All div: Grand Tours

[kirin]

Previous record holder of the stage, my rider Alvaro Vaca, can only challenge one favourite, Richard Rogers.
At least i expect some decent points from todays stage.

The only explanation i have for today is everyone was more doped than Armstong

[Vos]

Let's post and enjoy this when I still can / when it is still looking good !   

GC TOP 10 TOUR DE FRANCE, after 4 stages :
1    Romeu Rosario   25   KunTeam   0: 00"   
2    Ethan Foster   25   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   0: 48"   
3    Allan Palmer   24   HTCHungria   1: 08"
4    Albert Nieuwendijk   25   SPORTLIFE   1: 12"
5    Zoltán Dékány   25   SPORTLIFE   1: 17"   
6    Dario Fernandez   25   skunk   1: 25"   
7    Daniel Basov   24   SPORTLIFE   1: 32"   
8    Richard Rogers   24   Ciclokillers   1: 38"   
9    Siegmund Paulsen   25   Atlantico   1: 42"   
10    Huub Meppelink   25   ProdopingPong   1: 46"   

Probably cobble hills stage 5 will be a massacre for my team. 
I can only hope that the rival GC contenders suck in stage 5 also.

[Vos]

Tour de France :
stage 5 = As expected very bad results for my team. Only one could stay in the top20 GC (as 19th), the other 3 just outside the top20 GC.

stage 6 = Bogarde had a bad helpers tactic, despite that, this sprint stage went as expected. The 4 GC riders 1 or a few places up in the GC.

stage 7 = A good 3rd place for Basov.
Although it was very difficult who to choose as teamcaptain (and helper) for this stage.
I don't know yet if it was a good decision to go for Basov and therefore go for stage result.
Nieuwendijk, Dékány and Telkov were all on not very good GC positions before stage 7.
Even Telkov was sacrifised as helper in this stage and therefore big time loss.
At least he could help 2 sections and therefore a good stage result of Basov.
In contrast to climb stage 4, where Basov finished just as 7th because he had a too slow start with flat TT specialist Bogarde as "helper".

stage 8 = Excellent result of Bogarde, he finished as 18th, probably because of his active weather icon.
However, this was not a good stage, because just as in TT stage 1, again 2x a flat tire.
This time it was for Telkov and for Basov. Especially the flat tire for Basov in section 5 was bad news.

GC TOP 25 TOUR DE FRANCE, after 8 stages :

1    Romeu Rosario   25   KunTeam   0: 00"   
2    Allan Palmer   24   HTCHungria   0: 21"
3    Dario Fernandez   25   skunk   0: 31"   
4    István Szekér   25   FlyEaglesFly   1: 58"   
5    Elouan Simon   25   Cabrasverdes   2: 00"   
6    Ivan Tossato   25   Flyvende_hjul   2: 21"
7    Lucio Portela   25   Rekutxuteam   2: 24"   
8    Zoltán Dékány   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 28"  -->  4x free role 
9    Mariano Caro   25   Wiggo_pupils   2: 39"   
10    Albert Nieuwendijk   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 40"  --> 2x free role in both important mountain stages 
11    Huub Meppelink   25   ProdopingPong   2: 43"   
12    Richard Rogers   24   Ciclokillers   2: 43"   
13    Jérémie Dupont   25   Oska   2: 57"   
14    Siegmund Paulsen   25   Atlantico   3: 08"   
15    Tom Panes   25   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   3: 17"   
16    Eduard Zijlaard   25   BetisCFF   3: 30"
17    Sven WinklerPrins   24   WinterIsComing   3: 38"   
18    Ethan Foster   25   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   3: 43"   
19    Daniel Basov   24   SPORTLIFE   3: 50"  -->  2x free role 
20    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   25   Wizards   3: 59"   
- - - - - - - - - -
21    Philipp Aeschliman   25   MortoviaCycling   4: 09"   
22    Karin Telkov   25   SPORTLIFE   4: 10"  -->  3x free role and 1x helper 
23    Tjerk Tusveld   25   Wizards   4: 16"   
24    Oliver King   25   Combuijs   4: 23"   
25    Baron Ooms   25   Wiggo_pupils   4: 24"   

 = To show no matter what the final GC results will be, it will be some kind of dissapointing. Next time just 1 GC rider, that is much easier.
Probably I should not have chosen Basov as teamcaptain in both mountain stages, but all support to the GC of Nieuwendijk or Dékány.

