The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

The first cup round was pretty easy as Meloneros was too busy growing melons. In the second round we will climb against World Tour team Prodoping Pong. We have beaten them before in a hill mountain sprint race, but this is a bit different.

Season 7 started with a monster time trial around Adelaide. Of course Aurora Australis Richard Levin won this home race, but more interestingly our Robert Brubaker took place 24. The UCI could not tell how many points this was worth, but it is more than zero.

[Combuijs]

In the first sprint race of the season to Campbelltown Rafael Szepesi got 11th place, 10 respectful places after Wilfred Bentinck (Yvo Meppelink ProCycling), who else. It's the first time Szepesi got a sprint train especially tailored for him in the person of Dénes Nemcsik.



Wielermagazine reflected back on 5 seasons of World Tour of the Combuijs Honey Ale team in a large overview article. The team finished 18th, 11th, 11th, 30th and 18th. 20 teams in total achieved this feat, which is quite a large number. It seems a lot of teams hop back and forth in between World Tour and Pro Continental Tour.


The real season starts with Omloop het Nieuwsblad and the Strade Bianchi:

201 Garret Rose
202 Eelco van der Laan
203 Chester Laybutt
204 Arjen Rutte
205 Julius Wiegel

From there we continue from Paris to Nice, or rather, Condé-sur-Vesgre to Rasteau with:

201 Oliver King
202 Carlo Bemelmans
203 Yvo de Cleer
204 Damien Lambert
205 Tristan Prins

Oliver is going for the GC, assisted by Yvo and Tristan, Carlo is going for the hill stages and Damien is there to translate...

[Combuijs]

The Tour Down Under was won by Mortovia Cycler Roberto Landis with Carlo Bemelmans unexpectedly on place 21, just outside the points unfortunately.

The Omloop het Nieuwsblad was a bit disappointing as our riders did not feel fresh at all. Freebee Chester Laybutt finished 29th, the rest really started too tired. That was no a good start of the real season. It was for winner Ketil Fossum (Thorboassonarvesen) though .

In the Strade Bianchi we did a lot better with some refreshed riders. Garret Rose got himself to 3rd place, the first podium of the season. Helpers Arjen Rutte, Julius Wiegel and Eelco van der Laan were 17th, 18th and 25th, while freebee Chester Laybutt just finished outside the top 30. Now, that was a race to build upon. Green goat Kyril VandenBergh won it.

In the first stage of Paris-Nice to Vendome Carlo Bemelmans managed to 23rd place on his own, so he is off the mark too for this season. In the second stage Sportlife's Daniel Besov got 2nd place. At the moment Oliver King is 14th in the GC of Paris-Nice, 1:21 behind HTCHungria leader Allan Palmer.



Division standings after the second stage of Paris-Nice:

1º      Cabrasverdes   2088   1   1   1   
2º      Thorboassonarvesen   1215   1   1   1   
3º      CobbleCrushers   1028   0   1   1   

9º      SentinelChickens   709   0   0   1   
10º      Combuijs   686   0   0   1   
11º      Rekutxuteam   647   0   0   0   

16º      Psychoedge   556   0   0   0   
17º      Aurora_Australis   540   1   1   0   
18º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   499   2   0   0   
19º      Zatarra   482   0   0   0   
20º      Atlantico   420   0   0   0   
21º      Ares   415   0   0   2   
22º      SPORTLIFE   374   0   1   0   
23º      CyKings   353   0   0   0   

31º      skunk   283   0   0   0   
32º      WinterIsComing   275   0   0   0   
33º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   261   0   0   0   
34º      Flyvende_hjul   258   0   0   0   

Lack of further time trials kept Aurora Australis behind us, lack of good cobblehillers did the same with Sportlife. WinterIsComing is still adjusting to the World Tour level it seems...

[Vos]

In the first stage of Paris-Nice to Vendome Carlo Bemelmans managed to 23rd place on his own, so he is off the mark too for this season. In the second stage Sportlife's Daniel Besov got 2nd place. At the moment Oliver King is 14th in the GC of Paris-Nice, 1:21 behind HTCHungria leader Allan Palmer.

Yes, Basov was the teamcaptain because I forgot to rest Miorlin, so Miorlin had the helpers role with 90 health.
Both were not favorites and both could challenge the same riders (among them 2 favorites, if I remember correctly).
So no problem that Basov was the teamcaptain and the 2nd place is a good result.
Especially because he finished on 0:00" and the nr3 on 0:18" and the nrs 4 to 6 already on 0:27", so that looks promising.
Next time I hope he has a better sprint-á-deux, and probably he is better prepared next time.
If Miorlin was healthy, he had a real good chance of the victory with his active weather icon and excellent helper.
Although he has one star less as Basov ; for now Miorlin never reached the 10 stars, hopefully he will this season.

