
I expect that Portugal, Millan and Lebrun will score stage points too.

111 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Martinez ( 32 ), tour
112 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Portugal ( 32 ), hills
113 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Millan ( 31 ), TT
114 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/belgica.jpg) Lebrun ( 30 ), sprint
115 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/dinamarca.jpg) Vorre ( 27 ), climbhills helper

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 17, 2021, 09:03:44 PM

Isaac Trump defies his age one final time.

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/etapas/banyo.jpg)
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/gold.jpg) Isaac Trump   33   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 0sg   167 points
2nd   David McDermot   30   Thorboassonarvesen   a 0 minutos 5sg   133 points   
3rd   Christian Pinkney   32   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 11sg   108 points

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 17, 2021, 10:05:38 PM

Volta Catalunya (excel coefficients)

Alessandro Figueras (29) 79.29
Dario Fernandez (29) 78.84
Allan Palmer (32) 78.65
Rene Vrijmoed (25) 78.51
Tjerk Tusveld (32) 78.12
German Martinez (31) 77.95
Daniel Mulikov (29) 77.84
Murat Aeschliman (27) 77.23
Romeu Rosario (32) 77.20
Aksel Blix (27) 76.93
Rafael Carlos Loinaz (32) 76.69
Jaime Roman (30) 76.51
Samuele DiLuca (30) 76.35
Arjan Putman (25) 76.17
Adao Baiao (25) 75.63

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 18, 2021, 08:42:12 AM

stage 1 Catalunya ;
10º  Millan
33º  Martinez  on 1:55"
stage 2 Catalunya ;
44º  Martinez  on 1:10"  :(

Tactical failure because Martinez started too slow, never returned, and even was isolated in section 4.
This result is a big contrast to the other flatclimb stage of this season, where Martinez finished as 2º on 0:17" Well, no guts no glory.
And this time no glory, because now he can forget about a good GC result in Catalunya.

Martinez had to gamble because he is not really suited for this little tour, and by far not the nr 6 best tour cyclist as the list shows.
Of course, many other things play a role too in the ranking of "best suited" tour cyclists ; let's hope rival managers make big mistakes too.
For now Martinez is 11º GC on 0:53"

That is way too low because now his bad stages will come where he is gonna lose much time.
Especially in the next stage 3 he is not good. To compare ; hillsprint stage PN = 82º on 1:32", and hillsprint stage TIR = 61º on 1:43".
Maybe I should consider to go for a stage 3 result with sprinter Lebrun as teamcaptain, and really forget about the GC chances of Martinez.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 18, 2021, 08:45:11 AM

If Martinez isn't going to get an overall result, of course you'll have Lebrun as teamcaptain in the next stage.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 18, 2021, 09:07:25 AM

Quote from: Aurora Australis on February 18, 2021, 08:45:11 AM

If Martinez isn't going to get an overall result, of course you'll have Lebrun as teamcaptain in the next stage.

You are right, but in my mind it is not easy. Of course, that has everything to with my own mind.  :))
Because Martinez will be the teamcaptain in stage 4 anyway, and by being also the teamcaptain in stage 3, he might score a few GC points.
Lebrun is not a hill sprinter, and as teamcaptain in stage 3 he might score less stage points as Martinez might score as GC points.

And some other things play a role too. For example weather icons, and the fact that I love to compete in the GC.
But on the other side, Martinez will be sold soon, so I don't have to consider an eventual Colombian individual championship.
Even stage 5 plays a role in the strategic decision of stage 3. Most likely Portugal will get support to go for a top stage 5 result.
If I could predict/estimate the GC chances of Martinez better, it would be easy.
This horrible stage 2 with an unexpected very big time loss,  makes this strategic choice difficult.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 18, 2021, 09:30:00 AM

What makes this game difficult also = I almost never scout and  recruit a 19yo who is good or even a little good.
My bizarre, extreme bad luck continues also in this season 15. So far ; not even a 19yo who was good enough to be sold for 1,-
Maybe complaining a bit in this topic helps, and today a miracle happens that I scout/recruit a good 19yo.

My statement is even : most CFF managers scout/recruit much more good 19yo's in one season than I do in all 15 seasons combined.
Maybe I should mention my extreme bad luck in the bug topic,
because I can think of just one explanation ; there must be something wrong with the CFF software.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 18, 2021, 10:01:36 AM

I also have the impression that the quality of 19yo promotions has decreased this season.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Franky on February 18, 2021, 11:04:38 AM

Quote from: Vos on February 18, 2021, 09:30:00 AM

What makes this game difficult also = I almost never scout and  recruit a 19yo who is good or even a little good.
My bizarre, extreme bad luck continues also in this season 15. So far ; not even a 19yo who was good enough to be sold for 1,-
Maybe complaining a bit in this topic helps, and today a miracle happens that I scout/recruit a good 19yo.

My statement is even : most CFF managers scout/recruit much more good 19yo's in one season than I do in all 15 seasons combined.
Maybe I should mention my extreme bad luck in the bug topic,
because I can think of just one explanation ; there must be something wrong with the CFF software.

I have to say that my luck with 19yo in this CFF is extremely GOOD hahaha

Bob Janson   11 654 345   Agua_Verde                  
Colin Cann   6 123 456   Combuijs      
Christian Pocock   5 113 113   Aurora_Australis                  
Zack Walkins   5 000 000   Quickstepbronx      
Kirk Clinton   4 513 113   Aurora_Australis      
Sam Wilson   4 500 113   Aurora_Australis      
Richard Blair   4 113 113   Aurora_Australis      
Terry Norris   3 113 113   Aurora_Australis      
Gerard Shields   3 000 000   Quickstepbronx      
Christian Alpin   3 000 000   Blanes      
Steve White   2 600 000   Villavante                              
Nate Farrell   1 650 001   Moderdonia      
Liam Segond   1 500 055   Borjiest      
Dominic Chapman   1 300 113   Aurora_Australis      
Virgil Gatson   1 247 755   Matterhorn      
Ian Mitchell   1 234 567   Lemarche      
Oliver Odom   1 212 321   Agua_Verde


+ the ones that I didn't sell and are part of my team: Jasper, Fraser Slipper, Joe Ryan all of them 10* in any moment

p.s: because of this luck I can compite in 1st division, because having only aussies...

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 18, 2021, 11:10:34 AM

Maybe you need more Aussies in your team Vos, then the talent will come your way.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 18, 2021, 11:50:48 AM

Funny to see the feature "your ex-cyclists" on everyone's teampage.
Only max. five 19yo's of all 15 seasons made it to a golden icon, and doubtfull if any of those 5 is a real top cyclist.
I looked at those pages a lot in all 15 seasons, to see if I'm not imagining my extreme bad luck.
And yes, already in season 1 of CFF3 I kept track of this, because I had this extreme bad luck also in CFF2.
There I had some amazing 19yo's, but they all were draft cyclists or they were bought.

Quote from: Franky on February 18, 2021, 11:04:38 AM

I have to say that my luck with 19yo in this CFF is extremely GOOD hahaha

Compared to me, yes, you are extreme lucky.
Compared to almost everyone else ; maybe your luck is normal.
I think that some managers have even much more luck, and remarkable that they have that luck every season.

Funny to read a text on the forum where they are complaining about bad luck.
" this season just 5 or 6 good 19yo's, that really sucks, hopefully next season not so much bad luck".
Well, their "bad luck" in one season is already much better than what I pull in all 15 seasons combined.
To them that extreme luck every season, is so normal, that they even complain about 5 or 6 per season.
Indeed 5 or 6 would be abnormal for me too, but in the opposite ; extreme lucky to me and never happened in all 40 CFF seasons.
Well, enough about this, otherwise I'm getting depressed. :)  And I still believe in miracles, so maybe this evening the first 19yo of the season.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 18, 2021, 03:05:05 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 18, 2021, 11:50:48 AM

Funny to see the feature "your ex-cyclists" on everyone's teampage.
Only max. five 19yo's of all 15 seasons made it to a golden icon, and doubtfull if any of those 5 is a real top cyclist.

Only 3 golden icons from my team, none of them even close to be top

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 18, 2021, 05:53:21 PM

Yes, I knew this. Sometimes I go to your ex-cyclists team page because "shared pain is half pain". :)
I bet you cannot find many more teams like ours.
Although, maybe this season for the first time possible because of retired cyclists.
There a few teampages more with just a few golden cyclists, but they keep the best golden cyclists themselves and forget to look at them too.

Well, enough about this, not a happy subject. Just one more thing ;  ;D
I comfort + fool myself that the CFF software has this included ; the more smart the manager, the less luck in scouting/recruiting.
So, the software must see us as geniuses, ophiuko ! Well, if that is the case, at least something is right about the software, hahaha.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 18, 2021, 07:29:16 PM

Good theory, I like it  ;D

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 19, 2021, 01:26:36 PM

stage 3 Catalunya ;
17º  Lebrun ( free role )
106º  Martinez  on 1:48"

Bad tactics of Martinez and his "helpers", only in s1 Martinez had help due to his too slow start.
Vorre was with Martinez the whole race, but I forgot to make Vorre a helper.
Almost sure this tactical failure costed 31 seconds, and Martinez dropped to 16º GC.

stage 4 Catalunya ;
25º  Martinez  on 0:00"

This time I did not make a mistake with Vorre, who did an excellent helpers job in s1, s2, s3, and launched his teamcaptain hard into s4.
Thanks to this good help, Martinez lost no time in this stage.
At the moment he is 15º GC on 2:17"
What is very bad, because with a tactical better manager he could have been 2º GC on 0:53" :-[
Now he has to ride an excellent final stage to try to finish top20 GC.
And maybe even in a free role, although I expected that Portugal could challenge favorites in stage 5, but to my surprise he cannot.
So it is still uncertain who gets the teamcaptain role in this flathills stage.

The good news of today is that I finally recruited my first 19yo this season who might be good enough to be sold.
Also Martinez is for sale, and also for 1,- He has many bids and will be sold today.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 19, 2021, 07:25:51 PM

stage 5 Catalunya ;
3º  Portugal
32º  Martinez  on 0:17" ( free role )

Very good stage result of Portugal, thanks to an excellent helpers job of Vorre.
Martinez moved up six places and ended up as 9º GC. But for sure a missed opportunity to finish on the GC podium.

Now let's see what my two oldest cyclists can do in Belgium. Both are not in top form, so every scored point might be a cheerfull moment.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 20, 2021, 07:50:41 PM

Gent Wevelgem ;
35º  Stevens
After a too slow start of Stevens & VanDerVaart, their race was already over because they could not follow the big s1 peleton of 93.
Both are not in topform, maybe that caused the too slow start.
Teamcaptain Stevens finished with a dissapointment icon and even 0:37" behind the points-scoring places.

Dwars door Vlaanderen ;
1º  Stevens  --> amazing victory !  8)
27º  VanDerVaart ( helper )

WOW !!! Very surprising victory of the nr 151 in the golden cobble ranking ! Stevens has just 9 stars on cobblehills (since a few days).
With a big thanks to the nr 121 in that ranking,
because VanDerVaart did a perfect helpers job and both were as only duo in the s4 breakaway group of just 8 cyclists.
Also thanks to a WC card so they both could race this DDV in topform and not drop already in s1 out of the big peleton.

