WCS 2020

[Vos]

Van Aert wins stage 1, and in the picture his teammate Roglič who wins stage 2 and takes the lead in the GC.

CFF League :
stage 1 winners = WinterIsComing    +  GaoYao 
stage 2 winner = Vos 
WinterIsComing is the GC leader with 3 more stages to go.


next races ( Lombardia in the summer ! ) and next tour ;
  1 day and 1 hour left to join.
  1 day and 2 hours left to join.
  2 days left to join.

[Aurora Australis]

Saw the news of the cycling teams having their cyclists race in the hail.  Like really, when those cyclists are so many minutes behind, get them in the cars, and then have a spat with the officials.  Let the race directors attempt to kick them out.  Put up a public fight, withdraw the team from the race, it'd be positive publicity for the team.

[Vos]

I missed this news, the brutal hailstones in stage 2 Dauphiné. Just googled it and it gives some remarkable pictures, for example :

[Vos]

Formolo wins stage 3 after a long solo. Kämna wins stage 4, also he wins solo after being in the early break away group.
Many things happened in the Dauphiné, too many to mention, for example Bernal did not started in stage 4 because of a back problem.
Roglič is still the GC leader with one more mountain stage to go.

CFF League ;
stage 3 winner = Cosminelul   
stage 4 winner = GaoYao   
GaoYao is the WCS leader in the mountain classification ánd the new GC leader in the CFF League.

Rickaert (BEL) wins this one-day-race, 2nd Eekhoff (NL) and 3rd Vermeersch (BEL).

CFF League winner = Vos   


Fuglsang wins this monument. 2nd Bennett and 3rd Vlasov.

The news of today was that top favorite Evenepoel crashed in the notorious descent of the Sormano ;
he crashed into a low bridge wall and was flying over it into the rivine !
Fortunately Evenepoel survived this extreme crash, but his season is over due to injuries, such as a pelvic fracture and a perforated lung.

CFF League winner = Cosminelul   


next tour starts very soon ;
   1½ hour left to join

[Vos]

  Ewan wins stage 1.

CFF League stage 1 winner = Animatoca  


Again many things happened in this brutal and very hot (see picture of Pinot) Dauphiné. For example GC leader Roglič did not start in stage 5.
Kuss wins the final mountain stage.
And it was an exciting GC battle mainly between Martínez (GC winner) and Pinot (2nd GC). Martin finished as 3rd GC.

CFF League stage 5 winner = Cosminelul 

GC winner = GaoYao   
GaoYao wins also the mountain classification of all WCS participants !   
Vos wins the sprint- and youth jerseys in the CFF League.

next race and next tour ;
  22 hours left to join.
  23 hours left to join.

[Vos]

  Démare wins stage 2.

CFF League stage 2 winner = Vos 
Animatoca is still the GC leader with 2 more stages to go.


next race and next tour ;
  4 hours left to join.
  5 hours left to join.

[Vos]

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana Pro Team) continued his sparkling run of form with a victory in the Giro dell’Emilia launching a searing attack on the final haul up the climb of San Luca above Bologna.

The Russian punched his way clear of an elite group of contenders with 1.5km of the portico-lined ascent remaining and he proceeded to catch and pass lone escapee João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) with 600m to go.

Vlasov never relented, and he pressed on to win by 9 seconds from Almeida, while Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) beat Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) to third place, a further 9 seconds back. Andrea Bagioli, who had helped to tee up his teammate Almeida’s earlier attack, took fifth ahead of Il Lombardia winner Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo).

CFF League winner = WinterIsComing   

  Bennett wins stage 3.

CFF League stage 3 winner = Vos   
Vos is the new GC leader with 1 more stage to go.

  Wackermann wins stage 1.

CFF League stage 1 winner = Kalarratas   


The next race ( Bretagne Classic-Ouest-France, in CFF2 known as GP Plouay ) starts in 6 days, but not yet open to join.
Also the next tour, Giro Ciclistico d'Italia (u23), is not yet open to join.
But on the same day that this u23 tour starts, there is another tour that is already open to join for many weeks :
  10 days left to join. 

Top Favorites Tour de France CFF League =

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Vos --> 9º in 2019, 12º in 2018, 20º in 2017, and a total of 0 stage victories.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ( yet unknown )
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ( yet unknown )
⭐⭐⭐ ( yet unknown )
⭐⭐⭐ ( yet unknown )
⭐⭐  ( yet unknown )
⭐⭐  ( yet unknown )
⭐  ( yet unknown )
⭐  ( yet unknown )
⭐  ( yet unknown )

[Vos]

GC leader Démare surprised everyone by counter attacking Gilbert and winning the final stage with an uphill finish.
2nd GC VanAvermaet and 3rd GC Capiot.

CFF League stage 4 winner =  Vos   

GC winner = Vos   
Vos wins also the sprint jersey.
Kalarratas and pizzaboys, both win the mountain jersey.
Vos, Kalarratas and pizzaboys, all 3 win the youth jersey.

  Gaviria wins stage 2.

CFF League stage 2 winner = Cosminelul   
Kalarratas is still the GC leader with 2 more stages to go.
Also worth to mention ;
Cosminelul is the current sprint classification leader of all WCS and Animatoca is the current mountain classification leader of all WCS.

[Vos]

  9 days left to join. 

