Season 9

[WinterIsComing]

Congrats Vos. Impressive victory in Romandy! 

[EpoGlucK]

Wow Vos, I reafirm that you are a master in tactics

[Vos]

Thanks all ! 

Eschborn-Frankfurt ;
1º Cook ( °Peachy°Melocotons ) --> Great victory, EpoGluck, congratulations !
8º Judd
A very good result of Judd, also because he had just helpers for the first flat kilometers of this race.

   selection SPORTLIFE
---> The blue mountain jersey is the main objective in this Giro.
Miorlin will be the teamcaptain in the mountain stages, and again he gets the 2 excellent helpers of the very successful Romandie.
My Italian climber has home advantage and he knows how to win a Giro stage, he did that 3 times before ; 1x in season 3 and 2x in season 6.
Kangert and Gregersen are selected to score some extra points in their stages. Both have to do it without help.

141 Miorlin (27), climb
142 Basov (26), climb
143 Crouzel (26), climb
144 Kangert (25), TT
145 Gregersen (25), hills

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

Verbeek had a decent start. 7th in the opener. Burton was able to stay with him through the hill sections. Unfortunately couldnt be there in s4. That was the podium. Still, 100 valuable points.
For the hill stage he can only lose. 8 golden hiller ride this Giro. Two are in my team. But first we go Climbing. Mota can attempt a podium tonight but i will be happy with a top 10.

[Sjiz]

Well, a podium. This one feels like a win. A Miorlin with double weatherbonus is unbeatable for Mota and Blaak is a world class climber. 3rd is a great result. Happy. Tomorrow will be a slower day with a TT and climbhill stage. Not much chances for me for points. Maybe i should enjoy the weather of find a cafe.

[Vos]

stage 2 Giro ;

Great race ! In the first 2 sections not-favorite Miorlin let the Peachy's do the work, what resulted in twice a "fresher than" icon.
Out of the front group ( 5 cyclists ) in s2, Øverland ( Chronotony ) attacked in s3 and no problem for the fresh Miorlin to follow as only one.
In s4 Miorlin decided to attack fierce and he was solo for a few kilometers but the strong Blaak could close the gap thanks to his teammate.
Blaak and Miorlin together on the top of the last mountain, and the chasing group ( just 3 cyclists ) already on 0:24" in s4.
With such a gap they have no chance for stage victory, also because Blaak and Miorlin had a high pace in the final descent.

Close towards the finishline in Pinerolo, it was clearly going to be a sprint-á-deux. And after a photo finish ; stage victory of Miorlin ! 
The unfortunate Blaak 2nd despite a great race of him.
And not-favorite Mota ( TeamRHB ) did great too and completed the stage podium ( 3rd ) by winning the sprint of the little chasing group.

Right after the race Miorlin decided to climb another mountain. I said to him : "what are you doing, you need to rest !"
Miorlin replied :"I'm still fresh". 

[Vos]

stage 3 Giro ;
10º  Kangert
A good result, probably because of his active weather icon.

The GC victor of the Tour de Romandie shows that he is not suited for the GC in the Giro ;
153º  Miorlin  3:45"
It is clear he does not like a time trial, and he is even worse in the hills.
But he is very good in the final 3 mountain stages, so hopefully he can surprise me and finish top 20 GC.
At the moment he is 27th GC, just 2:49" behind the pink jersey wearer Mihkel Väli ( Atlantico ) who has fierce competition .
Top 10 GC after 3 stages ( --> is best GC result of this and previous season ) =
1Mihkel Väli   27   Atlantico   0: 00" --> Catalunya victor ( s8 ), Itzulia victor ( s8 )
2    Antonello Lorenzetto   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 06" --> Giro victor ( s8, title defender ), 3º Romandie ( s9 )
3    Richard Rogers   26   ProdopingPong   0: 36" --> 2º Itzulia ( s8 )
4    Jørund Nordnes   26   Cabrasverdes   0: 48" --> 5º Cataluny ( s8 ), 5º Suisse ( s8 )
5    Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 59" --> Tour victor ( s8 ), 2º Vuelta ( s8 ), 2º Romandie ( s9 )
6    István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   1: 13" --> 3º Suisse ( s8 )
7    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   27   Wizards   1: 14" --> 9º Tirreno ( s9 )
8    Sandis Stabulnieks   24   FaltososDeChigre   1: 27" --> no results yet of this 24yo who transfered just 2 weeks ago to a 1A-team
9    Ivan Semon   27   MortoviaCycling   1: 30" --> 5º Tour ( s8 ), 6º Romandie ( s9 )
10    Hartwig Adenauer   27   cave   1: 30" --> 16º Paris-Nice ( s9 )

[Vos]

stage 4 Giro ;
Stage winner VanKerckhove ( Peachy ) wins the sprint-á-deux of GC leader Väli. The nr2 GC Lorenzetto finished as 3rd on just 5 seconds.

It is a fierce battle in the GC, and some ( for example Hilton ) can do well on the upcoming cobblestones.
Top 10 GC after 4 stages :

1Mihkel Väli   27   Atlantico   0: 00"   
2    Antonello Lorenzetto   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 12"   
3    Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   1: 10"   
4    Jørund Nordnes   26   Cabrasverdes   1: 11"   
5    István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   1: 24"   
6    Richard Rogers   26   ProdopingPong   1: 37"   
7    Ivan Semon   27   MortoviaCycling   1: 52"   
8    Raimond Leducq   27   Astanadena   1: 56"   
9    Sandis Stabulnieks   24   FaltososDeChigre   2: 17"   
10    Jose Viñas   25   WinterIsComing   2: 37" 

[Vos]

The victors on the Italian cobblestones were Travin ( Thorboassonarvesen ) in stage 5 and Leonov ( CobbleCrushers ) in stage 6.
Hilton is the new GC leader and 2 FlyingWheels tour riders joined the top 10 GC.
Miorlin is already more than 3 minutes behind the nr20 GC, after hills stage 7 that will be even more. No surprising GC points, I assume.

