The Combuijs Capers

[Vos]

I got very good news a few days ago: my vision will be restored, it might be a bit worse in the right eye, but that won't hamper too much. That right eye is now healthy again, but not stable yet. So I am struggling a bit with looking closeby, looking on a computer and looking far away and I am also having headaches and an irritated eye in the morning. But within a few months this should recover completely.

I can tell you that living with one eye is very, very difficult and it took a long time to adjust a bit. Especially as you can't really practice with one eye only as it is hard to unlearn when vision is restored. I have gotten serious respect for people who have the live with one eye.

The restored vision also means I can continue with my real life sport table tennis. I otherwise would have to give that up as well as this is a sport that really can't be done with one eye.

In a way I feel reborn again so I had a little party a few days ago, enjoying an "Enfant terrible" beer from the "Dochter of the Korenaar". The child was not terrible at all, however the headache the day after was.
https://untappd.com/b/brouwerij-de-dochter-van-de-korenaar-l-enfant-terrible/9801.

Very good news and great to read, mate, keep strong the next few months.

[Vos]

Perfect season calculation, Combuijs, 1 point difference !   
Good luck in 1A next season.

[Combuijs]

First of all, thank you for all your reactions and good wishes, they really did encourage me to keep faith in my eyes!

Well, this was not the season I had envisioned beforehand...

Some milestones we gained:
It seems we had a famous rider, but hey, aren't they all famous by now?


Chester Laybutt, Adam Neeskens and Tristan Prins are worth their weight in gold:


Oliver King wears a silver shirt:


We have been awarded 40 stars:


We have recently switched to downhill training, luckily no injuries in this risky area...

We got one new sponsor, Orkla, for finishing in the top 10 in the third stage of the Tour of Romandy. They will provide us with some delicious food during the next season.


An brisk overview of remaining worthy results:

Tristan Prins 17th GC, 10th stage 2 (Güeñes), 9th stage 3 (Vitoria), 5th stage 4 (Arrate) Itzulia
Tristan Prins 9th stage 3 (Porrentruy) Tour de Romandie
Dénes Nemcsik 21st stage 4 (Reggio di Calabria), 14th stage 5 (Cassano Milano) Giro
Thomas Freitag 4th stage 7 (Praia a Mare) Giro
Koen Helder 21st stage 8 (Montalcino) Giro
Sam Parker 27th stage 6 (Montevarchi), 27th stage 10 (Milano) Giro
Sam Parker 26th stage 1 (Louhans Chateaurenaud) Dauphiné
Tristan Prins 18th GC, 28th stage 4 (Valmorel), 22nd stage 5 (Vaujany) Dauphiné
Chester Laybutt 3rd stage 5 (Gansingen) Switzerland
Adam Neeskens 20th stage 5 (Gansingen) Switzerland
Oliver King 11th GC, 26th stage 2 (Luzern), 9th stage 4 (Tiefenbachferner) Switzerland
Robert Brubaker 20th stage 1 (Chartres)), 27th stage 4 (Nantes) Tour de France
Oliver King 20th GC, 29th stage 3 (Tarbes), 26th stage 5 (Courchevel), 15th stage 6 (La Pierre St. Martin), 11th stage 7 (Pamplona) Tour de France
Tristan Prins 6th Clasica San Sebastian
Robert Brubaker 23rd stage 1 (Sittard Geleen) Binck Bank Tour
Julius Maalderink 16th GC, 23rd stage 3 (St. Pieters Leeuw), 24th stage 4 (Rotterdam) Binck Bank Tour
Julius Maalderink 8th stage 4 (Cariñena) Vuelta
Arjen Rutte 17th stage 4 (Cariñena) Vuelta
Tristan Prins 21st stage 9 (Vallada) Vuelta
Will Miller 8th GC, 29th stage 7 (Lloret de Mar), 6th stage 9 (Vallada) Vuelta
Tristan Prins 16th Giro di Lombardia
Robert Brubaker 25th World Championship time trial in Doha.