Very good Strade Bianche of your team, Combuijs ! 
And at the moment your team is 10th in 1A, it would be great if that would be the final season ranking.

Good luck in the next 3 stages of PN with Oliver King.
Hopefully my hillsclimber Thompson (without TT icon) can score a few GC points, although he had to ride stage 2 in a free role.
But perhaps this is wishfull thinking due to stage 4, the time trial.

[Vos]

Good luck in the next 3 stages of PN with Oliver King.
Hopefully my hillsclimber Thompson (without TT icon) can score a few GC points, although he had to ride stage 2 in a free role.
But perhaps this is wishfull thinking due to stage 4, the time trial.

Despite his 168th place in stage 4, the time trial, and his 68th place in hills-stage 3 ; Thompson is still in the race to (maybe) score GC points.
He has to ride a good final stage 5 because at the moment he is out of the top 20 GC, but just 6 seconds behind.
Of course his main goal in stage 5 will be to finish before Oliver King.

GC Paris-Nice after 4 stages :

1    Mihkel Väli   25   Atlantico   0: 00"   
2    Mike Bauer   25   CyKings   0: 07"
3    Alvaro Vaca   25   azerite   0: 16"   
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14    Oliver King   25   Combuijs   1: 37"   
16    Ivari Mitt   25   Zatarra   1: 50"
17    Sven WinklerPrins   24   WinterIsComing   1: 55"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
22    Patrick Thompson   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 13"


Again a stage victory of Aurora_Australis in  a time trial. This time the victor is Owen Acree.
It will be very difficult for SPORTLIFE to defend the Australian team championship title. This season 2x (flat)hills TT and 11x (!) flat TT.
Hopefully my team will be a fierce rival and AA really has to earn it / battle for it.
To challenge AA some more, a post of the current ranking after all 6 previous seasons : 
SPORTLIFE     versus      Aurora_Australis     =   6 - 0

[Combuijs]

Time trial time again, so Aurora Australis wins the race to Aix-en-Provence with Owen Acree. In the GC Oliver King is now on place 14, one and a half minute behind Atlantico's Mihkel Väli. The last stage does suit Oliver very well, so hopefully he can enter the top 10.



Squashed between the Tirreno and the Adriatico will be:

201 Will Miller
202 Robert Brubaker
203 Valentin Litenko
204 Dénes Nemcsik
205 Rafael Szepsei

Rafael and Dénes will be our sprint train, Will and Valentin our GC train and Robert is just a single time trial loc. No cobble specialist as this race did not fit in any of the individual schedules.

[Aurora Australis]

My climber failed to do his job in Paris to get the points to get a healthy gap from you, so I've got a cobbler who'll hopefully get points where your guys will be cruising in the pack.
Nice copying if my Australia vs England (opps Little Britain) from the NTs Vos.  Btw, I'm not bothered, I've got both the & , and once my climbers actually wake up, will get the as well.

[Combuijs]

The last stage of Paris-Nice was a slight disappointment, Oliver King could just reach place 30 in Rasteau, which meant place 15 in the GC.



Winner was, who would have guessed, Cyking Mike Bauer.

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

1º      Cabrasverdes   2404   1   2   1   
2º      Thorboassonarvesen   1361   1   2   1   
3º      Wiggo_pupils   1322   0   1   1   

11º      FlyEaglesFly   904   0   2   0   
12º      Aurora_Australis   881   2   1   0   
13º      SentinelChickens   776   0   0   1   

17º      Caracoles   760   1   2   0   
18º      Combuijs   754   0   0   1   
19º      EuskaPiero   742   0   0   0   

22º      HTCHungria   656   1   0   0   
23º      Zatarra   653   0   0   0   
24º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   649   2   0   0   

26º      Ares   599   1   0   2   
27º      SPORTLIFE   505   0   1   0   
28º      Flyvende_hjul   480   0   0   0   

39º      TeamTimidus   278   0   0   1   
40º      WinterIsComing   275   0   0   0   
41º      Wizards   261   0   0   0   

As you can see, all your favourite teams are spread up in the standings. We have still time to the next time trial to pass Aurora Australis.

In the cup race tonight these riders will try to beat Prodoping Pong with allowed stimulae:

11 Oliver King
12 Yvo de Cleer
13 Will Miller
14 Sam Parker
15 Tristan Prins

[WinterIsComing]

It seems we have quite some work to do...
Thank for this subtle reminder, Combuijs. 