The very first victory of SPORTLIFE in a cobblehills classic race !  :)
And besides two times a 4º place in Strade Bianche, my team even never achieved a top 10 result in a cobblehills classic race.
In most seasons my team was not even competing in these type of races.

For 32 times USA international Stevens this is a great way to ( almost ) finish his career.
Because this is just his 3rd victory ever, and his first victory in a cobblehills classic race.
Back in season 3 he won a BBT stage and in season 8 he won a Giro stage.
Both victories achieved by SentinelChickens, who sold Stevens 7 months ago.
I bought him this season for 879k ( I bought also this season VanDerVaart for 227k ), what appears to be a great investment.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 21, 2021, 06:06:22 AM

Ronde van Vlaanderen ;
7º  Stevens
30º  VanDerVaart

Again an excellent result, despite I had no WC card, so this time both were not in topform.
And in s1 it looked like this was going to be a dissapointing RVV, because both could not follow the front peleton of just 42 cyclists.
Normally the s1 peleton is at least twice as big in a windless RVV.

But thanks to a superb helpers job of VanDerVaart in a high pace, both came closer ;  s1= 0:29", s2= 0:25", s3= 0:13" and s4= 0:14".
Stevens even finished on 0:14" in the first chasing group and RVV is not really his speciality, he likes a final cobblehills section 5 more.
This 7º place is Stevens his best RVV result ever, and he was not even in topform. :)


(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQcdzD4tDcY-sbr1UtVuk4v80kGhxlbyg8PQg&usqp=CAU)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Vorre is the undisputed teamcaptain in Basque Country, he should be very suited for this little tour, even with just a silver tour icon.
But it is unknown to me how good his GC rivals are, so I have no idea what his GC ambition should be.

Also selected are Stevens and VanDerVaart, despite they will be sold after stage 1, what is their first race in topform without a WC card.
I assume Stevens can score points in a free role, and hopefully VanDerVaart can be the masterhelper of teamcaptain Vorre.

In the remaining 4 stages my team has just 3 cyclists, but Beck should be a very good helper and in stage 4 even a masterhelper.
Also in stage 5 there could be a masterhelper, hills specialist Simon. Maybe he gets a free role, that depends on Vorre his GC ranking.

71 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/dinamarca.jpg) Vorre ( 27 ), silver tour
72 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Beck ( 28 ), silver tour
73 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Simon ( 32 ), hills
74 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/usa.jpg) Stevens ( 33 ), cobblehills
75 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) VanDerVaart ( 33 ), cobblehills

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 21, 2021, 12:56:50 PM

Itzulia (excel):

1. Dimi VanKerckhove (28) 80.71
2. Maurizio Lorenzetto (27) 79.52
3. August Thoelen (25) 79.48
4. Filipe Graca (26) 79.06
5. Bendegúz Csecs (25) 79.02
6. Samuele DiLuca (30) 78.95
7. Telmo Avila (32) 78.89
8. Neeme Põder (29) 78.86
9. Ivan Chiapucci (29) 78.78
10. Stijn Dijksma (30) 78.50
11. Leonid Foros (29) 78.47
12. Valentin Trezeguet (29) 78.28
13. Daniel Mulikov (29) 78.27
14. Guilherme Fonseca (29) 78.21
15. Serafim Gois (24) 78.03
16. Roberto Moro (32) 77.73
17. Sven WinklerPrins (31) 77.62
18. Lazare Pires (27) 77.58
19. Tim Bell (29) 77.57
20. Sam Lee (29) 77.54

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 22, 2021, 09:03:49 AM

stage 1 Itzulia ;
11º  VanDerVaart ( helper )
23º  Stevens ( free role )
46º  Vorre  on 1:04"

VanDerVaart did a great helpers job in the first 3 sections by keeping Vorre in the front.
Unfortunately Vorre could not keep his wheel in s4, but it was a good race and a good result of my GC teamcaptain.
Free role Stevens his result was a little bit dissapointing, but helper VanDerVaart compensated that by finishing unexpectedly good.
Both cobblehills riders are sold today ; Stevens for 556k to a 2nd div.team, and VanDerVaart for just 1½k to a 3rd div.team.

stage 2 Itzulia ;
6º  Vorre  on 0:00"  8)
17º  Beck ( helper )

An excellent helpers job of Beck in the first 3 sections.
In s2 both were in the break away group of just 5 cyclists ; together with the fresh JGMTeam captain and the $Tourmalet duo.
In s3 my team had even the only duo in the front group of now 9, because 5 different teamcaptains could return (and 1 helper dropped).
In s4 Vorre was isolated, but in the front together with 3 other isolated teamcaptains, 0:12" ahead of the chasing group of 12.
In s5 three cyclists could return, including stage winner Demoulin ( Quickstepbronx ),
but I'm happy that GC contender Vorre finished on 0:00", especially because he could not challenge any favorites.

And I'm even more happy that Vorre is now the new GC leader !  :)
TOP 10 GC Itzulia after 2 stages :
1(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_yellow.png) Ricky Vorre   27   SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   
2    Kasper van der Goor   25   Zatarra   0: 23"
3    Rob Williams   27   Inglourious_Bastards   0: 54"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Sergey Rodionov   28   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 59"
5    Ivan Chiapucci   33   $Tourmalet   1: 07"   
6    Semion Filatkin   26   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   1: 31"   
7    Craig Lincoln   31   ProCyclingTeam10   1: 34"   
8    Kevin Bush   30   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 37"   
9    Melchior Plessers   26   RemcoEvenpoelckx   1: 39"   
10    Hidde Daelman   26   Combuijs   1: 43"   

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 22, 2021, 09:26:28 AM

Being able to see Vorre's stats, I'm a bit disappointed that VdG did not win some seconds in the first stage. The helper's role of Jackson and Haringa was difficult and far from perfect. I think VdG could have won at least 20 seconds there.

Anyway, losing 23 seconds in stage 2 is acceptable for a 8* climb hiller. In stage 3 VdG will try to keep up with Vorre and if Vorre's manager makes a mistake in the climb sprint stage and VdG's manager does not, then that would be a stage to win back some time. VdG is the better sprinter of the two. And also the better hiller for stage 5, so I see possibilities here...

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 22, 2021, 09:52:53 AM

The manager of Vorre selected an excellent helper for stage 4 ; Beck might be a favorite or close to the favorites.
It is up to Beck to try that his teamcaptain will also finish on 0:00" in stage 4, maybe difficult but it might be possible.
Before this Itzulia ; according to me stages 1 and 5 were the most concerning where Vorre could lose (too much) time.
It appears that stage 1 went very well (with a masterhelper) because Vorre is now the GC leader.
Also in stage 5 Vorre (with hills-TC-bonus) can have a masterhelper. If that will be enough for my silver tour cyclist, we will see.

As it looks now it will be a fun GC battle, and the just 25yo van der Goor is maybe the most fierce rival. Good luck Zatarra !  8)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 22, 2021, 09:55:27 AM

Thanks! Good luck to you as well, of course. I have no experience in riding tours at all. So far VdG's results (last season TdF for example) have been very disappointing. Hopefully he can be the Itzulia king :).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 22, 2021, 10:02:30 AM

Quote from: Zatarra on February 22, 2021, 09:55:27 AM

Thanks! Good luck to you as well, of course. I have no experience in riding tours at all. So far VdG's results (last season TdF for example) have been very disappointing. Hopefully he can be the Itzulia king :).

Thanks  :)
About stage 1 and looking at the results of my sold cobblehills cyclists what made this clear ;
to me surprising that hills counted a lot more than I thought, compared to the cobble skill. What was beneficial to Vorre.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 22, 2021, 11:18:30 AM

Quote from: ophiuko on February 21, 2021, 12:56:50 PM

Itzulia (excel):

1. Dimi VanKerckhove (28) 80.71
2. Maurizio Lorenzetto (27) 79.52
3. August Thoelen (25) 79.48
4. Filipe Graca (26) 79.06
5. Bendegúz Csecs (25) 79.02
6. Samuele DiLuca (30) 78.95
7. Telmo Avila (32) 78.89
8. Neeme Põder (29) 78.86
9. Ivan Chiapucci (29) 78.78
10. Stijn Dijksma (30) 78.50
11. Leonid Foros (29) 78.47
12. Valentin Trezeguet (29) 78.28
13. Daniel Mulikov (29) 78.27
14. Guilherme Fonseca (29) 78.21
15. Serafim Gois (24) 78.03
16. Roberto Moro (32) 77.73
17. Sven WinklerPrins (31) 77.62
18. Lazare Pires (27) 77.58
19. Tim Bell (29) 77.57
20. Sam Lee (29) 77.54

Update with some of the contestants that I recently got:

Ricky Vorre (27) 77.81
Klaas VanDenAkker (27) 77.73
Sergey Rodionov (27) 77.51
Zsombor Endrõdi (25) 77.36
Rob Williams (27) 75.83

Last minute, courtesy of Zatarra:

Kasper van der Goor (25) 80.01

It seems that Kasper is the favourite on the list, as VanKerckhove looked like he didn't put any effort on stage 1 for the GC.

Training camps apart  ::)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 22, 2021, 03:36:26 PM

Nice! Of course KvdG is riding with TC bonus also, but on climbing, also in order to maybe have a good go in Frankfurt later on.

Hopefully there's some space to move up one place.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 22, 2021, 08:02:29 PM

stage 3 Itzulia ;
15º  Vorre  on 0:00"
Also GC rival van der Goor ( Zatarra ) finished in the front group of 26 ( as 10º ), so the GC difference remains 0:23"

The nrs 3 and 4 in the GC could not finish in the front group and both lost 12 seconds in this stage.
The nr 3 GC is still 3rd, and together with the new nr 4 GC they are both already 1:07" behind.
That looks promising if stages 4 and 5 go well for Vorre.
Perhaps it will be a battle for victory versus only van der Goor, and not promising that he finished 5 places better in this s5 hills section.
The difference between 2 groups in hills stage 5 might be bigger than the 0:23" gap that Vorre has right now,
if Vorre is good enough to finish just one group later in stage 5, what maybe is doubtfull.

But first things first ; in stage 4 Vorre really needs to finish on 0:00" to keep a fighting chance for final victory.
What might be very difficult. Hopefully 5th favorite Beck can do an amazing helpers job.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 22, 2021, 08:36:37 PM

Van der Goor gave everything in this stage 3, especially in section 5 seeing Vorre a few places behind him. He battled for every second but unfortunately the gaps on the finish were not big enough for the jury to appoint different times.

VdG: "It feel amazing to finally have something to battle for. It appeared previous season's TdF had just too many mountains for me to ride a good GC and we all know my TT capacities... or lack thereof it is. So, this Itzulia seems to be just perfect. My focus will be on stage 5. The mountain sprint will be a bit windy, so I will have to pay attention, but in the past I've finished nicely in a few hill stages, so that's where I will have to close the gap with Vorre."

Tomorrow morning's race will be exciting. It's important not to make a mistake, but I'm new to t he GC game and 'not losing time' rather than 'have a good stage result', so I'm a bit struggling here...