Division standings at the end of season 5:

1º      CyKings   14610   3   4   3   
2º      Flyvende_hjul   14325   4   4   4   
3º      Codex   10572   3   4   6   
4º      Rekutxuteam   8562   0   1   1   
5º      CobbleCrushers   8278   5   5   2   
6º      ChessPower   8175   5   4   5   
7º      Marcatone_Due   6961   1   2   4   
8º      Atlantico   6911   0   2   1   
9º      Matterhorn   6837   7   0   2   
10º      CrossAndGo    6677   2   1   4   
11º      Facha_Bartolo   6568   3   4   2   
12º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   6013   10   1   1   
13º      SPORTLIFE   6009   2   3   1   
14º      °Peachy°Melocotons   5972   4   5   1   
15º      ProdopingPong   5950   0   4   6   
16º      Ares   5820   7   5   4   
17º      LOSRAYOSDELARRY   5792   3   3   2   
18º      DeRodeVod   5624   2   2   3   
19º      CaptainOrange   5488   1   2   2   
20º      MortoviaCycling   5398   0   0   2   
21º      SentinelChickens   5382   1   2   2   
22º      galegospolabici   5253   0   1   0   
23º      Caracoles   5245   3   3   5   
24º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   5215   0   1   2   
25º      Pomilles_Balears   5079   0   0   2   
26º      CC_Porco_Jones   4848   0   1   2   
27º      Aspigarri   4742   1   1   3   
28º      Thorboassonarvesen   4596   5   1   2   
29º      KunTeam   4562   0   1   0   
30º      Combuijs   4553   0   0   1   
31º      SaulSalinasTeam   4552   2   5   2   
32º      Oska   4093   2   1   0   
33º      FaltososDeChigre   4083   3   0   0   
34º      FlyEaglesFly   4022   0   1   0   
35º      PDM_cycling_team   3907   0   1   2   
36º      Shiro_Lions   3816   0   0   1   
37º      Periquitos   3710   2   1   1   
38º      Wiggo_pupils   3664   6   6   2   
39º      Psychoedge   3631   0   2   3   
40º      GMV_Cycling   3375   2   0   1   
41º      ClubCiclistaLaFallera   2836   1   0   1   
42º      Zatarra   2648   0   2   0   
43º      AJFactoryCycling   2480   0   1   1   
44º      Astanadena   2179   0   3   1   
45º      Sonfuga   1918   0   0   0   
46º      EuskaPiero   1827   0   0   0   
47º      BorinotTeam   1807   0   0   1   
48º      Spitz   1688   1   1   0   
49º      Amezola   52   0   0   0
50º      IKIBASQUE   0   0   0   0   

Congratulations to Mark Bauer and his cycling kings for their title. We miraculously escaped relegation by 1 point which was really hard luck for Saul Salinas Team.

Individual rankings:

1º      Mike Bauer   23   5894   CyKings   2   2   3   
2º      Antonello Lorenzetto   23   4585   Marcatone_Due   1   2   2   
3º      Adam Roethlisberger   23   4156   Rekutxuteam   0   1   1   
4º      Mihkel Väli   23   3028   Atlantico   0   1   0   
5º      Jarl Ulvestad   23   2500   Flyvende_hjul   1   0   0   

No Combuijs Honey Ale riders in the top 50, an indication that both vision and calendar did not cooperate.

These were all the points we scored:

Chester Laybutt   23   813
Tristan Prins   23   734
Julius Maalderink   23   606
Oliver King   23   585
Will Miller   23   495
Thomas Freitag   23   213
Adam Neeskens   23   205
Robert Brubaker   23   199
Arjen Rutte   23   150
Valentin Litenko   23   150
Garret Rose   23   120
Dénes Nemcsik   23   115
Sam Parker   23   55
Julius Wiegel   23   45
Koen Helder   23   35
Yvo De Cleer   23   33

Well, I am looking forward to next season!