Top Favorites Tour de France CFF League =

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  WinterIsComing --> 4º in 2019, 14º in 2018, 7º in 2017, and a total of 1 stage victory.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Vos --> 9º in 2019, 12º in 2018, 20º in 2017, and a total of 0 stage victories.
⭐  all not yet registered CFF League participants

For now WinterIsComing and Vos get both 5 stars because they are the only 2 participants so far.
Of course both have no great TdF palmares, and looking at just the past TdF results, WiC should get 1 more star than Vos.
But Vos is riding in the rainbow jersey and has excellent results in 2020, and with just 2 participants it is logical to give them both 5 stars,
also because they are at the moment in topform after winning Emilia (WiC) and Wallonie (Vos).
I guess those very recent victories scared the other CFF participants, and thé reason there are just 2 TdF contenders right now.  

[paultb]

I wish you all good luck with the prediction of the Tour de France. Many people will be surprised that Froome and Thomas are not selected in Team Ineos. It will be very difficult to predict who is in good shape with just a few races after the corona break. Possibly bad current shape is the reason why Froome and Thomas will focus on the other grand tours. But Ineos still has Bernal (Tour Winner 2019), Carapaz (Giro Winner 2019) and youngster Sivakov (I expect more from him this year).

Also Jumbo-Visma lost Kruijswijk for the Tour, the shoulder injury he picked up in the Dauphine is the reason why he will not be selected.

[WinterIsComing]

  9 days left to join. 

Top Favorites Tour de France CFF League =

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  WinterIsComing --> 4º in 2019, 14º in 2018, 7º in 2017, and a total of 1 stage victory.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Vos --> 9º in 2019, 12º in 2018, 20º in 2017, and a total of 0 stage victories.
⭐  all not yet registered CFF League participants

For now WinterIsComing and Vos get both 5 stars because they are the only 2 participants so far.
Of course both have no great TdF palmares, and looking at just the past TdF results, WiC should get 1 more star than Vos.
But Vos is riding in the rainbow jersey and has excellent results in 2020, and with just 2 participants it is logical to give them both 5 stars,
also because they are at the moment in topform after winning Emilia (WiC) and Wallonie (Vos).
I guess those very recent victories scared the other CFF participants, and thé reason there are just 2 TdF contenders right now.  

Still many days to go until the start, so I'm sure our peak at the bookmaker's office comes way too early... 

[Vos]

No doubt, I agree with you, but it looked amazing for the time being and a good motivation for others to join a.s.a.p.
And already some of them did, including the Tour de France winner of 2018.
So, I guess the bookmakers will take away some of our stars now.
Just online, more about the TdF favorites later this morning.

[Vos]

  Philipsen wins stage 3.

CFF League stage 3 winner = Animatoca   
Kalarratas is still the GC leader with just 1 more stage to go.

[Vos]

I wish you all good luck with the prediction of the Tour de France. Many people will be surprised that Froome and Thomas are not selected in Team Ineos. It will be very difficult to predict who is in good shape with just a few races after the corona break. Possibly bad current shape is the reason why Froome and Thomas will focus on the other grand tours. But Ineos still has Bernal (Tour Winner 2019), Carapaz (Giro Winner 2019) and youngster Sivakov (I expect more from him this year).

Also Jumbo-Visma lost Kruijswijk for the Tour, the shoulder injury he picked up in the Dauphine is the reason why he will not be selected.

Maybe and hopefully you too good luck with the TdF predictions, Paul, I just send you by pm the password of the cycling for fun league.
Of course, entirely up to you to decide to participate or not, and there are enough CFF managers who participate just a few times per season, for example in the big tours. It is free and it costs almost no time, once the TdF started it costs even no time at all.

Indeed, already some important mutations in the Tour de France, what hopefully makes this Tour de France even more interesting/exciting.
This TdF has the most climbing kilometers ever, and the just one time trial is considered as a climb TT.
Still 8 days to go, and I expect more mutations before the Tour starts.

For the ones who missed this news of one week ago ;
all 2020 world championship races ( in Switzerland ) are cancelled.

[Vos]

  8 days left to join. 

In parentheses = ( TdF result 2019, TdF result 2018, TdF result 2017 )
--> = total of all TdF stage victories
DNS = did not start
2020 victories = WT victory in bold, tour victory underlined

Top Favorites Tour de France CFF League =
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Cosminelul ( DNS, 1º, DNS ) --> 4
2020 victories ; GT Lombardo, l'Ain, Lombardia, and 3 stage victories in little tours.

⭐⭐⭐⭐  WinterIsComing ( 4º, 14º, 7º ) --> 1
2020 victories ; Valenciana, Almería, Emilia, and 13 stage victories in little tours.
⭐⭐⭐⭐  Kalarratas ( 6º, 8º, 21º ) --> 2
2020 victories ; Tramuntana, Provence, Algarve, Pologne, and 10 stage victories in little tours.

⭐⭐⭐  Vos ( 9º, 12º, 20º ) --> 0
2020 victories ; San Juan, C.Evans, Herald Sun, Bessèges, Colombia, Kuurne, S.Bianche, M-Sanremo, Hageland, Wallonie, and 23 stage victories in little tours.

⭐⭐⭐  GaoYao ( 8º, DNS, DNS ) --> 2
2020 victories ; Milano-Torino, Dauphiné, and 5 stage victories in little tours.