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 23, 2021, 08:27:22 AM

stage 4 Itzulia ;
14º  Beck ( helper )
20º  Vorre  on 0:00"

An exciting stage for my teamcaptain ;
his helper was too slow in s1 but returned in s2, and his helper was too fast in s3 but Vorre returned in s4.
And Beck was very needed as helper in s4 and s5, because Vorre made it extra exciting with a mechanical breakdown in the final s5.

GC rival van der Goor finished as 7º on 0:00", so Vorre has to try to defend his little GC lead of just 0:23" in the final hills stage.
But even if Vorre loses the final victory battle versus van der Goor, it is looking very good that Vorre will finish on the podium.
What is also a great result of this silver tour cyclist from Greenland ( see profile ) who had no palmares before he joined my team 1 month ago.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 23, 2021, 08:49:43 AM

Van de Goor had to do it all by himself. Sunset was the appointed helper, but with a sprint skill of 7 it was clear he could not be of any use, beforehand already. Luckily, VdG was able to follow Vorre's wheel in every section and sprinted to a nice 7th place in the final one.

It all comes down to hillbilly stage 5. Stamer, Jackson, Haringa and Sunset all will have the domestique role. Most of them to bring VdG to the finish line in the best group possible, but if some of them have the opportunity to stay with Vorre, if fallen behind, then they might have the role of the annoying competitor who will whistle like a happy bird when Vorre is struggling to get back to VdG's wheel.

That's our battle plan.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 23, 2021, 04:32:35 PM

Quote from: Zatarra on February 23, 2021, 08:49:43 AM

That's our battle plan.

:))

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on February 23, 2021, 08:58:47 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 23, 2021, 04:32:35 PM

Quote from: Zatarra on February 23, 2021, 08:49:43 AM

That's our battle plan.

:))

Who laughs last, laughs best, so it appeares to be!

Congratulations, Vos with Vorre's Itzulia win. We had different tactics with our riders. VdG started too slow for group 1 after s1, but with back up helping managed to win back half of the time that was needed to beat Vorre. Maybe I had to start a bit faster (and spending one less EP somewhere else), but I think VdG 'lost' because of stage 1. My tactic should have been better with the helping of my cobble hill riders.

Anyway, a first tour podium for my team. This is kind of fun after all. Maybe I can find myself another suitable tour.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 23, 2021, 09:37:54 PM

Thanks, Zatarra.
You were very close to the final GC victory, but 2º GC is also a great result.
This first GC podiumplace of your team is a promising result for future tours with your very young tour cyclists.

stage 5 Itzulia ;
17º  Simon ( helper )
62º  Vorre  on 1:05"

Simon did a great job in the first 3 sections, but it was not a perfect race because Vorre was suddenly isolated in the important s4.
Due to no help in s4, Vorre dropped a lot in s5. But his result was just enough to win Itzulia, and in the end it was very close :

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQcdzD4tDcY-sbr1UtVuk4v80kGhxlbyg8PQg&usqp=CAU) TOP 10 FINAL GC ITZULIA :
1(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_yellow.png) Ricky Vorre   27   (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/au.png) SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   8)
2    Kasper van der Goor   25   (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/au.png) Zatarra   0: 11"   
3    Ivan Chiapucci   33   (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/au.png) $Tourmalet   0: 18"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4     Kevin Bush   30   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 16"
5    Shane O´Neill   26   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   1: 18"
6    Gustav Wendt   29   IKIBASQUE   1: 40"   
7    Guilherme Fonseca   33   galegospolabici   1: 42"   
8    Rob Williams   27   Inglourious_Bastards   1: 43"   
9    Sergey Rodionov   28   FrançaiseDesJeux   1: 48"   
10    Bendegúz Csécs   26   Spitz   1: 49"   

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 23, 2021, 09:44:05 PM

Great result for Australian teams, and a minute to fourth.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 23, 2021, 09:46:39 PM

Yes, and the nr4 Kevin Bush is an Australian cyclist.
But he has no Australian manager, of course thé reason he finished outside the podium.  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 24, 2021, 01:08:38 PM

Quote from: Vos on February 24, 2021, 01:05:46 PM

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/images/SPORTLIFEnewshirt.png)SPORTLIFE , equipo clásico de las ardenas :

Mas probable no haya resultados superiores, pero mi equipo también está compitiendo. :)
Most likely no top results, but my team is also competing.
Buena suerte a todos !
Good luck everyone !

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasoro.jpg) 51 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Daniljev ( 32 )
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasoro.jpg) 52 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Simon ( 32 )
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasoro.jpg) 53 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Kluivert ( 31 )
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasoro.jpg) 54 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/portugal.jpg) Portugal ( 32 )
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasplata.jpg) 55 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/spain.jpg) Rubiera ( 23 )

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 25, 2021, 10:42:17 AM

For those who want to see Verbeek in action in a hill classic: tonight is the last chance. His last ever Ardennes classic.

Please wear a face mask, he is old and now at risk to get Covid.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Davilo07 on February 25, 2021, 10:53:03 AM

Will he be retiring tonight or is he going to race till the end of the season?
Are you scared at the new and stronger rivals you are facing now?

Well, last ride for him at the classics tonight. You all are welcome  to share your thoughts in the "Copa mapei post

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 25, 2021, 11:00:18 AM

He will finish the season, still much to win but wont race next season.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 25, 2021, 01:47:32 PM

Amstel Gold Race ;
11º  Daniljev
29º  Kluivert ( free role )

After the disaster of AGR in previous season, where Daniljev could not follow the s1 peleton of 107 and fnished as 61º on 1:00",
I decided to start with a risk free s1 start.
Despite he is fully prepared, has an active weather icon, and has good helpers ; exactly the same circumstances as in previous season.
This time the s1 peleton was even much bigger with 146, so it is very doubtfull if my tactical choice was a good one.
But most likely it did not matter because helpers Simon and Portugal kept him in the front (also in s4) and both had EP left to lauch Daniljev.
Maybe the real tactical mistakes were that I could have experimented with free role Kluivert in a normal risky start,
and that Portugal should have had a free role too for some extra points because 2 helpers in s4 was 1 too many.
Anyway, this season not an AGR failure, and this result is not bad.

Flèche Wallonne ;
12º  Daniljev

This is the most suited race and therefore full risk (despite the wind) with help of all 4 other hills specialists, to try to get a top result.
Unfortunately the start was too risky and my team could not follow the s1 front peleton of 52. Well, no guts no glory, it was a big gamble.
s2 showed that my team was not that good, they ended up in the 3rd group and Daniljev did not even get the dissapointment icon.
s3 went also wrong, because the 2 main helpers dropped, and their tactics were based on being with Daniljev in s4.
Luckily back up helper Portugal kept his teamcaptain in still the 3rd group of s3.
But the bad s3 of Kluivert and Simon caused that Daniljev was isolated in s4, what is never good.
In the end the result is pretty good for a tactical failure race, but of course a missed opportunity to finish at least top 10.

Hopefully LBL will be a good race with a better result.
But even with a perfect race, I expect not a top result due to the fierce competition this season.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on February 25, 2021, 05:29:17 PM

Tour de Romandie (excel):

1. Lazare Pires (27) 79.72
2. Allan Palmer (32) 79.34
3. Alessandro Figueras (29) 78.70
4. Tjerk Tusveld (32) 78.69
5. Dario Fernandez (29) 78.66
6. Rene Vrijmoed (25) 78.59
7. Daniel Mulikov (29) 77.92
8. Arjan Putman (27) 77.78
9. Murat Aeschliman (27) 77.64
10. Romeu Rosario (32) 77.56
11. Aleksandr Menke (25) 77.33
12. Jorund Nordnes (31) 77.31
13. Aksel Blix (27) 77.15
14. Sven WinklerPrins (31) 77.13
15. Rafael Carlos Loinaz (32) 76.77
16. Tim Fox (29) 76.76
17. Bekir Spies (32) 76.65
18. Yvo VanStraalen (23) 76.60
19. Jaime Roman (30) 76.41
20. Alexey Ryazanov (26) 76.23
21. Samuele DiLuca (30) 76.05

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on February 25, 2021, 07:12:20 PM

Very unlucky race for Verbeek. His domestiques lost contact soon, he got a mechanical in s3 and Valter had a high luck bonus in s5. Very dissapointed, this feels like i lost it due to bad luck on multiple levels.

Still very well done to Valter! Incredible results.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 25, 2021, 09:37:41 PM

Indeed, Valter did amazing with 3 victories in a row.  8) 8) 8)

My team did the opposite of amazing, and my conclusion is ; a bad hills campaign of SPORTLIFE. 

Liège–Bastogne–Liège ;
17º  Simon ( free role )
30º  Daniljev  :-[

Free role Simon and helpers Portugal and Rubiera started good in s1 and even were all 3 in the s3 front peleton of 65.
But teamcaptain Daniljev and best helper Kluivert started in s1 in the 2nd group on 0:20" behind the front peleton of 83.
Not such a problem, I thougt, Kluivert will bring back his teamcaptain in flat s2.
Both have a good flat skill, but they could not come back to the front group of 82 in s2.
Kluivert tried to repair the damage and helped very good in s3 and s4, but also in these high pace sections they could not come back.

In fact, LBL was over by not returning in s2, and they were riding a lost race.
If Daniljev could return in s2 ( what I expected ), he could have finished top10, probably even top7 or better.
Simon showed with his free role that a good start is essential, because Daniljev with help in all sections even finished 14 seconds later.

Luckily there is always a next race, because the best for me is to forget these bad hills classic races as quick as possible.
Let's go to the Tour de Romandie ! Hopefully the mountain tactics go better. :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 26, 2021, 12:59:26 AM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/c61102f7ec06a98faff60612b2c41637.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Unfortunately there is a time trial in this little tour, and that kills the GC chances of Beck.
Therefore a climber will be the teamcaptain in both mountain stages ; the just 24yo Macannazi who makes his debut in this role.

71 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Macannazi ( 24 ), climb
72 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Beck ( 28 ), tour
73 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/belgica.jpg) Lebrun ( 30 ), sprint
74 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Basov ( 32 ), climb
75 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/noruega.jpg) Nyheim ( 26 ), climb

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 26, 2021, 02:28:42 PM

stage 1 Romandie ;
5º  Macannazi
An excellent result, despite he was islolated in s4 and not good enough to follow the s4 break away group of 4.
Only stage winner Huard ( 26, RemcoEvenpoelckx ) could make the jump to the front in s5, thanks to help in s4 of his teammate Cabrita.
One climber dropped out of the front group, so it was up to Macannazi to sprint for the 5º place in the chasing group of also 4 (on 0:18").
A very promising result of my just 24yo climber who could not challenge any favorites. But he was not even the best 24yo in this stage, that was Seeler ( 24, ValeronIdolo ) who impressed by finishing 2º and outsprinted the 2 climbers (Miro and Menendez) of his early breakaway group.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 27, 2021, 09:11:50 AM

stage 2 Romandie ;
14º Lebrun

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on February 28, 2021, 01:50:58 AM

It's Richard Levin's turn to defy his advancing years to blitz the TTers at Romandie with a new race record.