I wish everyone lots of success and lots of health. You now know every point and every eye counts...

[michinoo]

Hi Combuijs!!! What a amazing news to see you again!!! I expect that your health is good, so congratulations!

And good luck on the next season 

[Combuijs]

In season 6 there are a lot of cobble hill races, so we will aim for a top ten place and 3 sponsordeals. We will also try to improve the team a bit after we have finished our planned training program somewhere in the first week.

We start season 6 with a cup race against the director of the UCI himself, Oska. It is the Giro di Lombardia, so we at least have a chance with:

11 Tristan Prins
12 Oliver King
13 Vladimir Litenko
14 Will Miller
15 Sam Parker

In the upside down Tour we will be represented in Adelaide by:

291 Thomas Freitag
292 Carlo Bemelmans
293 Chester Laybutt
294 Dénes Nemcsik
295 Sam Parker

We think Thomas Freitag has a good chance to finish high in the GC, the others have a good chance to finish...

[Combuijs]

The UCI director had an urgent appointment somewhere else, so we easily passed the first cup round. The second round we have a time trial race against Denver. That could be a close one, unless he starts singing his hits from the seventies of course...



https://youtu.be/Q51uUKeckX4

In Adelaide we had to cope with too much wind, so Thomas Freitag lost already two minutes in a 50 km extended sprint.

[oscacom]

The UCI director had an urgent appointment somewhere else, so we easily passed the first cup round. The second round we have a time trial race against Denver. That could be a close one, unless he starts singing his hits from the seventies of course...



https://youtu.be/Q51uUKeckX4

In Adelaide we had to cope with too much wind, so Thomas Freitag lost already two minutes in a 50 km extended sprint.

I'm still waiting for your money 

[Combuijs]

We have promised the UCI to pay our membership again at the 14th of december, so there was really no need for Oska to appear in the cup race...

It seems we are taking part in some obscure challenge, in which we have won a race. Eh, 9 in fact.


As for real life, we did not score any points whatsoever in the Upside Down Tour. Now, that is a kind of tradition in our team, but we had some hopes for Thomas Freitag. It's clear the opposition is getting stronger and stronger...



We really start the season with the Omloop and the Strade Bianchi:

451 Julius Wiegel
452 Ørjan Henningsen
453 Chester Laybutt
454 Julius Maalderink
455 Arjen Rutte

[Combuijs]

In the People's Round we scored our first points with Julius Wiegel on place 11. Until half way everything went well, but then Julius lost his domestiques and had to go alone. Cobble Crusher Yannick Pierre won his home race.

On the Strade Bianchi tactics went a bit wrong so domestique Ørjan Henningsen ended up in front of leader Julius Wiegel, 12th and 14th. Arjen Rutte in a free role and Julius Maalderink were just outside the points. Green goat Kyril Vandenbergh won the race in Siena.



League standings after the Strade Bianchi:

1º      Cabrasverdes   1855   1   2   1   
2º      °Peachy°Melocotons   1731   2   0   1   
3º      SentinelChickens   1105   0   0   1   

16º      Denver   442   0   1   0   
17º      Combuijs   440   0   0   0   
18º      Rekutxuteam   434   0   1   0   

We have changed our training to sprint now to put the icing on the skill cake. As a consequence Koen Helder may look for another team to show his hill cobble qualities.

See the sun and see the sun shine in a mountaineous Paris-Nice!:

161 Oliver King
162 Ørjan Henningsen
163 Will Miller
164 Tristan Prins
165 Julius Wiegel

All cards will be on the GC of Oliver and he will be assisted by Will and Tristan. Ørjan and Julius will be on holiday in the neighborhood...

[Combuijs]

In the second stage of Paris-Nice to Le Madone d'Utelle Oliver King arrives in 18th place right behind the climbing specialists of which Sportlife's Nicola Miorlin was the best.



Oliver is now 14th in the GC 1 minute behind Rekutxuteam Bernhard Niklitschek.

