The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

Tirreno Adriatico:
4th stage: 10. Oliver King, 26. Valentin Litenko
5th stage: 2. Oliver King, 26. Yvo van Straalen

First points for our 23 year old talent Yvo! In the GC Oliver finished 4th and Valentin surprisingly 17th.

Milan-San Remo: 9. Julius Maalderink, 22. Adam Neeskens

We never score that good in Milan-San Remo, but this season is an exception, especially as we have sold our sprint train.

E3 Harelbeke: 7. Adam Neeskens

First favourite Adam Neeskens fell asleep in the hilly section, and he never could return to the front.



Division standings after the E3:

1º      Denver   4741   7   6   0   
2º      Van_pintxaos   3928   2   1   2   
3º      Ciclastur   3652   1   1   0   
4º      Periquitos   3535   2   2   1
5º      Kelme4ever   2963   1   1   2   
6º      Combuijs   2820   1   1   0   
7º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   2736   2   0   4   

Going up, but we are still not where we want to be...

Yvo Boelhouwers is now looking for a future as a builder, Bas Waterreus was sold for the asking price to World Tour team Codex.

[Combuijs]

Volta Catalunya:
1st stage: 7. Oliver King
2nd stage: 23. Oliver King
3rd stage: 8. Oliver King
4th stage: 13. Tristan Prins, 20. Oliver King

In the GC Oliver King finishes 2nd on 37 seconds from Ciclastur Paul Hamilton.

Dwars door Vlaanderen: 17. Adam Neeskens
Ronde van Vlaanderen: 5. Adam Neeskens

Itzulia:
1st stage: 1. Tristan Prins, 22. Oliver King
2nd stage: 1. Tristan Prins, 20. Oliver King
3rd stage:  23. Yvo van Straalen, 30. Oliver King
4th stage: 7. Tristan Prins
5th stage: 1. Tristan Prins, 27. Oliver King

Three wins by Tristan Prins and a 7th place, but it was not enough to clinch the GC as his time trial was horrible. He finished 3rd on 13 seconds from winner Eduardo Javier Hierro (Fiestina), Oliver was 15th. 23 year old Yvo van Straalen scores his first points for us!

In this division there are very good cobblehillers, but apparently no hill climbers.

Parijs-Roubaix: 8. Julius Maalderink
Amstel Gold Race: 12. Adam Neeskens
Waalse Pijl: 24. Adam Neeskens
Luik-Bastenaken-Luik: 15. Adam Neeskens



Division standings after the hill classics:

1º      Denver   8907   9   9   1   
2º      Van_pintxaos   7566   2   2   5   
3º      Ciclastur   7546   1   4   2   
4º      Fiestina   6480   2   2   4   
5º      HorsCategorieProTeam   5976   0   3   2   
6º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   5701   4   1   5   
7º      Combuijs   5348   4   1   0   
8º      Periquitos   5338   3   2   2

On the wrong side of Bloemen aan de Mitte and on the wrong side of the promotion line, but it is still a long way to the World Championships.

We have sold 19 year old Erwin Hartlooper to Cobble Crushers for more than 6 million. A wise buy I think as he had lots of interesting middle stats. No need to tell their manager that it was probably the only bid... Now let's hope for the Crushers that Hartlooper is not a dead runner...

[Combuijs]

Tour de Romandie:
1st stage: 7. Oliver King, 29. Will Miller
2nd stage: 8. Oliver King, 27. Will Miller
5th stage: 10. Oliver King

A nice second place for Oliver in the GC, Will finishes 19th.

Eschborn-Frankfurt: 22. Valentin Litenko

Giro:
1st stage: 3. Valentin Litenko, 19. Yvo van Straalen, 23. Arjen Rutte
2nd stage: 3. Arjen Rutte, 6. Julius Maalderink
3rd stage: 16. Arjen Rutte, 21. Julius Maalderink
4th stage: 4. Arjen Rutte, 22. Julius Maalderink
5th stage: 18. Valentin Litenko
6th stage: 1. Arjen Rutte, 8. Julius Maalderink
8th stage: 5. Valentin Litenko, 26. Yvo van Straalen, 30. Hidde Daelman
10th stage: 12. Arjen Rutte

First points for Hidde Daelman!