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/etapas/yver.jpg)
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/gold.jpg) Richard Levin   33   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 0sg   167 points   
2nd   Sandro Adamo   31   ProCyclingTeam10   a 0 minutos 11sg

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 28, 2021, 10:15:28 AM

The motivation and self-confidence of Levin must be great after this stage victory. Let's hope this causes a good NT race this evening.  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 28, 2021, 10:22:09 AM

stage 5 Romandie ;
2º  Macannazi
Excellent result !  :)

Beck surprised me by scoring GC points ( 17º GC on 3:59" ) despite his free roles and his expected bad time trial ( 173º on 3:34" ).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on February 28, 2021, 10:47:49 PM

Eschborn-Frankfurt
2º  Beck
Excellent result of this German not-favorite, although, being so close to a classic victory is not entirely satisfactory.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 01, 2021, 01:39:49 PM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8ed052732fddd78a1b24c0eb2887c9f6.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Perhaps this is my least impressive Giro selection ever, and it was a bit of puzzling at the last moment.
For example a last minute selection of allrounder Vorre instead of climb-helper Nyheim who had a bad helpers tactic in Romandie.
Vorre won Itzulia, but he is not suited for this Giro and most likely he cannot score points somewhere. Perhaps he will be a helper.

The goal of my team is to score points in 6 stages, and just 2 out of the 5 are fully prepared for this Giro.
Normally in my team ; all 5 or at least 4 are fully prepared for a big tour.
But this season is different, and as it seems now, also in the other 2 big tours this same sad, not optimal prepared situation.
Hopefully I can buy a few cyclists, so my TdF- and Vuelta selections will be much stronger as now in the Giro.

51 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Macannazi ( 24 ), climb
52 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Daniljev ( 32 ), hills
53 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Millan ( 31 ), TT
54 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Tafi ( 33 ), climbsprint
55 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/dinamarca.jpg) Vorre ( 28 ), climbhills

stage 1 Giro ;
9º  Tafi

A good result of this Italian who I bought for 8k one week ago. And now he scored 45k price money + 27k points money.
But I have to say he was just bought as back up plan in case I could not buy enough good Giro cyclists, what indeed happened.
And Tafi even could have finished much better if he had help, because he had to do it on his own the whole race.
Macannazi had a bad helpers tactic, and Vorre was with Tafi in the first four sections but I forgot to make Vorre a helper.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 01, 2021, 07:50:50 PM

stage 2 Giro ;
7º  Daniljev
Very good result.
Too bad he did not show such a good result in the more important hills classic races where he finished outside the top 10 ( 11º, 12º, 30º ).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on March 01, 2021, 09:01:46 PM

Verbeeks 30th win in 1a. Excellent result!

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 02, 2021, 12:12:10 AM

Quote from: Sjiz on March 01, 2021, 09:01:46 PM

Verbeeks 30th win in 1a. Excellent result!

Very impressive ! 8)
I guess you have to add 2 more victories in his profile, and funny that you mentioned his nickname there.  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on March 02, 2021, 08:54:57 AM

Quote from: Vos on March 02, 2021, 12:12:10 AM

Quote from: Sjiz on March 01, 2021, 09:01:46 PM

Verbeeks 30th win in 1a. Excellent result!

Very impressive ! 8)
I guess you have to add 2 more victories in his profile, and funny that you mentioned his nickname there.  :)

Haha yes, I havent updates his profile this season. His nickname was given to him by our spanish colleagues. I liked it :p

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 02, 2021, 03:26:49 PM

Yes, I like the nickname too, because Verbeek is always on fire and he roasted many rivals.  :))

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Zatarra on March 02, 2021, 08:25:57 PM

Well... I made a rookie mistake. I did not switch my director so the first stages my riders rode with a director that was already preparing for the next small tour. His 4/100 on grand tours probably coated Caldeira and Jackson an even better result than their 3rd places. Time to switch to a proper grand tour director.

Oh, and I had a scout that thought he was funny. He focused on the name in stead of on skills. Well, he's fired already :-).

Donald Trump   Age : 19   Wage : 547
Stamina : 33   Sprint : 38   Climbing : 2
Flat : 29   Cobblestone : 35   Technique : 24
Downhill : 14   Hills : 63   Aggressiveness : 76
Time Trial : 21   Teamwork : 7   Experience : 0

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 02, 2021, 10:28:44 PM

Well he had the aggressiveness right...

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 02, 2021, 11:42:06 PM

stage 4 Giro ;
2º  Macannazi, solo on 0:57"
Again an excellent result in this mountain stage, that was dominated by team RemcoEvenpoelckx. Again his climber Huard won.

It did not look good in s1 because helper Vorre started too hard, or Macannazi started "too slow", it depends on how you look at it.
Anyway, in the first two sections Macannazi was isolated in the 2nd group.
Luckily he met his helper in s3, because Vorre could not follow the high pace in s3 of team RemcoEvenpoelckx.

The s3 situation = a break away of 3 RemcoEvenpoelckx climbers and the chasing group of 11 ( incl. my 2 climbers ) on already 0:49"
In between 2 too fast helpers of other teams on 0:25".

In s4 Huard said "thank you and bye" to his teammates, and he was riding solo to a certain victory due to the big time lead.
Also Macannazi attacked solo in s4, first he passed the 2 too fast helpers, and then he passed the 2 RemcoEvenpoelckx helpers.
He even came 1 second closer in the final climb, but still a too big gap of 0:48"
More importantly ; in s4 Macannazi was 0:19" ahead of the chasing group of 6 with just 3 teamcaptains in it.
And that time gap was enough to secure his 2º place in downhill section 5. :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 03, 2021, 05:27:47 AM

Good result Vos, top 3 still within reach for you.

Since my currently 22 yo TTers were 20, they'd been scoring points in Div1, only to be beaten for the top <23 title by a team sacrificing a cyclist late in the season for it or a fluke result.  Stage 6, either Nobby Licuria or Kirk Clinton need to put such a repeat out of reach, so at least one of them needs at minimum a top 10 result.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 03, 2021, 11:37:54 AM

Thanks, although the 1A division ranking is not my goal this season, and the top 3 is impossible with my current team. ( = 100% certain )
I even have seven 19yo's right now ( by accident / by coincidence ) + one 23yo training project.
And many blanc spaces for all upcoming tours and races.
For both WC races I have a contender, for both big tours I have a climber, 1 sprinter for BBT+Vuelta, and 1 GC contender for the Dauphiné.
That is it. So I have to buy some cyclists. Maybe a 22yo who tries to win the white jersey.  ;)  :))

I see you are competing versus the 22yo Australian cobblehills specialist who is the nr2 in the u23 DT.
Good luck with the white jersey battle, AA !

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 04, 2021, 11:30:16 AM

stage 6 Giro ;
13º  Millan
stage 7 Giro
9º  Millan

The Giro is almost over for my team ; out of the final 3 stages, only in stage 10 my climber (without TC bonus) can score some points.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 04, 2021, 11:41:03 AM

As current Australian NT manager it is nice to see that the future of Australia is battling in division 1A. :)
(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/jerseys/jersey_white.png)u23 season ranking =

nr 1 with 93 points  (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/au.png) Nobby Licuria ( 22, Aurora_Australis )  --> 5x international
nr 2 with 80 points  (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/au.png) Marc Huling ( 22, Cobblecrushers )  --> 2x international
nr 3 with 60 points  (https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/flags/small/au.png) Kirk Clinton ( 22, Aurora_Australis )  --> 1x international

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 04, 2021, 11:45:30 AM

The problem Nobby has to keeping that is the TT field is the toughest it's ever been so he didn't even get the points of last season, yet alone the potential points of seasons prior, and I'm sending him (and all the other 22yo) to 50 health - half of them are already at 66-50 health, so no more points for this season.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 04, 2021, 11:50:47 AM

A smart decision, AA, and good luck, hopefully an Australian can win the white jersey this season. :)
I have tried to win the white jersey for a few seasons,
and it seems to me that this season the u23 cyclists scored more points as in most other recent seasons.
Even that already at least 3x u23 cyclists have points, is about 1 more as usual.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 05, 2021, 02:55:33 PM

stage 9 Giro ;
23º  Tafi
A few unexpected extra points of my new 8k buy.

And today finally a golden icon after training him since the 16th of November :
(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colinasoro.jpg) (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/spain.jpg) Egoitz Rubiera ( 23, SPORTLIFE )  8)
He enters the golden ranking as nr 116, and as 7th best 23yo. What is 2 places better than his u23 DT ranking of previous season.
Although there is one 23yo who is ranked nr 112 on flathills, so I assume that Rubiera is the 6th best 23yo hills specialist at the moment.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 05, 2021, 07:27:01 PM

A victory in the last stage makes the GC victory even better this giro.

Just in 3th division though

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Combuijs on March 05, 2021, 09:08:26 PM

Quote from: wacco on March 05, 2021, 07:27:01 PM

A victory in the last stage makes the GC victory even better this giro.

Just in 3th division though

A win is a win!

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 05, 2021, 11:11:44 PM

stage 10 Giro ;
1º  Macannazi   8)
A very surprising victory of my just 24yo Italian climber who was not a favorite and had no TC bonus in stage 10 anymore.

The first victory ever of Macannazi, with a big thanks to his teammate, the also Italian Tafi.
His helpers back up plan in s2 worked perfectly, because after a too slow start, Tafi brought Macannazi back into the s2 peleton of just 36.
I guess my Italian teamcaptain-helper combo had home advantage in this Giro stage. :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 05, 2021, 11:41:50 PM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/191b5bdfdfade94930708639639a8727.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

The main goal is a top GC result with Bekir Spies, who makes his debut in my team.
He had not a successful career with just 1 result on his palmares ; 9º GC Catalunya in season 11.
So, this golden tour cyclist is happy and motivated that he can ride for my team at an old age. He is determined to get his best result ever.

71 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Spies ( 33 ), tour
72 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Beck ( 28 ), allround
73 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Kluivert ( 31 ), hills
74 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Daniljev ( 32 ), hills
75 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Tafi ( 33 ), allround

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on March 06, 2021, 09:15:44 AM

Verbeek had a good start in the Dauphine. A nice win. Lets see if he can keep it up and play a role in the GC as well.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 06, 2021, 12:09:59 PM

stage 1 Dauphiné ;
9º  Kluivert ( free role )
25º  Spies  on 0:41"
30º  Daniljev ( helper )

A good race of Spies, but not perfect because despite he had 3 helpers, he was already isolated in s2.
Also masterhelper Daniljev dropped in s2, was behind in s3 and s4, and finished in the same time as his teamcaptain.
This helpers mistake costed at least 7 seconds, but probably not more, I guess.
The upcoming time trial is most likely much more decisive for the GC, so let's hope Spies does well compared to his GC rivals.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 06, 2021, 08:00:00 PM

I just realized I forgot to publish my list for the Giro. Here it goes along with Dauphine and Suisse.

Giro d'Italia: - top participating riders
1. Tjerk Tusveld (32) 76.53
2. August Thoelen (25) 76.42
3. Steven Pillig (29) 76.29
4. Yvo VanStraalen (23) 75.35
5. Jaime Roman (30) 75.00
6. Maurizio Lorenzetto (27) 74.84
7. Alexander Castilla (25) 74.41
8. Amadeu Salvado (26) 73.35
9. Kilian Pizzinat (29) 73.29
10. Sergey Rodionov (27) 73.22

Of course I'm missing some top riders whose skills are not published, like Oscar Marcos, Nathan Lust or Espen Valgren.