Also because I accepted (more than one season ago) a sponsor deal for top 4 GC of 1.298.727,-
That will be very difficult to achieve now, although I really cannot estimate how the last 2 stages will go compared to the GC rivals.
And again a difficult choice who to make the team captain. Most likely again Telkov will be sacrifised as helper.
Let's hope the last 2 stages of this Tour will go well (without flat tires for example^^) and my team can score enough GC points.

[Aurora Australis]

It can still work out well if one of your guys can bump themselves up towards 4th.  Here's to a hoped $1.2m sponsor bonus.

Happy with my guys stage 7 results (665 points), particularly with me not recharging Levin's or several others health.  That makes my final TdF total

Stage 1 676
Stage 2 778
Stage 8 665
= 2119 points

[Vos]

2.119 points is impressive, AA !

My team scored so far 604 points, and it all will depend on the GC points if this Tour will be successful.
As I expected before the Tour de France started.

2 things I did not expect/estimated right ; I expected more time won in the TT stages ánd I expected more time loss in the mountain stages.
In hinside this explains my maybe not so good stratigical choices.
With the current knowledge, my TdF strategy could have been much better and then 4th GC would be easy (I suspect now).
Maybe in that case even the GC podium was possible, although the current top 3 GC is really good too. And as I estimate it now, it is a consulation that even if I would have had a perfect TdF GC strategy, Rosario seems to me too good to beat.

Anyway, it is fun to compete like this and there is maybe still a little chance to score that big sponsordeal.
If so, it would be the by far biggest sponsordeal I ever scored ( including all 28 seasons CFF2 ).
But that is a big if at the moment. Maybe it is impossible because the GC rivals are too good in the last 2 stages, I don't know.

[Vos]

stage 9 Tour de France :
WOW, a battlefield ! Thanks to a hard tactical attack in s1 by Atlantico, what benefits his GC rider Paulsen a lot, who finished as 4th.

I thought I anticipated on a hard attack in s1, but the 1 EP of the teamcaptain Nieuwendijk, 3 EP of helper Telkov, and 2x 2 EP of the free roles Dékány and Basov were not enough to follow the peleton of just 32 cyclists in s1. Nobody of my team got the sleeping icon, and that is a good sign and a bad sign at the same time.

The start was bad for my team in this stage that went like this ; 32 - 31 - 50 - 49 - 1
In bold section 3. And luckily teamcaptain Nieuwendijk was one of the cyclists that could return in the front group.
But he was isolated and no extra bonus for him in s5.  Despite that, a good result ; 12th on 0:34"
In the GC Nieuwendijk gained 4 places and now 6th.
But unfortunately the gap towards the nr4 (= sponsordeal target) increased with 11 seconds.

With one more stage to go, the gap of 0:53" towards the nr4 is most likely too much.
And besides that, what makes it also very difficult or impossible ; he has to overtake 2 instead of 1, and nrs 7 to 12 are just little seconds behind.
Maybe top10 GC is not even certain, although I don't expect that. However, my expectations in this Tour de France were wrong before, so I will see what happens in the exciting final stage.

Dékány and Basov dropped in the GC (2 places and 1 place) because of their free role results (36th an 37th) on more than a minute.

There is a new GC leader after this stage, it will be exciting between Palmer and Rosario who will win, and maybe the nr3 can surprise.

GC TOP 25 TOUR DE FRANCE, after 9 stages :

