The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

Second stage in the Dauphiné Liberé to Le Teil gave us a 13th place for Oliver King and a 20th place for Will Miller, which was a fine result.



In the third stage there seems to have been a slight misunderstanding who should be leader. It seems our director Belarmino Farinha messed up the names of Will Miller and Oliver King during the final instructions in the teambus. So no points and Oliver is now 11th in the GC and Will 21st.

[Combuijs]

In the fourth stage in the Dauphiné Liberé to Plateau de Solaison Oliver King finished 13th, which was 12 places behind winner Nicola Miorlin (Sportlife).

In the final stage to Vaujany Oliver King had a superb race and finished second after winner Firmino Pacheco (Caracoles) but before Mike Bauer. That brought him to place 6 in the GC, 1:36 after winner Mike Bauer but before Nicola Miorlin. And it boosts Christmas sales in our shops. A pity we had that slight misunderstanding in the 3rd stage...



League standings after the Dauphiné:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   8101   4   0   6   
2º      CyKings   7966   1   5   4   
3º      °Peachy°Melocotons   7618   3   5   4   

10º      LOSRAYOSDELARRY   5557   2   2   2   
11º      Combuijs   4675   1   1   1   
12º      Atlantico   4366   1   1   3   

15º      Marcatone_Due   4129   2   1   1   
16º      SPORTLIFE   3975   6   1   3   
17º      skunk   3918   0   0   0   

These riders are going to listen to the Sound of Music in Switzerland:

101 Oliver King
102 Yvo de Cleer
103 Eelco van der Laan
104 Adam Neeskens
105 Rafael Szepesi

Oliver is our GC man, the rest will assist him, but Adam gets his chance in the cobble hill race

[Vos]

behind winner Nicola Miorlin (Sportlife).

Very good final stage and GC classification of Oliver King in the Dauphiné.
Well done, Combuijs, now the gap remains big between our teams, at the moment exactly 700 points.
Probably my team will not get closer in the upcoming Tour de Suisse and Tour de France. Most likely the gap will get bigger.
But I expect to score some points, especially in the climb TT stages. See my preview in the English topic Grand Tours.
Good luck with Oliver King in the Tour de Suisse !
Let's see if he can beat my Tour de Suisse selection ( they should be really good in this time of the year ) =

1   Jesús el Salvador
2   Joseph Carpenter
3   Balthasar Frankincense
4   Melchior L'Oro
5   Caspar Myrrh

[Combuijs]

In the first stage of the Tour of Switzerland around Bellinzona, Rafael Szepesi scored his first 27 point for our team with place 19.

The second stage to Luzern saw non-flat-hill-specialist Oliver King on place 25, which was a kind of Christmas gift.



I really should apologize to Sportlife for only sending one King to Switzerland, it should of course have been three kings. As compensation we have sent archangel Rafael (Szepesi) with him, first man Adam (Neeskens) and (Yvo) de Cleer (which is probably derived from Dutch clarke, but I am not sure).

[Combuijs]

In Switzerland, the cobble race to Gansingen saw Adam Neeskens on place 18.

In the last stage around Sion Oliver King finishes 14th, 13 places behind Sportlife's Daniel Basov, only 23 years old. Good win that! In the GC Oliver gets 12th place, sadly one place behind Cliff Fagan and more than 2 minutes behind Wizard Rafael Carlos Loinaz, the winner.

The Tour de France started in Vizille this season with a very difficult stage. We are glad that Oliver King could stay close to all top riders and finished 17th in Albertville.



Division standings after the first stage of the Tour de France:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   8736   4   1   6   
2º      CyKings   8462   1   5   4   
3º      °Peachy°Melocotons   8035   4   5   4   

11º      Atlantico   5049   1   1   3   
12º      Combuijs   4932   1   1   1   
13º      SPORTLIFE   4734   8   1   3   
14º      IntellinetCyclingFF   4671   9   0   2   

Sportlife is uncomfortable close to us and will probably finish above us...

Jingle bells in the Tour de France:

101 Oliver King
102 Robert Brubaker
103 Eelco van der Laan
104 Adam Neeskens
105 Tristan Prins

Oliver is our GC man, Tristan will assist him, Robert will get his chance in all the time trials, while Adam and Eelco are there for the cobble races, with or without hills.

[Combuijs]

While the staff and support were enjoying a training camp (food and drink) in the Ardennes our riders competed on World Tour level.

Some interesting results in the Tour de France:
Adam Neeskens 20th in the 5th stage to Mende in a free role, 4th as leader in the 6th stage to Digne-les-Bains and 8th in the 9th stage to Le Puy-en-Velay. Oliver King 21st in the 7th stage to Pla d'Adet, 29th in the time trial up to de Col de L'Iseran and 20th in the GC. And most interesting, 23 year old Eelco van der Laan 13th in the last stage to Montar.

In the GP San Sebastian we saw Tristan Prins finishing 21st.