Top 1a riders who didn't participate:
1. Dario Fernandez (29) 76.39
2. Jorund Nordnes (31) 76.21
3. Alexey Ryazanov (26) 75.96
4. Aksel Blix (27) 75.90
5. Rafael Carlos Loinaz (32) 75.88
6. Lazare Pires (27) 75.40
7. Rene Vrijmoed (25) 74.83
8. Adam Zipp (26) 74.41

Dauphiné - top participating riders
1. Arno Verbeek (28) 81.22
2. Abilio Andujar (31) 80.85
3. Rauno Laine (30) 80.37
4. Noel Gatson (30) 79.04
5. Ramon Antonio Vigo (27) 78.97
6. Paul Põldoja (29) 78.53
7. Bekir Spies (32) 78.00
8. Alessandro Figueras (29) 78.00
9. Rene Vrijmoed (27) 77.99
10. Alexander Iliev (25) 77.53
11. Danilo Bernardino (29) 77.33
12. Samuele Conte (32) 77.19
13. Norberto Peixoto (29) 77.14
14. András Valter (24) 76.74
15. Stef Eden (32) 76.71

Tour de Suisse - top 1a riders
1. Ramon Antonio Vigo (27) 77.71
2. Yannick Pierre (29) 77.07
3. Abilio Andujar (31) 75.98
4. Arno Verbeek (28) 75.84
5. Leonards Bleidelis (29) 75.62
6. Rauno Laine (30) 75.52
7. Ned Williams (29) 75.44
8. Lauris Freivalds (31) 75.39
9. Oliver Stamer (27) 75.16
10. Norberto Peixoto (29) 74.97
11. Belarmino Seixas (27) 74.78
12. Rogelio Tortosa (24) 74.74
13. Noel Gatson (30) 74.56
14. Paul Waithe (28) 74.56
15. Kirk Trump (29) 74.36

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 07, 2021, 03:41:06 PM

Quote from: ophiuko on March 06, 2021, 08:00:00 PM

Dauphiné - top participating riders
7. Bekir Spies (32) 78.00

Well, he is 33yo now and that has a big impact, but great to see that he is high ranked ! Thanks for publishing the lists, Ophiuko. 8)

stage 2 Dauphiné ;
30º  Spies  on 1:16"

stage 3 Dauphiné ;
5º  Kluivert ( free role )
26º  Daniljev ( helper )
29º  Spies  on 0:42"

A perfect helpers job resulted in a very good stage of Spies. And in a free role, 5th favorite Kluivert did excellent too.
Spies is now 8º GC on 1:06"

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on March 07, 2021, 03:51:40 PM

Im not sure verbeek really is a favourite for the dauphine. The TT really hurts a lot for him. Buuuuut we are in it and will do the the best we can.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 07, 2021, 10:09:13 PM

stage 4 Dauphiné ;
64º  Spies  on 0:58"

Hmmm, a good race, ánd a dissapointing, unlucky race.
First of all, despite enough energy in s1 of my team, the teamcaptain and his 4 helpers could not follow the s1 front peleton of 63.
A too slow start is always dissapointing and the damage is already done for the rest of the race,
and besides that, probably also a waste of energy, with less EP, most likely my team would have dropped too to the same 2nd group.

All other sections went well despite starting a half minute behind. Spies had help in all sections, including section 5 (his 2nd best helper).
Unfortunately Spies finished in the front of his group and not kept the wheel of his best (s4) helper who finished 4 places and 1 group better.
I guess he was unlucky, and the difference between these groups was a dissapointing 31 seconds ( extra loss ), that is a lot.
It is the difference with being now 12º GC on 2:05" instead of 7º GC and maybe podium within reach if some rivals cannot climb.

This stage 4 was the race that killed a top GC result.
Before this Dauphiné I expected that if it would go wrong, it would be one of the 2 pure hills stages. I guess I was wrong.
To compensate the unfortunate stage 4 of Spies ; hopefully all rivals have an unlucky stage 5.  :))

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on March 08, 2021, 11:36:56 AM

An 8th place for Verbeek in the GC. A nice result and some extra points.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 08, 2021, 11:59:14 AM

stage 5 Dauphiné ;
8º  Spies  on 0:00"
11º  Beck ( free role )
26º  Tafi

I guess my high GC expectations before this Dauphiné were justified ;  Bekir Spies ended up as 2º GC.  8)
And just 0:20" behind Dauphiné winner Figueras. If Spies would have had a little more luck in stage 4, then........
But happy with this podiumplace and no shame in losing to the this season's winner of Paris Nice and Catalunya.

A great Dauphiné of my team, including many good free role stage results.
The upcoming Tour de Suisse is a very different story ; I had exactly zero cyclists for that little tour.
But yesterday and today I was active on the transfermarket, and I bought 4 old cyclists, so at least I have a TdS selection.
I expect not many points. :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 08, 2021, 03:15:52 PM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/8e2fd4d4ee620c3f1192c94b40da9db9.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Four last minute buys will try to score a few points in Switzerland.
One place left, so the nr2 of the Dauphiné is also selected, although Spies is not suited for this TdS.
But he can help and maybe score a few points in stage 3, the hills time trial.
Two weeks ago Spies was bought for 905k, what is 5k less as the total amount of the other 4, bought yesterday and today.

Tommie van der Vaart returned to my team, he was thé helper of the amazing Dwars door Vlaanderen victory this season.
The backnumber that ends on 1 will go to Bekir Spies, as a reward to his excellent Dauphiné.
Low backnumbers, because to my surprise SPORTLIFE is high ranked in 1A at the moment. But I expect just a few points in this TdS.

41 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Spies ( 33 ), helper + hills TT ?
42 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) VanDerVaart ( 33 ), cobblehills
43 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Leeghwater ( 31 ), hill-sprint
44 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/belgica.jpg) Dockx ( 33 ), hill-sprint
45 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/noruega.jpg) Nyborg ( 33 ), cobblehills

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 09, 2021, 08:25:24 AM

stage 1 TdS ;
17º  VanDerVaart
A good result thanks to an excellent helper's job of Nyborg.

stage 2 TdS ;
12º  Dockx ( free role )
14º  Leeghwater
The very risky tactical gamble did not pay off in this stormy hills-sprint stage ; in s3 Leeghwater could not return to the front group of 31.
Free role rider Dockx had a harder start and he stayed in the front in the first 3 sections, what caused a very good result.

The TdS selection is reduced to 60% because both cobblehills cyclists are abandon after stage 2.
It is up to the remaining 3 cyclists to score a few points more in stages 3 and 5.
But I'm already satisfied ; after 2 stages 126 points, that is better than I expected.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 10, 2021, 07:50:47 PM

stage 3 TdS ;
20º  Spies
I had doubts if he was good enough to score points in this time trial, so this is a very nice result.

stage 4 TdS ;
14º  Spies
Excellent result and even surprising that he was good enough to score points. Probably thanks to perfect help of Leeghwater.

stage 5 TdS ;
13º  Dockx
Very good result thanks to a perfect helper's job of the much better sprinter Leeghwater, but he was out of form a lot, so no teamcaptain.

To my surprise Dockx and Spies finished as 20º and 21º GC.
Perhaps it was possible to get more points out of this TdS if one of them was teamcaptain one more time often.
Although that is doubtfull so low ranked in the GC, probably going for stage results was better for the score of total points.
And my (new bought) TdS selection did very well and much better as I expected ; the total in Switzerland = 251 points.  :)

All 3 TdS cyclists, who finished this little tour, will leave my team this evening ( 2 will be sold and 1 will be fired ).
The 2 other new bought TdS cyclists will stay in my team to ride the BinckBank Tour ; thé reason they were abandon after stage 2 TdS.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 11, 2021, 12:09:20 AM

Let's go with the TdF (red=team not selected yet):

1. Lazare Pires (28) 79.21
2. Dario Fernandez (29) 78.74
3. Jorund Nordnes (31) 78.11
4. Aksel Blix (27) 77.84
5. Allan Palmer (32) 77.75
6. Rafael Carlos Loinaz (32) 77.72
7. Alexey Ryazanov (26) 77.61
8. Yvo VanStraalen (23) 77.61
9. Daniel Mulikov (29) 77.00
10. Alessandro Figueras (29) 76.98
11. Jaime Roman (30) 76.96
11. Romeu Rosario (32) 76.95
12. Aleksandr Menke (25) 76.85
13. Murat Aeschliman (27) 76.57
14. Adam Zipp (26) 76.26
15. Torbjorn Rosland (29) 75.99
16. Kevin Pizzinat (29) 75.89
17. Arjan Putman (27) 75.88
18. Leon Vonk (28) 75.72
19. Orlando Santander (29) 75.69
20. Harry Tjoens (28) 75.62


Tops in 1a not participating:
1. Rene Vrijmoed (25) 77.74
2. Steven Pillig (29) 77.65
3. August Thoelen (25) 77.56
4. Tim Fox (29) 76.91
5. Sven WinklerPrins (31) 76.36
6. Maurizio Lorenzetto (27) 76.29
7. Alexander Castilla (25) 76.05
8. Samuele DiLuca (31) 75.97
9. Amadeu Salvado (26) 75.63

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 11, 2021, 02:30:47 AM

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/ec365cb5b403c66bf9212fc15b3d4289.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

Also for the Tour de France my team was not prepared in this sort of "reorganistion" season.
Although this TdF is an improvement compared to the Tour de Suisse, where my team was full of recent buys.

Because one climber is fully prepared ; Russian champion Basov, who won 11 mountain stages in his career, including 4 TdF stages.
Despite he was never high ranked.
And right after his last victory ( TdF stage 4 of previous season ) he dropped to a 9-star climber.
Now at the age of 32, he is ranked as nr 305 in the golden climbers list. So, maybe I should have no high expectations.

Also because he has no great support, because the 2nd cyclist who was planned to ride the TdF, that is the 24yo Macannazi ( nr 154 ).
He had amazing stage results in the recent Giro ( 2º, 2º, 1º ), but he will be a helper without TC.
And the SPORTLFE climbers are used to have a helper with also TC in the Tour de France, so let's see how this goes with less good help.

With just 2 planned cyclists for this TdF, and both are climbers, it is clear what the TdF goal is ; good results in the mountain stages.

3 open spaces left. :-[
A good opportunity to gain experience for Beck (this season 2º Frankfurt), Smith (this season 2 victories) and Tiblias (last minute buy).

Beck can be an extra helper in stage 8 and he can score points in stage 7.
Perhaps Smith can score a few points in the HFFMM time trial.
And last minute buy Tiblias (bought tonight)  can be an extra helper in the first sections of the mountain stages.

Tiblias is a doubtfull purchase of 7.1M
because Smith is the best climb TT specialist of the game with a good quality gap to the nr 2, and that is Tiblias.
And next season there are just 2 climb TT stages, including 1 with a flat section, what makes Smith less suited and Tiblias not suited.
But Tiblias proved to be the best climb TT specialist with a dh-section in  it, and he is 28yo, hopefully season 16 will be perfect for him.
And my hope is also on a suited NT race in next season 15, or season 16, for one of my 2 climb TT specialists.
It never happened ( in CFF3 ) that a SPORTLIFE cyclist won a NT race, so this is for sure a goal.
The future will tell if Tiblias is a good buy, for now it does not look like that. Besides that he is of little use as extra helper in this TdF.