1    Allan Palmer   24   HTCHungria   0: 00"   
2    Romeu Rosario   25   KunTeam   0: 07"   
3    Dario Fernandez   25   skunk   0: 38"   
4    István Szekér   25   FlyEaglesFly   1: 54"
5    Lucio Portela   25   Rekutxuteam   2: 31"   
6    Albert Nieuwendijk   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 47"   
7    Elouan Simon   25   Cabrasverdes   2: 48"   
8    Siegmund Paulsen   25   Atlantico   2: 58"   
9    Huub Meppelink   25   ProdopingPong   3: 02"   
10    Zoltán Dékány   25   SPORTLIFE   3: 03"   
11    Ivan Tossato   25   Flyvende_hjul   3: 08"   
12    Mariano Caro   25   Wiggo_pupils   3: 09"   
13    Tom Panes   25   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   3: 24"   
14    Eduard Zijlaard   25   BetisCFF   3: 31"   
15    Jérémie Dupont   25   Oska   3: 33"   
16    Ethan Foster   25   Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling   3: 39"
17    Richard Rogers   24   Ciclokillers   3: 42"   
18    Sven WinklerPrins   24   WinterIsComing   3: 56"   
19    Oliver King   25   Combuijs   4: 36"   
20    Daniel Basov   24   SPORTLIFE   4: 37"   
- - - - - - - - - -
21    Tjerk Tusveld   25   Wizards   4: 51"   
22    Alessio Annini   25   Marcatone_Due   5: 06"   
23    Philipp Aeschliman   25   MortoviaCycling   5: 08"   
24    Karin Telkov   25   SPORTLIFE   5: 09"   
25    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   25   Wizards   5: 15"   

Everyone good luck in the final stage !

[Vos]

Tour de France victor Palmer wins the final stage. Rosario was 3rd in this stage, so he kept his 2nd GC place on 0:07"

SPORTLIFE cyclists Dékány (14th), Nieuwendijk (27th) and Basov (34th) finished in the big second group on 0:31"
So they did good in this stage, because there were just 5 cyclists in the leading group.

In the GC nothing changed for Dékány (10th) and Basov (20th). And Nieuwendijk dropped 1 place and ended up on 7th GC.

Nieuwendijk had a free role in the 2 most important mountain stages, and finished just on 0:54" of the nr4 GC.
Dékány had a free role in all 6 stages and finished just 1:10" behind the nr4 GC.
For sure the big sponsordeal was possible to achieve with one of my GC contenders.

In hinside and looking just at the points, I estimate that my strategy did not matter much. If Basov was not a teamcaptain in those 2 mountain stages, he would have scored less points in this Tour. Probably about the same loss of points as I would have won with Nieuwendijk or Dékány in the GC if they would be the teamcaptain in those 2 stages.
So, most likely no points loss, but only a loss of a big sponsor deal in this Tour de France.

However, there could be a little chance I missed out a podiumplace or even better, a TdF victory. This could only be the case for Dékány with his 6x free roles. I estimate this is not the case, but who knows, maybe a possibility. In advance I would not have expected that because of his low pure mountain GV. And after his flat tire in stage 1 my expectations of Dékány were a little bit lower.

The total Tour de France points scored by my team = 1.334
I hoped for more points, but not really expected that because of in advance too many unknown factors.
And it is many more points as in the Giro of this season, that was just 524 points.
Also more points in this Tour de France than a grand tour of previous season :

Tour de France =  1.163 points
Vuelta d'Espana =  1.050 points
Giro d'Italia =  987 points

My team moved up to the 10th place in 1A. 
Also funny to mention is that my team is above Aurora Australis in 1A, despite that team scored a dazzling 2.119 points in this Tour.
The difference between our teams is just 359 points at the moment.
With still 3 more flat TT races to go this season, including the very point rich WC TT, I cannot estimate who will be the Australian champion.

[Aurora Australis]

The difference is my screwup on Dauphiné stage 1, which flowed through both small tours.  Without that screwup, I'd probably be ahead by several hundred points.
The Giro TT won't matter, I have too many TTers at the end of the 100% form, which is needed for the WC (although I might send Bookout), we'll see.  You have a bunch of climb-hill races which I can't compete in, and better possibilities in the mountain stages, so I suspect that you should win the Australian title again unless you do poorly.

[Vos]

unless you do poorly.

Always a possibility. 
Most likely I will select 5 climbers for the Vuelta (and they are not GC contenders).
This means a limited amount of points.

Probably I can get more points out of the Vuelta, for example by selecting a sprinter and/or a stage 1 specialist.
But the Australian championship has no priority and fun to see how my climbers will perform. A good testcase for the WC roadrace.
It could be that my team will score enough points in the mountains ( including Lombardia ) to stay ahead of your team. That is a possibility.