TOP 10 GC after 6 stages :
1Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 00"   
2    Antonello Lorenzetto   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 45"
3    Richard Rogers   26   ProdopingPong   1: 07"   
4    Mihkel Väli   27   Atlantico   1: 07"   
5    István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   2: 09"
6    Jørund Nordnes   26   Cabrasverdes   2: 25"   
7    Ivan Semon   27   MortoviaCycling   2: 56"   
8    Alexander Rusakov   27   Flyvende_hjul   3: 24"   
9    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   27   Wizards   4: 35"   
10    Raimonds Platacis   27   Flyvende_hjul   4: 39"   

[Vos]

stage 7 Giro ;
10º Gregersen

A good result behind stage winner Verbeek ( TeamRHB ), 2nd Power ( Valderend ) and 3rd Bendix ( Denver ).
Maybe it could have been even a better result with even more risk in s1, because there the 1st peleton had 79 cyclists.
But the 1st peleton increased with just 7 cyclists in s2, so maybe I have made the right choice in s1.
Because a very risky tactic without any helpers is maybe asking for problems, ánd Gregersen has just a silver hills icon.

Hilton still has the pink jersey and the GC battle will be decided in the upcoming final 3 mountain stages.
In mountain stage 2 Lorenzetto and Väli finished in the same time. Both were faster than Hilton who finished 23 seconds later.

Also Rogers is very close in the GC at the moment, but in stage 2 he finished 53 seconds later than Lorenzetto, Väli ánd the current nr 5 GC Szekér, but probably Szekér is too far behind to win the Giro. But perhaps he still can compete for a podiumplace.
Or maybe Miorlin will surprise everyone by winning this Giro despite his current 55th place on 11:35" ?   

TOP 10 / TOP 20 GC after 7 stages :

1Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 00"   
2    Antonello Lorenzetto   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 41"   
3    Mihkel Väli   27   Atlantico   0: 46"   
4    Richard Rogers   26   ProdopingPong   0: 54"   
5    István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   1: 57"   
6    Ivan Semon   27   MortoviaCycling   2: 44"
7    Jørund Nordnes   26   Cabrasverdes   2: 46"
8    Alexander Rusakov   27   Flyvende_hjul   3: 19"   
9    Sandis Stabulnieks   24   FaltososDeChigre   4: 30"   
10    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   27   Wizards   4: 35"   
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11    Dimi VanKerckhove   26   °Peachy°Melocotons   4: 53"   
12    Oliver De Schrijver   27   MarvelProCycling    5: 24"   
13    Sebastien Bolshenkov   26   WinterIsComing   5: 38"
14    Raimond Leducq   27   Astanadena   5: 46"   
15    Oliver King   27   Combuijs   5: 49"   
16    Cipriano Luna   27   TeamRHB   5: 50"   
17    Raimonds Platacis   27   Flyvende_hjul   5: 57"   
18    Igor Paraje   27   BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   5: 59"
19    Nicolay Løvdal   27   ValeronIdolo   6: 10"   
20    Jose Viñas   25   WinterIsComing   6: 14"   

[Vos]

The new race calendar of season 10 is published.

[Sjiz]

Verbeeks third Giro stage win. Good result and he took over the lead in the individual classement with 8 points Now Mota and Jobet can go for stage results in the last 3 stages. Luna can try and hold on to a top 20.

[Sjiz]

A good result for Jobet as the fight for the pink jersey intenifies! Hilton, Vali and Lorenzetto are now within half a minute of each other. Still a lot of mountains to go. Who will win? I am placing my bet on Vali. I like an outsider.

[michinoo]

Thanks for the support. You will like to be a Pulidor fan...

[Vos]

stage 8 Giro ;
5º Miorlin
stage 9 Giro ;
2º Miorlin

Both stages were won by Blaak ( Peachy ).

And both times Miorlin could not challenge a favorite, so his results are excellent.
Also because his tactics were perfect, although in stage 9 his excellent helpers were not in s4 despite they used many EP's in the downhill.
Unexpected, because I knew s4 was tricky/difficult for helpers, and helper Basov could challenge 2 favorites.
But he did a great helpers job with his 10 start, because Miorlin had a mechanical breakdown in s1 while he was saving all energy.

Lorenzetto did great in this stage 9 ( 8º, and won 0:08" on Väli and 0:24" on Hilton ), and this Italian is now the new GC leader.

TOP 10 GC after 9 stages :
1Antonello Lorenzetto   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 00"   
2    Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 08"   
3    Mihkel Väli   27   Atlantico   0: 20"   
4    Richard Rogers   26   ProdopingPong   1: 03"   
5    István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   1: 58"   
6    Jørund Nordnes   26   Cabrasverdes   2: 12"   
7    Ivan Semon   27   MortoviaCycling   2: 46"   
8    Sandis Stabulnieks   24   FaltososDeChigre   4: 55"   
9    Raimond Leducq   27   Astanadena   5: 04"   
10    Dimi VanKerckhove   26   °Peachy°Melocotons   5: 18"