At least I have a full TdF selection now :), because there were no more options in who to select among my older cyclists.
Some are preparing for the Vuelta, and that will be a much better selection than this TdF selection with just the nr 305 climber as teamcaptain.

41 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/rusia.jpg) Basov ( 32 ), climb + climb TT
42 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Macannazi ( 24 ), climb-helper
43 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/alemania.jpg) Beck ( 28 ), climb-sprint
44 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Smith ( 28 ), climb TT
45 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Tiblias ( 28 ), climb-helper

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 11, 2021, 05:23:30 AM

My TdF team is a botch of 22-year-olds slacking it off, an old guy who was supposed to have been retired, and some guy who's lived in teammate shadows for all of his career.

311 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Kirk Clinton   22 - TT (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/sol.jpg) - (health stage 9 - 75?)
312 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Christian Pocock   22 - TT - (health stage 9 - 75?)
313 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Tod Henderson   22 - TT - (health stage 9 - 75?)
314 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Dean Shields   28 - TT (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/sol.jpg)
315 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/australia.jpg) Ben Mitchum   33 - TT (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/sol.jpg)

Their job is simply to gain a few points in stage 9 to keep the team close to a retention spot.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 11, 2021, 12:44:43 PM

Quote from: Vos on March 11, 2021, 02:30:47 AM

last minute buy Tiblias (bought tonight)

Must have been a very last minute. I checked before going to sleep, 30 minutes before the transfer market, and he didn't have any bid so I didn't remove him from my TdF selection as the only helper of Rio. Now I have to race the Tour without any helpers, and only 4 riders registered. 7M worth it, I guess. It will probably help me not to promote to 1a div, I think it would be a bad idea to be in 1a next season as it would mean no money. Actually I should do like everyone else and go down to 3º div to earn a lot of money. But I cannot stop competing  :'(

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 11, 2021, 01:33:22 PM

I'm surprised he sold for $7m ophiuko.  Of course it's not a >$50mill buy, and he is a good cyclist, but still a strong price for his speciality.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 11, 2021, 05:11:07 PM

Well, others like Oscar Lozano or Jasper Lewis were sold for the same money at the same age. And Tiblias is better mountain TTer than them (second best mountain TTer). Plus, his downhill makes him the best in the climb TTs with one downhill section, and he also have 9 stars as climber, which makes him suitable as helper, unlike other climb TTers

I don't think he was overpriced at all.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 11, 2021, 06:17:24 PM

(https://i.imgur.com/WzWLXh0.jpg)
In the picture Gabriele Tiblias :"I'm a bargain for 7M, because as you can see, if have someting extra to offer." :-* :))

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 12, 2021, 04:57:59 PM

One more risky stage in my division and Karl dahlen will win his second grand tour of the season I think.

Actually the TTs are also risky but nothing to do about them. Just hope on not losing to much time and taking a lot with my tactics.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 12, 2021, 09:38:42 PM

Quote from: Vos on March 11, 2021, 06:17:24 PM

In the picture Gabriele Tiblias :"I'm a bargain for 7M, because as you can see, if have someting extra to offer." :-* :))

So your cyclist is a male crossdresser with man-boobs?

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 12, 2021, 11:25:30 PM

Quote from: Aurora Australis on March 12, 2021, 09:38:42 PM

Quote from: Vos on March 11, 2021, 06:17:24 PM

In the picture Gabriele Tiblias :"I'm a bargain for 7M, because as you can see, if have someting extra to offer." :-* :))

So your cyclist is a male crossdresser with man-boobs?

:))
Are you mentioning the reasons why you want to buy Tiblias, AA ?  :-*

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 13, 2021, 01:24:49 AM

Quote from: Vos on March 12, 2021, 11:25:30 PM

Quote from: Aurora Australis on March 12, 2021, 09:38:42 PM

Quote from: Vos on March 11, 2021, 06:17:24 PM

In the picture Gabriele Tiblias :"I'm a bargain for 7M, because as you can see, if have someting extra to offer." :-* :))

So your cyclist is a male crossdresser with man-boobs?

:))
Are you mentioning the reasons why you want to buy Tiblias, AA ?  :-*

Don't need Tiblias for that, we have videos of our own Bill Shorten running.

https://twitter.com/Andytwit123/status/1123767308470706177
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afja6NT8McE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIdItMpeDaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAWy2qHhV_Y

That's enough manboobs for anybody.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 13, 2021, 02:17:55 PM

Quote from: Aurora Australis on March 13, 2021, 01:24:49 AM

That's enough manboobs for anybody.

:)
Maybe Australian politicians only run when there is a camera. Besides his manboobs, he has got a weird running style.
But with all respect to him, it is good to run for someone who is over the 50.

Back to the only woman in CFF, Gabriele Tiblias, and she is smokin'hot, not just her looks, but also in a helpers job ;
because in the Tour de France she surprised me by going faster as expected in both mountain stages.
Also in this stage 5 where she was in the front group in s1 ánd s2, and got the hands-icon in s3 because mainhelper Macannazi dissapointed.

stage 2 TdF ; 
4º  Basov
stage 5 TdF ; 
4º  Basov

Excellent results of 9-star climber Basov. 
Hopefully this 32yo Russian champion does also very well in stage 8 with the final climb to Courchevel.
It will be the last time he is competing as teamcaptain in my team. Basov is extra motivated with the help of Italian beauty Gabriele.  ;)  :P

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 15, 2021, 07:26:11 AM

Quote from: wacco on March 12, 2021, 04:57:59 PM

One more risky stage in my division and Karl dahlen will win his second grand tour of the season I think.

Actually the TTs are also risky but nothing to do about them. Just hope on not losing to much time and taking a lot with my tactics.

Just one more stage and 26 seconds in advance. The flat TT was not fun to watch. But this last one should not be a problem

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 15, 2021, 09:12:30 AM

Quote from: wacco on March 15, 2021, 07:26:11 AM

Quote from: wacco on March 12, 2021, 04:57:59 PM

One more risky stage in my division and Karl dahlen will win his second grand tour of the season I think.

Actually the TTs are also risky but nothing to do about them. Just hope on not losing to much time and taking a lot with my tactics.

Just one more stage and 26 seconds in advance. The flat TT was not fun to watch. But this last one should not be a problem

Good luck in the final stage with Karl Dahlen, wacco !
I see he is a very profitable cyclist ;
you bought him cheap, and he had many good results, including the Giro victory and hopefully also this Tour victory.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 15, 2021, 09:46:42 AM

stage 6 TdF, HFFMM time trial ;
24º  Smith
26º  Basov
I expected a better result of Basov in this time trial. Maybe he had a bad race, or maybe my expectation was too high.

stage 7 TdF, heavy climb sprint ;
11º  Beck
Before this race ;
Beck had no help (besides s1), no TC bonus, no top form, to my surprise he could not challenge favorites, ánd there was a storm.
He anticipated on all this with his tactics, and that went well. I guess he could profit of some rivals who had tactical difficulties in this storm.

stage 8 TdF ;
11º  Basov
Helper Macannazi used 3 EP in dh section 4, but unfortunately that was not good enough.
Now Basov was isolated in s4 and missing out the very important extra bonus for the final climb.
Despite this, a good result with a very strong 5 EP finish, because this mountain stage with 2 flat sections is not his speciality.

stage 9 TdF, flat time trial ;
26º  Basov
30º  Smith
Some unexpected points, and a little "mistake" with Smith because he was riding with low health what costs him a few points.
Although, not really a mistake, because very suprising that probably for the first time ever, he scores points in a flat TT with his flat skill of 41.

In this Tour de France my team scored a total of 540 points ( Basov= 419, Beck= 80, Smith= 41 ), what is for sure not impressive.
But still a little bit better as I expected with this not strong TdF selection, that had just one fully prepared cyclist, a 9-star climber.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 15, 2021, 03:25:37 PM

Quote from: Vos on March 15, 2021, 09:12:30 AM

Quote from: wacco on March 15, 2021, 07:26:11 AM

Quote from: wacco on March 12, 2021, 04:57:59 PM

One more risky stage in my division and Karl dahlen will win his second grand tour of the season I think.

Actually the TTs are also risky but nothing to do about them. Just hope on not losing to much time and taking a lot with my tactics.

Just one more stage and 26 seconds in advance. The flat TT was not fun to watch. But this last one should not be a problem

Good luck in the final stage with Karl Dahlen, wacco !
I see he is a very profitable cyclist ;
you bought him cheap, and he had many good results, including the Giro victory and hopefully also this Tour victory.

He will also be the leader in the vuelta.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 15, 2021, 07:13:49 PM

What a race. Karl has a master helper. And was competin for a third stage victory. He ended second in the sprint 7 seconds after the victor. His second gran tour victory of the season. Let’s go to the vuelta in a couple days for number three.

Maybe I should keep him as 34 year old for division two.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: kirin on March 15, 2021, 09:34:57 PM

Zipp managed to finish 6th on Le Tour, considering the not so good results at the first cobble stage where i might or might not forgotten to rest someone in the team, not a bad position.
He probably could have done better. Now it's all up to Piñeiro in La Vuelta, where a good result from him can save the team from descending and possibly selling almost all riders.
For the Klasika, we are not really expecting anything, but the lineup will be around the recently signed Bekir Spies.
There's probably a bigger chance at BBT, where Mazzarelli or Winter can get some nice points on the GC.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 16, 2021, 10:04:56 AM

Let's go with BBT (I haven't looked at the startlists, just the ones who are in 1a):

1. Yannick Pierre (29) 84.33
2. Kirk Trump (29) 81.86
3. Ned Williams (29) 81.56
4. Biel Jaen (24) 81.17
5. Norberto Peixoto (29) 80.82
6. Belarmino Seixas (27) 80.55
7. Oliver Stamer (27) 80.47
8. Arno Verbeek (28) 80.23
9. Leonards Bleidelis (29) 80.11
10. Leonid Leonov (32) 80.02
11. Spodris Martisons (24) 79.72
12. Paul Waithe (28) 79.71
13. Vince Palmer (28) 79.56
14. Ketil Fossum (29) 79.31
15. Lenny Seaman (29) 79.26
16. Abilio Andujar (31) 79.06
17. Rogelio Tortosa (24) 78.95
18. Lauris Freivalds (31) 78.93
19. Stan Winnen (27) 78.93
20. Bruno Mazzarelli (25) 78.86

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 16, 2021, 11:46:53 AM

Unfortunately no points of Ricky Vorre in SanSebastian, he came close and finished as 34º
But he is not really suited for this classic race. His total of 6 EP in s1 and s2 was not good enough to be in the s3 front group of 21.
So it is up to the BBT selection to score some points.
And Ricky Vorre is selected too (mainly for experience), because there was one place free after selling hills specialist Daniljev today.

(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/d3b3b3dd456bf24faf1cea8cfca6c56d.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

In 4 stages I expect points.
The expectations in both cobblehills stages are not high with VanDerVaart as teamcaptain.
But sprinter Lebrun should be able to get top results, or at least top 10 results. I tried to buy a good sprint helper, but I did not succeed.
So, climb sprinter Tafi is selected despite his low sprint GV. Hopefully he can do a good lead out job in s4 of both sprint stages.