In the GC Arjan finished 11th, Valentin 14th.

And then? A long break as real life took over. After more than a week of terrible headaches it appeared I suffered a cerebral haemorrhage (Dutch: hersenbloeding). An emergency operation safed my life and more, it seems for now that speech, thought and physical presence are all pretty normal. So I really am a lucky bastard, albeit a very tired one.

After a while I even had time for CFF again.

GP San Sebestian: 3. Tristan Prins, 16. Oliver King

Combuijs Honey Ale Tour:
1st stage: 26. Julius Maalderink
2nd stage: 21. Adam Neeskens
3rd stage: 2. Adam Neeskens, 10. Julius Maalderink
4th stage: 20. Adam Neeskens
5th stage: 4. Julius Maalderink, 7. Adam Neeskens

In the GC Adam finishes 4th, Julius Maalderink 6th.

Vuelta:
1st stage 9. Oliver King
3rd stage: 1. Oliver King
5th stage: 30. Oliver King
6th stage: 11. Oliver King

Oliver King is 6h now in the GC, Will Miller 19th.

Division standings after stage 7 of the Vuelta:

1º      Denver   16570   22   17   4   
2º      Fiestina   16235   5   6   6   
3º      Ciclastur   15780   5   7   4   
4º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   15758   9   9   10   
5º      Kelme4ever   12688   4   5   8   
6º      Van_pintxaos   12599   3   6   8   
7º      HorsCategorieProTeam   12204   2   4   3   
8º      Barrioska   11643   1   2   2   
9º      Periquitos   11396   5   3   4
10º      Combuijs   9559   6   2   3   
11º      RajenKujen   9435   5   5   4   

So, no promotion this season, and to be fair, even without the forced break I doubt we would have promoted, as this was a very strong division.

Good news on the training front. Yvo van Straalen could still be trained in the way I wanted and he has deserved a golden tour statue. He is now reckoned to be with the best 30 tour riders within the UCI.


There were bronze tour statues for Hidde Daelman, Colin Cann, Leroy van den Borre, Bart Kerkhof and Guido Keizer.


And silver statues for John Paxson, Gary Fredickson and Friso Vonk.


Only Jeroen Vonk did not deserve a tour statue yet...

We have switched to hill training and just recently we are doing just a little bit of downhill training.

We have decided to sell tour riders Will Miller and Valentin Litenko. They form a nice pair and will be able to get many points on the (Pro) Continental Tour.

[Mitte]

Heavy stuff Combuijs, glad you are back

[Sjiz]

Heavy stuff indeed! Get well!

Ps. You can always preregister for races and put in tactics 15 races ahead of time.

[Vos]

A very serious matter, Combuijs. Good you survived and even don't have severe damage, indeed very fortunate. Heel veel sterkte ! 

[WinterIsComing]

Good to see you survived all this and you don't seem to have any complications. Pff...

Sterkte met het herstel inderdaad! 

[Combuijs]

Vuelta:
86th stage: 16. Oliver King
9th stage: 12. Oliver King
10th stage: 16. Oliver King

Oliver King finished 7th in the GC, more than 3 minutes behind Periquitos Allan Frøyland. That was enough to satisfy Apple to give us a sponsor deal. An Apple smartphone for all our riders then...