In our own Combuijs Honey Ale Tour we started with a second place for Chester Laybutt in Sittard-Geleen, which deserved the team a sponsor contract from Lacoste.

Julius Maalderink the took over the helm with an 11th place in Vogelwaarde, a 17th place in Breskens and a 19th place in Rotterdam. That gave him a 8th place in the GC. Our worst man in the GC, Garret Rose, still finished 46th. It's called the Combuijs Honey Ale Tour for a reason, of course...

In the Vuelta we started off in Cuenca with a 5th place for Chester Laybutt.



Division standings after the second stage in the Vuelta:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   10036   4   1   7   
2º      CyKings   10011   3   5   5   
3º      °Peachy°Melocotons   9208   4   7   6   

11º      Atlantico   6830   1   2   3   
12º      SPORTLIFE   6389   9   2   3   
13º      SentinelChickens   5970   0   0   3   
14º      Combuijs   5964   1   2   1   
15º      Thorboassonarvesen   5543   5   6   1   
16º      CaptainOrange   5373   1   1   2   

A top 10 place is far away and to our eternal shame we are behind Sportlife as well. We have still a slight hope to finish as the best Dutch team, but for me Captain Orange is favourite for that.

[Rico]

I would be surprised to see my team catch up. Hilton has some aspirations to get a nice result, but without training camp and with a strong field, it's not likely he will get 600 points more than your riders in the cobble and coblle/hill stage.

[Vos]

and to our eternal shame we are behind Sportlife as well.

Olé   
You still might have a chance to finish above my team.
Of course it will also depend on the Vuelta points, but I expect (or hope) enough points to stay ahead in this big tour.

After that it is a different story ; I forgot to send my best hillsclimber on TC for Lombardia and probably he is not even gonna ride it.
Maybe my other hillsclimber can a score a few points there, but without TC it will be difficult for him to finish top30.
Silver TT specialist Bogarde can score points in the WC TT (he has TC). However this season the competition in TT is too fierce for him.
For example ; he finished as 33rd in the 35km flat TT of the Dauphiné ( with 100/100 ).

So not many points are expected after the Vuelta.
Also because I have no hills specialists in my team, with the exception of a just 22yo who currently has the season white jersey.
Without TC bonus he will not have a chance to score points, in my opinion. So it is a waste to rest him a few times for the WC road race.
Let's hope there will be no other 22yo's this season who score more points as my 22yo hills specialist.

[Combuijs]

In stage 3 of the Vuelta around Teruel Chester Laybutt gets 6th place.



In the GC Will Miller is now on place 39, almost 7 minutes behind leader Bram van Amerongen (Atlantico) and runner up Anthony Hilton (Captain Orange). The last one is a serious threat for our first place in the national rankings.

We have changed our training regime to cobblestone in order to improve Garret Rose (and a few other riders).

In the Giro di Lombardia we will start with:

131 Tristan Prins
132 Oliver King
133 Valentin Litenko
134 Will Miller
135 Sam Parker

These riders will plough through the sands in Doha:

131 Robert Brubaker
132 Oliver King
133 Will Miller
134 Sam Parker
135 Rafael Szepesi

While these riders will plough through the grain fields around Hamilton:

131 Carlo Bemelmans
132 Thomas Freitag
133 Chester Laybutt
134 Adam Neeskens
135 Tristan Prins

[Rico]

The last one is a serious threat for our first place in the national rankings.

I honestly didn't believe in his chances before the Vuelta, but I have to say you might have seen it better than I did, it looks quite possible for Hilton to get some nice points in the final classification.

[Combuijs]

Some results at the end of season 6.

In the Vuelta Julius Maalderink got 10th place in the 9th stage of the Vuelta to Argamasilla de Alba, Chester Laybutt was 20th in the same race. Will Miller finished 28th in the GC on more than 10 minutes from the glorious winner Anthony Hilton (Captain Orange).



Tristan Prins was 25th in the Giro di Lombardia.

So not a sparkling finish of the season, which resulted in these final division standings:

1º      CyKings   12112   3   6   5   
2º      °Peachy°Melocotons   11169   4   8   7   
3º      Flyvende_hjul   10989   4   1   7   
4º      Cabrasverdes   9781   5   8   5   
5º      ProdopingPong   9690   2   2   2   
6º      CobbleCrushers   9637   7   5   5   
7º      Rekutxuteam   9132   2   3   3   
8º      Atlantico   9018   2   2   3   
9º      LOSRAYOSDELARRY   8406   2   3   4   
10º      Ares   8171   6   3   1   
11º      Codex   7252   4   2   3   
12º      SPORTLIFE   7225   9   2   4   
13º      CaptainOrange   7152   1   1   2   
14º      Marcatone_Due   6886   3   1   1   
15º      SentinelChickens   6754   0   0   4   
16º      ValeronIdolo   6495   4   3   1   
17º      Thorboassonarvesen   6263   6   7   1   
18º      Combuijs   6250   1   2   1   
19º      Caracoles   6172   6   4   5   
20º      ChessPower   5984   1   2   2
21º      galegospolabici   5756   1   1   1   
22º      IntellinetCyclingFF   5091   9   0   2   
23º      Aurora_Australis   5062   5   1   4   
24º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   5058   0   3   0   
25º      MortoviaCycling   4976   0   1   1   
26º      Wizards   4746   0   1   1   
27º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   4579   0   8   1   
28º      skunk   4311   0   0   0   
29º      KunTeam   4089   1   0   0
30º      CrossAndGo    4023   1   1   3   
31º      Denver   3946   1   3   3   
32º      Facha_Bartolo   3945   1   0   3   
33º      Barrioska   3753   0   0   5   
34º      $Tourmalet   3672   0   1   0   
35º      Turrones   3655   0   0   0   
36º      Pomilles_Balears   3651   0   0   0   
37º      CC_Porco_Jones   3348   0   2   0   
38º      Vitimper   3188   0   1   0   
39º      TeamRHB   2967   0   1   1   
40º      TipiCyclingTeam   2420   0   0   0   
41º      Innioraths   2203   0   1   0   
42º      ZBT   1892   0   0   0   
43º      DeRodeVod   1512   0   1   0
44º      beerkes   1412   0   0   0   
45º      RIO_mare    1308   0   0   0   
46º      Frier_Accounting   837   0   0   0   
47º      Matterhorn   223   0   0   0   
48º      Milanezen   144   0   0   0   
49º      Huesca   0   0   0   0   
50º      Aspigarri   0   0   0   0

Another victory for Cykings (congratulations), not a place in the first 10 for us and Captain Orange the best Dutch team, relatively low on place 13 (congratulations).    Not the best season for us, but not the worst either.

Individual standings:
1º      Mike Bauer   24   5091   CyKings   0   5   2   
2º      Antonello Lorenzetto   24   4455   Marcatone_Due   3   0   1   
3º      Yannick Pierre   24   4092   CobbleCrushers   7   2   0   
4º      Adam Roethlisberger   24   3478   Rekutxuteam   2   0   1   
5º      Anthony Hilton   24   2401   CaptainOrange   0   0   0   
6º      Nicola Miorlin   24   2395   SPORTLIFE   6   1   0   
7º      Berend Verheyen   24   2359   Cabrasverdes   3   3   1   
8º      Peeter Toode   24   2275   Codex   2   1   2   
9º      Hugo Skogstad   24   2261   ValeronIdolo   3   1   1   
10º      Noah Nelisse   24   2258   Cabrasverdes   0   2   2   
34º      Adam Neeskens   24   1253   Combuijs   1   0   0   

Another victory for Mike Bauer, and one Combuijs Honey Ale rider in the top 50, which is one more than the previous season.

Points scored by Combuijs Honey Ale riders:

Adam Neeskens   24   1253         110
Julius Maalderink   24   811         672
Oliver King   24   782         241
Arjen Rutte   24   635         644
Chester Laybutt   24   569         024
Will Miller   24   338         000
Julius Wiegel   24   320         000
Yvo De Cleer   24   309         731
Carlo Bemelmans   24   300         322
Garret Rose   24   228         001
Valentin Litenko   24   215         000
Tristan Prins   24   185         253
Ørjan Henningsen   24   150         000
Eelco VanDerLaan   23   70         000
Robert Brubaker   24   58         011
Rafael Szepesi   24   27         882

[Combuijs]

Will season 7 be the lucky season for the Combuijs Honey Ale team? Who knows? But things will get more difficult every season now as more riders will be able to get good results. So let's go for a place in the top 20.



Our director Belarmino Farinha has retired to spend more time with his goats in Portugal and so we have appointed another victim. This season we will use the services of British Tony Chambers. We hired him just before he could not Brexit anymore...

The human resources department had a busy week as we did not extend the contract of masseur Vince Haber. You just can't have too many British personnel these days, they leave before you know it... Instead we have hired German Gero Geyer, who will be hard to beat on the alliteration front...

We have some fire resistant riders for the Tour Down Under:

171 Carlo Bemelmans
172 Robert Brubaker
173 Chester Laybutt
174 Dénes Nemcsik
175 Rafael Szepesi

We will go for individual stages.

In the cup we will battle against Pro Continental team Meloneros from Letland. We hope they are better in growing melons than hobble cobbling around Fribourg against:

1 Julius Maalderink
2 Ørjan Henningsen
3 Eelco van der Laan
4 Garret Rose
5 Arjen Rutte

We wish all the competitors a very enjoyable season, with just that little bit of less luck than we will have...

[Zatarra]

Yay, Zatarra's back in 1a to compete with the Combuijs riders... among other, but mostly the Combuijs riders. Good luck to you too!

[Aurora Australis]

You must have a target against you this season, because one of my season goals will be to finish high than Combuijs.

[WinterIsComing]

Happy to be back again in Combuijs' league. Hope I will be able to be a good match for his cyclists, but maybe even more important, I'm looking forward to the infamous "third halfs". Cheers!