81 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/belgica.jpg) Lebrun ( 30 ), sprint
82 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) VanDerVaart ( 33 ), cobblehills
83 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/noruega.jpg) Nyborg ( 33 ), cobblehills
84 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Tafi ( 33 ), semi-sprint helper
85 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/dinamarca.jpg) Vorre ( 27 ), semi-helper / experience

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 16, 2021, 04:26:22 PM

BBT is also starting in div 3. The goal? Victory with Norbert vaesen. For every stage he has a nice helper, I doubt about the two cobble hill stages but he should be strong enough to do it on his own.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 16, 2021, 07:41:35 PM

stage 1 BBT ;
4º  Lebrun

JGMTeam forced a s1 break away group of just 25 in this sprint race in Friesland. Lebrun and Tafi could follow.
In s2 that same team kept the pace high or maybe even higher, the front group narrowed down to just 11. Lebrun and Tafi dropped.
But Lebrun and Tafi could return in s3, together with 26 other cyclists. Now the s3 front group has 39 cyclists.
In s4 Bolsward is already in sight, because this part of Friesland is really flat. Just 2 tired cyclists dropped and now a s4 group of 37.

The final sprint !
5 sprinters crossed the finishline at the same moment ( and the other 19 sprinters right behind them ), so a photo finish was needed.
Blair ( AUS ) was declared as stage winner. Also nr2 Segura ( COL ) was of an Australian team.
And nr 4 Lebrun ( BEL ) finished between two Dutchmen, nr 3 Biesheuvel and nr 5 VanHeeswijk, maybe both were born in Friesland,
what might be the reason they were extra motivated to win. But they finished one bullet lenght behind the winner.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 17, 2021, 07:16:51 PM

With 1m20 time loss in stage 1 for Vaessen and twice around 20 seconds in the other two stages the victory will be difficult. His current spot is 6th with almost 2 minutes behind. But just two other riders ahead of him should be able to stay close in the coming two stages. With the first rider there is just 1 minute difference so who knows.

The bbt on its own is already very successful. Stage victory in stage 1 and 3. The best rider for victory in stage 2 needed to help and he did awesome. I just made a mistake in the first stage with the tactics I think.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 17, 2021, 11:59:29 PM

stage 2 BBT ;
31º  VanDerVaart  --> in the same time as point-scoring cyclists.
Almost unexpected extra points, to my surprise it would have possible to score points, if he was riding with better tactics ( he didn't ).

stage 3 BBT ;
29º  Tafi ( helper, who finished with a mechanical breakdown ).
A "tactical failure" with teamcaptain Lebrun ( 38º ) because he started too slow.

Although that was an intentional tactical choice, because Lebrun was not very suited for this stage due to s3 with 2 hills in it.
But with a very risky tactic he might get a top result. I had to try / gamble on his active weather icon, TC bonus and good helper.
Tafi did great and kept pace with the front group, too bad Lebrun was not in his wheel from the start.
That Lebrun was not really suited, was shown by the fact that he never got the dissapointment icon while he was behind the whole race.
Despite this ; I think this was a missed opportunity to score a good stage result of at least top10.
But in my tactics he was going for a top5, no guts no glory.  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 18, 2021, 09:38:42 AM

stage 4 BBT ;
15º  VanDerVaart

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 18, 2021, 09:40:48 AM

The victory in bbt will not be possible for me.

Vaessen ended second on 3 seconds from the current leader in the GC. Who is 1minute ahead.

Number two in the GC is only 10 seconds ahead that should be possible.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 18, 2021, 10:29:58 AM

And my last list of the season, La Vuelta:

1. Lazare Pires (28) 78.67
2. August Thoelen (25) 77.64
3. Aksel Blix (27) 77.08
4. Rafael Carlos Loinaz (32) 76.91
5. Dario Fernandez (29) 76.79
6. Steven Pillig (29) 76.75
7. Allan Palmer (32) 76.58
8. Jaime Roman (30) 76.53
9. Maurizio Lorenzetto (27) 76.53
10. Yvo VanStraalen (23) 76.50
11. Alexey Ryazanov (26) 76.31
12. Rene Vrijmoed (25) 76.14
13. Brooklyn Marbley (30) 76.14
14. Sergey Rodionov (27) 76.12
15. Samuele DiLuca (31) 76.08
16. Leon Vonk (28) 76.08
17. Sven WinklerPrins (31) 76.02
18. Daniel Mulikov (29) 76.02
19. Aleksandr Menke (25) 75.85
20. David Manuel Piñeiro (24) 75.84

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 19, 2021, 12:40:30 AM

stage 5 BBT ;
20º  VanDerVaart
My Vuelta selection should be better than this BBT selection, so, enough written about this BBT and let's go to the Vuelta.


(https://www.worldcyclingstats.com/img/logos/c8892128eff206aeb674bcc6880a73a6.png)   (https://i.imgur.com/GvIPZ8B.png)selection SPORTLIFE

4 different types of specialists are selected, so the goal is to score stage points.
I could have selected 5 different types, because all my 33yo's have also TC for this Vuelta.
But I decided not to select one of them, and all 3 are for sale.
Instead climber Macannazi (without TC) is selected as helper of Nyheim, who will be the only specialist with a helper.
Sprinter Lebrun and world champion Kluivert have to do it without support, so my expectations of them should not be high.

With 3 mountain stages and a climb helper, it is obvious that Nyheim gets the lowest backnumber.
I see he has very fierce (and better) rivals, so it will be a hard battle in the Spanish mountains.
Mountain stage 7 to Bola del Mundo will be the most important because there is a sponsor deal at stake.
Unfortunately helper Macannazi will drop halfway this Vuelta to a very low form, so maybe Nyheim will plan an early solo attack in stage 7.

81 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/noruega.jpg) Nyheim ( 26 ), climb
82 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/belgica.jpg) Lebrun ( 30 ), sprint
83 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/holanda.jpg) Kluivert ( 31 ), hills
84 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/colombia.jpg) Millan ( 31 ), TT
85 (https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/imagenes/italia.jpg) Macannazi ( 24 ), climb

Good luck everyone !  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 19, 2021, 07:28:11 PM

stage 1 Vuelta ;
9º  Lebrun
a decent good result without help in the final 3 sections, what was expected.

stage 2 Vuelta ;
5º  Nyheim
it went wrong in section 3, where Nyheim intentionally dropped to save energy for the final climb,
but to my surprise helper Macannazi decided to stay in the s3 front group of just 7.
Despite this, still a very good result of Nyheim to finish as last of the first chasing group of 3, behind Stegmaier and stage winner Miro.

Just like in this stage 2, also in the upcoming mountain stage 3 Nyheim cannot challenge favorites. Hopefully he will do very well again.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 19, 2021, 10:16:53 PM

Stage 1 one a little disappointing with losing time with Karl. Stage two a nice 3th spot with Karl. Which gives him the second in the GC.

Stage 4,5 and 8 should be the important stages where he can take a lite of time and a stage victory (stage 5, where we also got a nice sponsor deal offer.

The vuelta is not Karl his favorite grand tour but he has the motivation and teamspirit of our teammanager to win his third grand tour of the season.

After the vuelta he will leave on a training camp for his last points for my team in the beginning of next season before he will be looking for another team (or maybe just to stop cycling)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 20, 2021, 06:27:11 AM

Karl has taken the red jersey, 5 seconds in front of a better climber but just 1 big mountain stage left. So he will not be the problem.

Number three at 16 seconds worries me more. But if we look to the previous grand tours. Karl took minutes in the cobbled stages. And Karl is a bad TT rider but the other one is worse. So a third Grand Tour victory in the same season starts to be very possible because the number four is already 2 minutes behind the top three.

Next stage our sprinter may be the helper. Vaessen is the top favorite and is allowed to take a stage victory

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 20, 2021, 07:40:15 AM

stage 3 Vuelta ;
2º  Nyheim    8)
Excellent result !
Nyheim attacked on the final climb, leaving the chasing group of 5 top climbers behind, and finished solo, 0:17" behind favorite Miro.

(https://i.imgur.com/HeVMAxd.jpeg)
Nyheim was born near Trollstigen (see picture), his many training kilometers on this Norwegian climb were the basis of this excellent result.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 20, 2021, 08:37:37 PM

Vaessen gave his team the first stage victory this vuelta. Karl ended in the fourth place and is in the lead with more as 1 minute on the number two. It is looking good

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 21, 2021, 07:41:25 AM

And Karl also takes his victory and a sponsor deal. No chances in the GC

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: kirin on March 21, 2021, 02:45:13 PM

With half on La Vuelta done, my GC leader, Piñeiro, is currently on a not that good 5th place. The cobble stage was a dissapointment, even if the team had no specific domestique for it, since he couldn't finish over the leader Pires. Apart from the top 2 riders, there are a lot of contenders in less than 1 minute for the third place.

1    Lazare Pires   28   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 00"   0   0
2    August Thoelen   27   Inglourious_Bastards   1: 16"   0   0
3    Brooklyn Marbley   31   Combuijs   2: 22"   0   0
4    Juan Carlos Palencia   27   ValeronIdolo   2: 25"   0   0
5    David Manuel Piñeiro   26   azerite   2: 28"   0   0
6    Jaime Roman   31   Fiestina   2: 39"   0   0
7    Maurizio Lorenzetto   27   FaltososDeChigre   2: 40"   0   0
8    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   33   Valderend   2: 47"   0   0
9    Alexey Ryazanov   26   Spitz   3: 13"   0   0
10    Julio Manuel Miro   29   Rekutxuteam   3: 31"   0   0

Surprising how the pure climber Miro is still on the top 10, but that will change after todays hill stage.

Also, for the end of the season i will list for selling most of my riders, including some of my GC ones

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 21, 2021, 07:20:43 PM

Just a 10 second loss for Karl and a nice 2nd place this stage. His first contender is 2 minutes behind. The last MMMMM stage we lost 44 seconds. So the overall victory should be possible.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 22, 2021, 01:19:28 AM

stage 4 Vuelta ;
23º  Lebrun
Unexpected extra points in this cobble stage, because sprinter Lebrun has a cobbleskill of 62.
In climbsprint stage 5 he almost surprised ; 31º with a very low climb/dh combo of 14/5.

stage 6 Vuelta ;
4º  Kluivert
Very good result, because as planned, he had to do it without help.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 22, 2021, 02:28:17 PM

stage 7 Vuelta ;
6º  Nyheim
A good result, despite he started in the 2nd group and was isolated in s1 and s2. It shows that flat counts in those 2 sections,
because to my surprise helper Macannazi ( no TC and just 94 form ) was in the break away group ( s1=13, s2=8 ).

Luckily in s3 his communication device worked again, and I could order Macannazi to drop out of the front and help Nyheim.
So they were both together in the s3 big chasing group of 25 on just 0:08" to the reduced break away group of 3.