Giro de Lombardia: 3. Tristan Prins, 27. Oliver King



Final division standings:

1º      Denver   19954   25   17   4   
2º      Ciclastur   18358   6   9   4   
3º      Fiestina   18008   5   6   6   
4º      BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   16666   9   9   10   
5º      HorsCategorieProTeam   14803   2   5   3   
6º      Kelme4ever   14751   4   5   9   
7º      Barrioska   14343   2   2   2   
8º      Periquitos   14297   5   3   4
9º      Van_pintxaos   13597   4   7   8   
10º      Combuijs   10509   6   2   4   
11º      RajenKujen   10470   5   5   4   
12º      beerkes   6985   1   1   1   
13º      TeamSerfin   6819   0   0   8   
14º      Fliegende_Flyers   6146   1   1   4   
15º      ICSluj   6061   1   2   2   
16º      Lugnanese   5214   1   1   1   
17º      SAGASAI   4665   0   0   0   
18º      skippy   4590   0   0   1   
19º      Estoparia   4583   0   0   0
20º      ChessPower   4568   1   4   4   
21º      ItaliaCycling   4431   7   2   2   
22º      VILLESVENSKAS   3999   2   1   1
23º      Alla01   3663   0   3   2   
24º      Galletto   3574   0   3   1   
25º      Gernika    3184   0   0   3
26º      Paquetazos   3171   1   1   1   
27º      PucelaBike   2483   1   1   0   
28º      Frenkie   2298   1   0   1   
29º      MaxPappis   2137   0   0   0   
30º      Animatoca   2046   0   0   0   
31º      Mir   1865   0   0   0   
32º      Sabeco   1606   0   0   0   
33º      Matteorube   1413   0   0   0   
34º      Flyvende_hjul   1075   1   1   1   
35º      Aretabeti   822   0   0   0   
36º      Pitisitos   723   0   0   0   
37º      Pedalaepasta   689   0   0   0   
38º      KoekwousKevers   556   0   0   0   
39º      team_piroshki   506   0   0   0   
40º      Jinchos   200   0   0   0   
41º      JGMTeam   160   0   0   0   
42º      Ciclon   122   0   0   0   
43º      BOS   75   0   0   0   
44º      Ambrì   73   0   0   0   
45º      Caeiro   47   0   0   0
46º      SparCanToTe   0   0   0   0   
47º      Notarioteam   0   0   0   0   
48º      GarruTeam   0   0   0   0   
49º      NormanTeam   0   0   0   0   
50º      Ares   0   0   0   0   

Congratulations to Denver, he held out until the very end this time. Good luck to all promoted teams on the World Tour, I hope to see you back there next season.

Individual rankings:
1º      Norbert Buijs   24   4730   BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   2   2   0   
2º      Mihails Pumpurs   30   4073   Van_pintxaos   2   3   4   
3º      Allan Frøyland   29   3819   Periquitos   0   2   2   
4º      Alvaro Vaca   30   3595   Kelme4ever   1   1   0   
5º      Abrahan Saavedra   30   3590   Barrioska   1   2   1   
6º      Oliver King   30   3340   Combuijs   1   1   0   
7º      Gaultier van den Wijngaert   24   3241   Denver   4   2   0   
8º      Steinar Jonsson   30   3215   Ciclastur   2   2   0   
9º      Denis Usov   30   3050   HorsCategorieProTeam   1   1   1   
10º      Hannes Pass   30   2852   ICSluj   1   2   2   

32º      Tristan Prins   30   1590   Combuijs   3   0   2   
38º      Adam Neeskens   30   1463   Combuijs   0   1   0   
39º      Julius Maalderink   30   1444   Combuijs   0   0   0   

Congratulations to Bloemen aan de Mitte with this fantastic result with a 24 year old. Of course he could not miss out the title with this family name...

Other Combuijs Honey Ale riders:

Arjen Rutte   30   1081         767
Garret Rose   30   775         102
Valentin Litenko    30   615         221
Yvo VanStraalen   23   98         000
Hidde Daelman   23   13         000

At the end of the season there were silver statues for Colin Cann and Guido Keizer.


Yvo van Straalen is now considered to be the 23rd tour rider of the world.