O dear, the Telegraaf is always in for gossip. We now have won more than 10 obscure world challenges:

[Combuijs]

In the third stage of Paris-Nice to Rasteau Oliver King finishes 23rd, but in the fourth stage he loses quite a lot of time, so he is outside the top 20 in the GC now. Let's hope he can come back tonight, though it will be tough.



The Tirreno-Adriatico will see:

181 Arjen Rutte
182 Robert Brubaker
183 Thomas Freitag
184 Julius Maalderink
185 Dénes Nemcsik

These riders will start in the cup with ear protectors against John Denver:

1 Robert Brubaker
2 Koen Helder
3 Oliver King
4 Sam Parker
5 Julius Wiegel

[Vos]

of which Sportlife's Nicola Miorlin was the best.

Great solo victory in stage 2 of not-favorite Miorlin.
In the final stage again a victory, this time as 4th favorite and he had to win the "downhill-sprint" against 2 other climbers. 
Both victories gained these 2 milestones :

In the third stage of Paris-Nice to Rasteau Oliver King finishes 23rd, but in the fourth stage he loses quite a lot of time, so he is outside the top 20 in the GC now. Let's hope he can come back tonight, though it will be tough.

Oliver King managed to get into the top 20 GC.
It was close, but this looks better as the too many 21st GC places your team scored in a previous season.

Good luck in the Tirreno !

[Combuijs]

In the last stage in Paris-Nice Oliver King could return to the top 20 in the GC. Just, more than 4 minutes behinds Cyking Mike Bauer.

The Tirreno-Adriatico has started and Arjen Rutte finishes 18th in Follonica. Mixed feelings, as he lost contact with his helper Jules Maalderink.



Division standings after the first stage in the Tirreno-Adriatico:

1º      CyKings   2079   1   0   2   
2º      Cabrasverdes   1978   1   2   1   
3º      °Peachy°Melocotons   1911   2   0   1   

21º      Denver   534   0   1   0   
22º      Combuijs   530   0   0   0   
23º      $Tourmalet   520   0   0   0   

We are behind John Denver, let's hope that tonight that is not the case...

[Combuijs]

No noteworthy results in the second and third stage in the Tirreno, but we have Arjen Rutte on place 9 in the GC. He will go down in the time trial tonight, but the question is how much.

In the cup time trial against John Denver the ear protectors did not work. Oliver King left on an airplane, Julius Wiegel thought he was a country boy, Koen Helder was fiddling with Calypso, Sam Parker was thinking of Annie and Robert Brubaker was looking for country roads to take him home, so Denver's Richard Frances won the time trial. An early exit for us, but not as early as last season...

[Combuijs]

In the time trial to Donoratico Robert Brubaker picked up a 30th place. He was again just behind Denver's Richard Frances, which shows that the elimination in the Cup was no accident.

In the last stage to Pomarance Arjen Rutte held his own and rode a brilliant and enlightened race, helped by Julius Maalderink. It was awarded with a 15th place in the stage and a 5th place in the GC, on almost two minutes from Rayo del Arry Yan Sayun. That was an unexpected result and we were very glad with that.



Division standings after the Tirreno-Adriatico:

1º      CyKings   2653   1   0   2   
2º      Cabrasverdes   2330   1   2   1   
3º      °Peachy°Melocotons   2189   2   1   1   

13º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   1158   0   2   1   
14º      SPORTLIFE   1102   2   0   2   
15º      Atlantico   1022   0   1   1   

17º      Codex   883   0   0   0   
18º      Combuijs   828   0   0   0   
19º      CaptainOrange   819   0   0   0   

In Milan-San Remo we will show up with:

171 Thomas Freitag
172 Damien Lambert
173 Julius Maalderink
174 Dénes Nemcsik
175 Julius Wiegel

while these riders are going to ride on the E3, which will be a lot more interesting:

171 Adam Neeskens
172 Chester Laybutt
173 Julius Maalderink
174 Garret Rose
175 Julius Wiegel