[Combuijs]

In the second stage of the Tirreno around Modena Rafael Szepesi suprisingly got 4th place, with helper Dénes Nemcsik on place 17. While director Tony Chambers was praised for his brilliant tactics, apparently nobody had seen the small bomb Dénes threw behind him which caused a disrupting crash in the final kilometer of the stage.




In the third stage to Salsomaggiore Terme Dénes tried to do the same, but was disappointed as the bomb did not explode. As a result Rafael only got 18th place.

The cup race was also disappointing as Prodoping Pong's Huub Meppelink raced away on the final climb to Pla d`Adet, leaving behind a chanceless Oliver King. So again an early exit this season. After three consecutive quarter-finals we now have three consecutive round 2 exits. The official UCI site mentions round 1, but this must be a mistake.

[Combuijs]

The fourth stage of the Tirreno to Montecassino saw Will Miller on place 13, a nice surprise.

The last stage, a time trial around the Lido di Camaiore, gave Robert Brubaker place 25. It was of course won by Richard Levin (Aurora Australis).



The Tirreno was won by Captain Orange's Albert Ducrot.

Division standings after the Tirreno Adriatico:

1º      Cabrasverdes   2654   1   2   1   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   1570   1   1   1   
3º      CyKings   1481   0   0   1   

8º      Rekutxuteam   1303   0   0   0   
9º      Aurora_Australis   1299   3   1   1   
10º      ProdopingPong   1297   2   0   0   

14º      Atlantico   1041   0   0   0   
15º      SPORTLIFE   995   0   1   1   
16º      Marcatone_Due   981   0   0   0   
17º      Combuijs   973   0   0   1   
18º      Psychoedge   956   0   0   0   

28º      EuskaPiero   772   0   0   0   
29º      Zatarra   711   0   0   0   
30º      PDM_cycling_team   710   0   0   0

39º      KunTeam   403   0   1   0
40º      WinterIsComing   385   0   0   0   
41º      Shiro_Lions   341   0   0   0   

Zatarra is in the danger zone now, WinterIsComing is still working to get in that zone...

Tonight we cycle from Milan to San Remo:

161 Thomas Freitag
162 Dénes Nemcsik
163 Garret Rose
164 Rafael Szepesi
165 Julius Wiegel

We have fond memories of last season's E3 Harelbeke:

161 Adam Neeskens
162 Chester Laybutt
163 Julius Maalderink
164 Garret Rose
165 Julius Wiegel

Battling the snow in Catalunya will be:

161 Adam Neeskens
162 Robert Brubaker
163 Thomas Freitag
164 Julius Maalderink
165 Dénes Nemcsik

Adam will be our GC man, assisted by Julius. Maybe Thomas and Dénes get their chance too, depending on developments. Robert certainly will...

[Combuijs]

The E3 Harelbeke last season was won by our Adam Neeskens, but this time tactics were not optimal and he had to make do with place 15, 4 places behind his helper Julius Maalderink. Ouch...

In the first stage in the Volta de Catalunya around Olot Julius Maalderink scored place 23 in a free role. Zatarra's Martin van Groningen won the race, no doubt to his teamleader's delight.

The second stage in the Volta de Catalunya to Tarragona brought Robert Brubaker a 20th place, 17 and 18 places behind Richard Levin and Isaac Trump (Aurora Australis). And no, Richard did not win...



The third stage brought us ... eh ... confusion and disappointment as our director apparently forgot to tell who whould be leader and who would be domestique. Sigh...

Jullus Maalderink is now 23rd in the GC, Adam Neeskens 35th. Leader is Yan Sayun (Loa Rayos de Larry).

Division standings after the fourth stage in Catalunya:

1º      Cabrasverdes   3817   2   2   2   
2º      °Peachy°Melocotons   2156   2   1   1   
3º      ProdopingPong   2124   2   0   1   

10º      Thorboassonarvesen   1611   1   2   1   
11º      Aurora_Australis   1580   3   2   2   
12º      Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   1469   4   2   0   

15º      Atlantico   1338   0   0   0   
16º      Combuijs   1298   0   0   1   
17º      Psychoedge   1292   0   0   0   

20º      CaptainOrange   1118   0   0   0   
21º      SPORTLIFE   1104   0   1   1   
22º      MortoviaCycling   1037   0   0   0   

29º      BetisCFF   953   0   1   0   
30º      Zatarra   900   1   0   0   
31º      Antequera   889   0   0   1   