Will Miller was sold to Continental Tour team cicciano. We might have to sack Valentin Litenko, a much underrated rider. We will give him another selling chance...

[Zatarra]

Oh my, Combuijs. I hope you're recovering quickly and be able to do all the things you want to do very soon again!

(Except for beating me in the CFF Cup of course... although that doesn't seem to be such a hard job for ya...)

[Combuijs]

Right, a new season, and a new try to get to the World Tour. We have the traditional start, e.g. hardly any points in the Tour Down Under, but we are there when the season really starts:

Tour Down Under:
1st stage: 22. Tristan Prins
3rd stage: 16. Julius Maalderink
5th stage: 22. Julius Maalderink

Omloop het Nieuwsblad: 3. Garret Rose, 19. Julius Maalderink, 20. Arjen Rutte



Division standings after the Omloop:

1º      Periquitos   2005   2   0   2
2º      GMV_Cycling   1312   0   3   0   
3º      ZG   917   0   0   0   
4º      RajenKujen   836   0   1   0   
5º      Kelme4ever   827   1   1   1   

9º      Barrioska   619   0   0   0   
10º      Combuijs   561   0   0   1   
11º      Moteam   553   0   0   0   

In the cup the corona crisis prevented Zatarra to go to Australia, so our "hillsprinters" could ride in quarantaine to the win. We are now up against world tour team OphiukoCT in that always difficult Eschborn-Frankfurt race.

Meanwhile we have sold Valentin Litenko to World Tour Team Cremy. A cheap and wise buy, he should be able to score some points for them, even on that level.

We also seem to be more attractive for sponsors now, although the deals are not really stacking up at the moment.


We got a compliment for our international scouting team. What for? I have no idea to be honest. Be sure to check our youngsters out though, they are for sale.

[Combuijs]

Strade Bianchi: 3. Garret Rose, 11. Arjen Rutte, 12. Julius Maalderink

Paris-Nice:
1st stage: 24. Yvo van Straalen
2nd stage: 15. Yvo van Straalen
3rd stage: 5. Yvo van Straalen with an enlightened tactic
4th stage to Biot: 7. Yvo van Straalen



In the GC Yvo van Straalen reached 3rd place, his first podium. The difference with winner Allan Frøyland (Periquitos) was made in the final stage, Allan being the better sprinter. So, satisfied with the result.

Division standings after Paris-Nice:

1º      Periquitos   3044   2   1   2
2º      Kelme4ever   2558   2   2   1   
3º      GMV_Cycling   2526   0   4   1   
4º      ZG   2217   2   1   0   
5º      RajenKujen   1761   0   1   1   
6º      Combuijs   1729   0   0   2   
7º      ICSluj   1376   0   0   1      

That's much better, we are in contention right now. Just keep up the good work.

[Combuijs]

Tirreno Adriatico:
1st stage: 2. Oliver King, 6. Trisan Prins
2nd stage: 19. Oliver King, 29. Tristan Prins
3rd stage to Sestola: 3. Oliver King



These results were good enough for a 16th place of Oliver in the GC, a solid 3 minutes from winner Allan Frøyland (again...). It is notable that we don't excel in flat sprint races for our GC riders. OK, Oliver has no sprint qualities, but Yvo van Straalen is not without them. It has probably something to do with ignoring teamwork skills and with our director Sander Peebo having no team spirit skills at all.

Division standings after the Tirreno Adriatico:

1º      Periquitos   3900   3   1   2
2º      Kelme4ever   3151   2   3   2   
3º      GMV_Cycling   3027   1   4   2   
4º      ZG   2785   2   1   0   
5º      Combuijs   2132   0   1   3   
6º      RajenKujen   2025   0   1   1   

We are on the right side of the promotion line, but the gap in front of us is much bigger than the gap behind us. So, still a lot of work to do.