But I estimate the Australian championship will be decided in both point-rich world championships.
I expect zero points in the WC TT. So it could be that it will be a battle between my climbers and your TT-specialists in the final 2 races.
And if your team will be the Australian champion, for sure you deserve it. Beating SPORTLIFE is always worth a big trophy to everyone.

We will see what happens, for now it is very close with a gap of just 339 points.
That needs to be much bigger before the WC TT starts, otherwise no 7 times Australian championships in a row^^. ( 6 times in a row is also fine by me )

My Vuelta selection will be posted this evening. I have some little doubts and no time now.

[Vos]

picture of the fictonial future ; the SPORTLIFE teamcaptain on his way to victory on the Bola del Mundo.

    selection SPORTLIFE

A climbers team in this grand tour ; 4 pure climbers and 1 climb-TT-specialist.
This choice will cost my team some points, but the Australian championship and top10 in 1A are not important objectives this season.

More important ; the two main goals in this Vuelta are :
stage 8 = Bola del Mundo ( region Madrid )
stage 10 = Col de la Gallina ( Andorra )

I expect also points on the Alto de L'Angliru ( region Asturias ).
Because two stages finish on this famous mountain ; stage 3 with four sections flat, and stage 6 the mountain time trial.
Benett has the CFF record in stage 6, but this time he will ride without TC bonus and therefore not a top-result is expected.
About stage 3, hopefully one of my climbers is good enough to score some points.
This should be possible if the tactics are right, despite the not so good flat skills of my climbers.

It is not yet enterily certain who will be the teamcaptain, probably Crouzel will make his debut as leader on the Bola del Mundo.
And probably Miorlin will be the leader in Andorra, and perhaps in stage 3 also. But the only silver climber of this Vuelta team, Adorján, might be better in stage 3 than Miorlin. So he is an option too.

81 Miorlin ( 9 star climber ) --> 12 victories in 1A, including 2 Vuelta stages
82 Crouzel ( 10 star climber )
83 Dotto ( 9 star climber )
84 Adorján ( 9 star climber )
85 Benett ( 10 star climb-TT-specialist ) --> 6 victories in 1A, including 2 Vuelta stages

Have fun and good luck everyone ! 

[kirin]

Since i don't have a rider that can score good points on this Vuelta GC, i'll be running for stages, just like you.
My selection will be:
301   Osvalds Ksenzovs         25   (hills sprinter)
302   Jort Slippens            25     (hills sprinter)
303   Joseba Andoni Salazar     25         (mountain sprinter)
304   Ross Shields       25        (mountain flat)
305   Alexander Steverink       25      (hills sprinter)

[Aurora Australis]

My team selection

121 Cato Kvam   age 24 (flat climb)
122 Fraser Morris   age 24 (climb)
123 Nail Tinaev   age 25 (domestique)
124 George Bookout   age 25 (TT)
125 Daniel Cerdan   age 25 (sprint)

Stages 2 (sprint), 3 (flat climb), and 9 (TT) are my main interests for points, with top 10 to top 5 expectations in each of these.  Expecting at least some points in stages 8 & 10 (both climb), and if lucky I might have hope for a few bonus points at either stage 1, 4, &/or 7.

[Vos]

stage 3 Vuelta :
A good 11th place for Adorján, and Miorlin in a free role 30th. The first Vuelta points for my team on top of the Alto de L'Angliru.
I expect Benett will score points too on this same mountain in stage 6.

[Vos]

stage 6 Vuelta, mountain TT on the Alto de L'Angliru :

First favorite Benett finished as 6th on 0:16"
Although I told him he did a good job by scoring some points, Benett was too dissapointed and he decided to abandon this Vuelta.
No worries, without him the team is still strong to perform well in the 2 upcoming mountain stages.
Adorján and Crouzel showed in this mountain TT that they have excellent form with their unexpected point-scoring results ; 24th and 25th.

[Vos]

stage 8 Vuelta :
Olé, great solo victory of (not-favorite) Miorlin on the Bola del Mundo ! 

Thanks to his excellent teammates who performed superbly and dominated this stage. 
S3 : leading group of 8 cyclists, including all 4 SPORTLIFE cyclists.
S4 : leading group of just 5 cyclists, including 3 SPORTLIFE cyclists.
Helpers Adorján ( 29th ), Dotto ( 8th ) and Crouzel ( 6th ) scored also points.