42º      Shiro_Lions   434   0   0   0   
43º      WinterIsComing   428   0   0   0   
44º      Catalonia_Team   423   0   0   0   

Tomorrow morning we go first from Gent to Wevelgem:

151 Adam Neeskens
152 Ørjan Henningsen
153 Julius Maalderink
154 Garret Rose
155 Arjen Rutte

and in the afternoon we go from Roeselare to Waregem:

151 Adam Neeskens
152 Chester Laybutt
153 Julius Maalderink
154 Garret Rose
155 Julius Wiegel

[Combuijs]

The Volta de Catalunya was won by Yan Sayun and he had a serious advantage as well, almost one and a half minute. Julius Maalderink finished 25th.

In Gent-Wevelgem we again suffered from bad tactics as helper Julius Maalderink finished 19th and leader Adam Neeskens 25th. It's the part of the season that we should take many points and we are not doing it.



Tomorrow morning we will have in nice tour around Flanders:

151 Adam Neeskens
152 Chester Laybutt
153 Julius Maalderink
154 Garret Rose
155 Julius Wiegel

while in the afternoon we start a nice tour around the Basque Country:

151 Oliver King
152 Will Miller
153 Adam Neeskens
154 Tristan Prins
155 Garret Rose

Oliver King is our GC man, Adam and Garret will be there for the first stage.

[Combuijs]

Good news in Dwars door Vlaanderen. Adam Neeskens managed a 7th place, behind Cobble Crusher Yannick Pierre (1st), Betis CFF's Leonid Leonov (2nd), green goat Noah Nellisse (3rd) and Zatarra's Leroy Stamer (5th). 7th place also was good enough for sponsor Statoil to donate a substantial amount of money.



The Ronde van Vlaanderen was a disappointment as usual. Adam Neeskens was not paying attention at the start and could not recover, so we had to make do with domestique Chester Laybutt on place 14. Winner was Dutchman Noah Nelisse, just before Leonid Leonov.

The first stage of the Itzulia was won by Leonid Leonov, who lead impressively from start to finish. Adam Neeskens was solid asleep at the start and could only finish 21st.

In the second stage to Vitoria Oliver King reaches 17th place, well helped by Tristan Prins. He has some way to cover yet on place 78 in the GC, but we are confident he can. Leader is Sentinal Chicken Jan Hage.



Division standings after the second stage of the Itzulia:

1º      Cabrasverdes   6319   4   3   3   
2º      CobbleCrushers   4033   2   3   4   
3º      LOSRAYOSDELARRY   3155   1   1   2   

14º      SentinelChickens   1830   0   0   1   
15º      Combuijs   1814   0   0   1   
16º      FaltososDeChigre   1801   0   0   0   

19º      Marcatone_Due   1623   0   0   0   
20º      Aurora_Australis   1605   3   2   2   
21º      Psychoedge   1575   0   0   0   

22º      MortoviaCycling   1540   0   0   0   
23º      Zatarra   1462   1   0   0   
24º      ChessPower   1449   0   0   1

26º      EuskaPiero   1420   0   0   0   
27º      SPORTLIFE   1222   0   1   1   
28º      Caracoles   1209   1   2   1   

38º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   710   0   0   0   
39º      WinterIsComing   693   0   0   0   
40º      Periquitos   641   0   0   0   

Well, we have passed Aurora Australis, but I don't think we have put enough distance between us.

We have sold Sam Parker to Continental team Copen Hell.  We tried to sell him for 1 million, 500K and 250K and in the end he went for 1.8M. CFF walks wonderous ways, but I won't complain.

[Combuijs]

In the third stage in the Itzulia to Eguesibar helper Will Miller took leader Oliver King with him and both finished in the top 30, 19th and 22nd. Sportlife's Lorenzo Tafi got second place.



After the time trial we find Oliver on place 14 in the GC, under 2 minutes from leader Elliot Marbley (HTCHungria). The last stage does suit Oliver so maybe we can reach a top 10 place.

We have a classic line up for a classic Paris-Roubaix

161 Julius Maalderink
162 Ørjan Henningsen
163 Eelco van der Laan
164 Adam Neeskens
165 Garret Rose

and a no less classic line up for the hill classics:

161 Carlo Bemelmans
162 Thomas Freitag
163 Chester Laybutt
164 Adam Neeskens
165 Tristan Prins

After that we go touring around Romandie with:

161 Will Miller
162 Eelco van der Laan
163 Damien Lambert
164 Julius Maalderink
165 Tristan Prins

Will will be our GC man, Julius and Eelco will be there for the first stage.