[Combuijs]

Milan-San Remo: 7. Julius Maalderink, 20. Adam Neeskens
E3 Harelbeke: 3. Adam Neeskens, 15. Julius Maalderink, 23. Garret Rose

Relative good results in San Remo, but relative less results in Harelbeke where Adam started as the favourite to beat. But if you are looking for 3rd places:

Volta Catalunya:
2nd stage: 15. Yvo van Straalen
3rd stage: 6. Yvo van Straalen
4th stage: 3. Yvo van Straalen, 11. Gary Fredickson
5th stage to Vallter 2000: 3. Yvo van Straalen, 28. Gary Fredickson



In the GC Yvo van Straalen finishes 4th place almost two minutes behind winner Toivo Puu (Kelme4ever). Gary Fredickson gets 23rd place and as expected is a very good helper for Yvo.

Division standings after the Volta:

1º      Kelme4ever   4956   4   3   3   
2º      Periquitos   4952   3   2   2
3º      GMV_Cycling   4520   2   4   3   
4º      ZG   3887   2   3   0   
5º      RajenKujen   3636   1   2   1   
6º      Combuijs   3583   0   1   6   
7º      Barrioska   2628   0   0   1   

Now just out of promotion, but there is not a big gap between Rajen Kujen, ZG and us.

[Combuijs]

Gent - Wevelgem: 1. Adam Neeskens, 14. Julius Maalderink
Dwars door Vlaanderen: 1. Adam Neeskens, 12. Julius Maalderink, 15. Garret Rose
Ronde van Vlaanderen: 6. Adam Neeskens, 24. Garret Rose, 25. Julius Maalderink

Itzulia:
1st stage: 13. Gary Fredickson
2nd stage: 3. Gary Fredickson, 17. Friso Vonk, 23. Jeroen Vonk
3rd stage: 1. Adam Neeskens, 7. Garret Rose, 29. Gary Fredickson
4th stage: 2. Gary Fredickson, 22. Friso Vonk, 24. Jeroen Vonk
5th stage to Arrate: 6. Gary Fredickson



In the GC Gary is first, that's our first GC win this season, and his first in his career. Friso is 16th.

So 3 wins plus a GC win, that results in these division standings after the Itzulia:

1º      Kelme4ever   7170   5   5   4   
2º      Combuijs   6563   3   2   7   
3º      Periquitos   6457   4   3   3
4º      GMV_Cycling   5655   2   4   3   
5º      ZG   5244   2   3   0   
6º      RajenKujen   4876   3   2   2   
   
Now, that's more like it, second place and a serious gap to place 6. Apparently GMV Cycling has fallen asleep...

We have switched training to technique again.

[Combuijs]

Combuijs Honey Ale Race: 13. Adam Neeskens
Waalse Pijl: 22. Adam Neeskens
Luik-Bastenaken-Luik: 13. Adam Neeskens

As expected, not many points but every point counts.

Tour de Romandie:
1st stage: 27. John Paxson
2nd stage: 24. Gary Fredickson
3rd stage: 2. Arjen Rutte
4th stage: 24. Gary Fredickson, 10. Julius Maalderink, 24. Gary Fredickson
5th stage around Montreux: 15. Julius Maalderink, 19. Arjen Rutte, 28. Gary Fredickson

While we basically went for stages, in the GC Gary finished 4th on 1:43 from Moteam winner Kieran Williams. Friso Vonk finished 13th, John Paxson very carefully 21st, just outside the points.



Division standings after Romandie:

1º      Kelme4ever   10284   6   9   5   
2º      Periquitos   9000   6   3   4
3º      GMV_Cycling   8303   4   5   5   
4º      Combuijs   7959   3   3   8   
5º      ZG   7429   5   3   1   
6º      RajenKujen   6206   3   2   3   

Back to 4th, but still a considerable gap with number 6. GMV Cycling has woken up again...

We have sold some youngsters, notably Gert Ridder to Vicam, Yorick van Nieuwkoop to Lotto Granadier and Govert Schenk to Lotto Stelvio. May they all prosper.