In s4 all teamcaptains of the first 3 groups were isolated ;
a new front group of 3 (only later stage winner Miro kept his position in the front) was chased by a group of 4 on 0:09"
Nyheim was in the 2nd chasing group of 3 on 0:18"

s5, the brutal final climb to the Bola del Mundo ;
Just like in stage 2, it was a sprint-a-deux between Miro ( Rekutxuteam ) and Stegmaier ( IKIBASQUE ).
Again Miro won, so together with his solo victory in stage 3, he won all 3 mountain stages in this Vuelta.
0:20" behind these 2 topclimbers, Palachev finished as 3º by outsprinting Andres(4º).
On 0:31 Nyheim(6º) finished in a little group of topclimbers ; 5º Markhus, 7º Huard, and 8º Xavier.
And this was good enough to score a sponsor deal ( top 8 ) of 334k.  :)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 22, 2021, 07:17:25 PM

Stage 7. Karl finished 3th with 38 seconds loss to the number two in the GC. But in stage 8 Karl finished 3th again and now has a very nice lead of 2m40 in the GC. With all the climbing stages I fought the vuelta would have been the most difficult to win. But the tour will be the closest one.

I expect some time loss in the TT but stage ten Karl should end in front again.

Second goal is the keep the 4th place with my second rider, but I think he will lose to much time with the TT.

After the vuelta I also expect to enter the top 3 in my division. Not that hard with only 5 teams competing but I started to play with stage 33. With the first races without one of my starting riders stage 37. So I am happy. Looking forward to division 2. It will be much harder and I am already starting with a younger population. The goal next season is to stay in division 2 with a healthy economy, promotion to division one should be after my 3th or 4th season.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 23, 2021, 01:07:16 AM

Unfortunately no <22 jersey for me, for yet again another manager decided to sabotage their own 22 year old late season at 100% health to get it.  But I've just noticed that Nobby Licuria is at gold TT so that's a better reward (and apparently golden several races ago).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Rico on March 23, 2021, 08:01:22 AM

Quote from: Aurora Australis on March 23, 2021, 01:07:16 AM

Unfortunately no <22 jersey for me, for yet again another manager decided to sabotage their own 22 year old late season at 100% health to get it.  But I've just noticed that Nobby Licuria is at gold TT so that's a better reward (and apparently golden several races ago).

"Sabotage" sounds a bit negative. I don't know how you see it, but that's how this game works I think. You sacrifice trainings to get some results. I know I had to sacrifice some trainings to compete in Grand Tours and I assume you had to sacrifice a few trainings to become World Champion.

Of course, the ugly thing is you have to sacrifice U24-trainings to go for the white yersey, but that's the price you have to pay I guess. I know I would probably pay that price, but I also know for the coming 15 seasons I won't be competing for a white yersey  ;D

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 23, 2021, 09:13:54 AM

stage 9 Vuelta ;
4º  Millan
A good TT result as 5th favorite.

For the first time ever my team has just 12 cyclists, on purpose, as preparation for next season.
So I have enough space for another attempt to set up a mini youth team aside.
For now ; because there is always a possibillity that I buy too much the next few days,
although I'm not rich, what might be an advantage for me not to get a too full team with my buying moods. :)
By the way, this is the only preparation, because also for the first time ever, zero cyclists are on training camp for next season.

First the final 4 races of season 15 ;
@ stage 10 Vuelta = Hopefully flat sprinter Lebrun can survive the s3 hill, and score a few points. It will be difficult.
@ Lombardia = Beck will be the teamcaptain, but I don't expect points. Perhaps he can surprise me by finishing top30.
@ WC TT Austria = Just one contender ; Millan. His 4º place in stage 9 Vuelta is promising, but there might be more good rivals in the WC.

@ WC ( hills ) Portugal = The current world champion Kluivert is of course the teamcaptain.
But 12+ races ago I failed to buy a good helper, so his chance to be the world champion again is very small.
And probably his world champion title of previous season ( with team QuintoYtapa ) was already surprising.

Luckily Kluivert is not entirely without help, because he gets help of ;
the best Spanish pure hills specialist who never was selected for the Spanish NT.  ???
At the moment he is just a few places below Kluivert in the golden hills ranking, so I have the nrs 9 and 14 to compete in the WC hills race.
Thé problem is that helper Rubiera has exactly 50 health in the final race of this season, and he is not allowed to rest of his manager.
So, let's see how this goes, I have zero experience in racing with 50 health. Hopefully he is good enough to help 2 sections.
More importantly ; it is now certain that Rubiera was a good training project and a good investment of 3,6M (+20k, just for fun, he has TC too).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: ophiuko on March 23, 2021, 09:50:34 AM

Quote from: Vos on March 23, 2021, 09:13:54 AM

More importantly ; it is now certain that Rubiera was a good training project and a good investment of 3,6M (+20k, just for fun, he has TC too).

Just some proof that I don't lie with my simulations  ;)

Quote from: ophiuko on November 14, 2020, 12:41:06 PM

Egoitz Rubiera    Edad : 21    Sueldo : 852
Resistencia : 55    Sprint : 32    Montaña : 26
LLano : 61    Pavés : 14    Tecnica : 82
Descenso : 78    Colinas : 83    Agresividad : 81
Crono : 22    TraEqui : 31    Experiencia : 4

Rubiera, if trained at 100%, could be like this:

Egoitz Rubiera    Edad : 24    Sueldo : 852
Resistencia : 88    Sprint : 37    Montaña : 31
LLano : 83    Pavés : 19    Tecnica : 87
Descenso : 87    Colinas : 99    Agresividad : 85
Crono : 27    TraEqui : 36

This simulation would be in top10 of DT by pure hills right now

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 23, 2021, 10:53:29 AM

For sure your simulations have high respect and high value to me, Ophiuko.
In the case of Rubiera, I saw it after I bought him ( otherwise I paid more ), because I did not read the Spanish forum back then.
But it was great to see right after I bought him, because you made me aware of that forumpost the day I bought him.

The doubts I had about training him, was that I had no clue how good the competition was, when I bought him at 21yo.
And the season after, he was the nr 8 in the u23 DT. What did not made my doubts dissapear.
Also I had doubts because he could not train perfectly in my team, I knew that already when I bought him.
Although he decided the training schedule and I tried to train him as good as I could, but that was not perfect.

But with good(but not perfect) training and his good talent rating, he overtook many other hills specialists by now.
And the 23yo hills generation is very good, what was a bit misleading to me in how good Rubiera would be.
At the moment the top 5 of 23yo hills specialists are ranked as this in the golden hills ranking ; 2º, 8º, 14º, 16º, 20º.

Your simulation seems accurate to me, the only difference is that I trained flat much less high and downhill higher.
What is also a difference in the amount of training sessions, in your perfect scenario he could have trained more and I agree with that.
He is not trained perfectly in my team, mainly due to my racing staff with a high number on resting.
That is a waste of a few trainings per season, and probably I made a few rare other training mistakes too.

But it is a game of choices / setting priorities ; the 1A championship was more worth to me than training Rubiera perfectly. ;)
Also a disadvantage of training in my team with racing staff ; Rubiera has extreme low experience.
Luckily he had already 4 xp gained in your team. Thanks ! And also thanks for selling him, I'm really happy with Rubiera. :D
Anyway, it is good to see that he is very close to what he could have looked like if he was trained perfectly.
It seems I did not mess him up too much, that is a big relief to me. :) Another thanks for posting this, Ophiuko !  8)

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 23, 2021, 08:42:48 PM

Karl wins the vuelta with almost 4 minutes ahead.

3 grand tour victories with the same rider, he jumped to the second spot in points in our division.

The next stage he will be a helper. Before going on a TC for his last efforts next season.

I am still 1000 points behind the number three in the division. Getting on the podium will be very hard I think.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 23, 2021, 08:53:18 PM

Quote from: wacco on March 23, 2021, 08:42:48 PM

Karl wins the vuelta with almost 4 minutes ahead.
3 grand tour victories with the same rider

Impressive and very nice  8) 8) 8)

stage 10 Vuelta ;
17º  Lebrun
JGMTeam made this ( little windy / 1 stripe ) race very hard, and it went like this : 28 - 19 - 11 - 12 - 6
Lebrun started good in the front group, but dropped in s2.
Despite full power in s3, he dropped even further to the 4th group on 0:41", but with many energy he returned to the 2nd group in s4.
In s5 he could not follow the high pace and ended up in the 3rd group. At least he won the sprint of the little 3rd group on 0:47"

Next season will be much more important for Lebrun, because as it seems now, he will be my sprint teamcaptain in Doha ( Qatar ).

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Aurora Australis on March 24, 2021, 12:54:59 AM

(https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/iconoscff/croner3.jpg)
Finally, not 2nd to an acheivement.
King of Time Trial
Teams 1

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Sjiz on March 24, 2021, 07:10:46 PM

Well, this is it. The final race for Verbeek. Still a lot to race for. The golden bike seems to be for Andujar but there is still a chance to win. We will give it all we have and then its retirement for the best hiller of the game.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 24, 2021, 07:50:36 PM

I DID IT, number three in my division. Thanks to the victory and 3th spot in the TT before all the golden riders of chronotony.

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: wacco on March 25, 2021, 07:17:35 AM

Also the Hills are conquered by my riders.

Let’s go division 2.

Another question. Next night there will be the update. If I put my internation scout on active, do I get a 19 year old tomorrow morning or is the first one on Monday?

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 25, 2021, 07:36:20 AM

Quote from: wacco on March 25, 2021, 07:17:35 AM

Also the Hills are conquered by my riders.

Let’s go division 2.

Another question. Next night there will be the update. If I put my internation scout on active, do I get a 19 year old tomorrow morning or is the first one on Monday?

The season update ( in about 17 hours = approximately 00.25am ) is without activity on the transfermarket and scouting.
So, all cyclists now listed as 1 day on the TL, will be sold Monday morning 1am, also then, the scout is active for the first time of the season.
Of course, you can get one 19yo 3 days earlier by recruiting after the season update.
Good luck in the 2nd division !

Title: Re: Season 15
Post by: Vos on March 25, 2021, 08:17:47 AM

Giro di Lombardia ;
26º  Beck
Very good result, considering his doubtfull GV + he was riding with 99/99 without TC + tactical mistake that he was already isolated in s2.

Salzburg TT WC ;
12º  Millan
Dissapointing result, because (or despite) it is the WC time trial, so anything can happen.
But Millan is not high ranked(nr58) in the golden TT ranking, so maybe my expectations were too high.
And it was close, for example the top 14 finished within 0:10" and the best ranked flat TT specialist McDermot finished just as 14º
The very surprising winner was Kangert ( Fiestina ) ; he is low ranked(nr62). I sold him on January 1st after being 9 months in my team.
If I knew he could be the worldchampion almost 3 months later, I would not have sold him.  :)

Lisboa WC ;
10º  Kluivert
Not a good race, Rubiera could help just one section.
And a little dissapointing result, despite Kluivert was not among the favorites and my expectations were not high.

A good season 15 despite it was a bit of an in between / reorganisation season.
My team finished as 9º in division 1A, for what it is worth because the 1A ranking was not my goal.
And there were just 4 race victories, what is also below my average per season.

But what made this season 15 good ; 
that were not the 2 expected stage victories in little tours of climb TT specialist Smith,
but the very surprising DDV victory of the 33yo Stevens ( the first time ever my team won a cobblehills classic race ),
ánd the also surprising Giro stage victory of the just 24yo climber Macannazi.
The Itzulia GC victory of Vorre and the unexpected world championship with the NT of Australia, contributed to a good season 15 too. 8)