Season 9

[Vos]

stage 3 Tour de Suisse ;
17º Faber
This result brings a final total of 343 points of my team in this tour, because I don't expect points in the final 2 stages.

On the cobblestones the GC leader finished as 84th in a free role, 4 minutes behind stage winner Travin ( Thorboassonarvesen ).
Miorlin lost the leader jersey, but still 3rd GC at the moment. But I suspect he will drop out of the top20 GC after hills stage 4.

[michinoo]

TOUR OF SUISSE STANDINGS after 3 stage:

1   Wendell Green   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 00"
5   Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   1: 11"
7   Casey Robertson   27   FaltososDeChigre   1: 55"
9   Adam Roethlisberger   27   Atlantico   2: 10"
11   Tom Cabanas   27   MortoviaCycling   2: 27"
17   Per Aadland   26   Wizards   2: 47"
18   Santiago Castro   27   skunk   2: 59"
21   Dries Smulders   27   °Peachy°Melocotons   3: 02"
24   Alexander Rusakov   27   Flyvende_hjul   3: 19"
28   Cipriano Luna   27   TeamRHB   3: 39"

It seems that Wendell Green could win de GC on an easy way, but Hilton is on his back. Roethlisberger and other riders will be watching for any possible option to catch them...

[Vos]

stage 4 Tour de Suisse ;
28º VanDerKroon
Twelve unexpected points of my hillsclimber in this hills stage that was won by Barraco ( WinterIsComing ).

In a free role Miorlin finished on almost 5 minutes, and dropped from place 3 GC to place 19 GC.
He is now better ranked in the GC as expected. In hinside maybe I should have made him the teamcaptain also in stages 3 and 4.

It seems to me an exciting final sprint stage for the 3 GC contenders who go for victory in the Tour de Suisse.
TOP 6 GC after 4 stages =

1    Wendell Green   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 00"   
2    Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 09"   
3    Adam Roethlisberger   27   Atlantico   0: 36"   
4    Marc Nolten   26   ProCyclingTeam10   1: 06"   
5    Casey Robertson   27   FaltososDeChigre   1: 21"   
6    Dries Smulders   27   °Peachy°Melocotons   1: 56"   

[Sjiz]

It will be interesting again! I think Green will not make it and Hilton will win. Roethlisberger has to ride a very good race to drop Hilton. Luna can try to make the top 10 again (and most likely fail).

[michinoo]

My team is always in this kind of situations...  And we always get the 2nd place. Maybe this afternoon it could be different, but maybe it couldn't 

[Vos]

My team is always in this kind of situations...  And we always get the 2nd place. Maybe this afternoon it could be different, but maybe it couldn't 

0: 01" difference, bad luck michinoo. Hopefully next time 1 or 2 seconds faster so you will win, already a good-luck-wish from me.

stage 5 Tour de Suisse ;
29º Faber
Again a few unexpected points, this time in a free role.
Because Miorlin was given a fighting GC chance as teamcaptain in this sprint stage.
But that was way too optimistic thinking of me, because Miorlin dropped from place 19 GC to place 27 GC, 44 seconds behind the nr20.

The TOP 3 GC finished really close ; too bad only 1 rider can win, because all 3 managers deserved a very well done, according to me.
Also very well done to the manager of the surprising nr4 GC Marc Nolten.
He scored the very first result on the 1A palmares of his debuting Portuguese team.

Final TOP 10 GC Tour de Suisse :
1Wendell Green   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 00"   
2    Adam Roethlisberger   27   Atlantico   0: 01"   
3    Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 09"   
4    Marc Nolten   26   ProCyclingTeam10   1: 06"   
5    Dries Smulders   27   °Peachy°Melocotons   1: 56"   
6    Casey Robertson   27   FaltososDeChigre   2: 05"   
7    Tom Cabanas   27   MortoviaCycling   2: 07"   
8    Per Aadland   26   Wizards   2: 27"   
9    Alexander Rusakov   27   Flyvende_hjul   2: 29"   
10    Santiago Castro   27   skunk   2: 29"   

Next race ; the Tour de France ! 

[Rico]

After 2nd (Romandie), 3rd (Giro) and 4th (Dauphiné), Hilton now scores another 3rd spot in a tour. Next aim is to fulfill a complete season without victories, so hopefully Hilton can get another 2nd spot in the Vuelta later this season.

Now we move on to France where Figueras can show that he is not suited for this year's Tour de France...

/sarcasm mode off....

[michinoo]

Welcome to my World Rico A place full of silver and bronze... Jajaja Maybe our luck change one day

Vos, thanks for your wish. Perhaps the Tour bring me another chance to be a little bit faster...

[Sjiz]

Well, it was a close finish with one happy guy and 2 people dissapointed. As for me: it ended bad. I used the famous 22222 tactic.

For the Tour i will try to better my life. After long deliberations i have decided to make Verburg leader. Maye was pissed. As a french guy being leader in the TDF was a big draw to sign for my team. Ah well, he is still for sale :p

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Miorlin has no TC bonus and a little form issue of minus 1 in this tour, but his season is already very successful.
Maybe he can surprise again in stages 5 and 7, however, the teamcaptain role of stage 5 is still unknown.

Jannakopulosz is better prepared, although he has the same form issue in 2 out of his 3 sprint stages.
Despite this, I have a high expectation of his stage 10 result.

My team focus is on the sprint- and mountain stages, and there is no GC ambition.
Although the new bought Heger has a bronze tour icon, but mainly in a free role he most likely has no chance to score GC points.
He will make his debut as teamcaptain in stage 9, probably a suited stage for him.

101 Jannakopulosz (27), sprint --> stages 4 + 6 + 10
102 Miorlin (27), climb --> stage 7 ( + maybe stage 5 )
103 Adorján (26), climb --> stage 1 ( + maybe stage 5 )
104 Heger (26), climbhills --> stage 9
105 Colaco (26), sprint --> helper

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

Well, thats the start. 29th for Verburg. Tonight he will lose big. Tomorrow we can start climbing to the top.

[Vos]

stage 1 TdF ;

Andorján was the only one who had a mechanical breakdown in s1.
This caused he could not follow the big peleton of 92 and that his race was over. Also as only one he gets the dissapointment icon.

Miorlin could not save the day by scoring a few points, apparently his free role tactic was too risky in s2.
Heger made his debut for my team ; he was not happy in a helpers role for a stage that brought exactly zero points.

The next two stages my team will remain on zero TdF points.
But cobble stage 3 ( 30ºC ) is a great opportunity to practise the water carrier roles for sprint stage 4 ( 40ºC ),
where my sprinter should be able to score the first points in this Tour de France.


For now the real TdF hero of my team will be the bus driver of SPORTLIFE, who has to make many kilometers in France :
Pyrenees--> near Nantes--> Roubaix--> Pyrenees--> Pyrenees--> Paris--> Alpes--> Lyon--> Pamplona(Spain)--> Valence(100km south of Lyon)
Hopefully the airconditioning of the team bus works, because after stage 2 it will be in all stages 29ºC or more.

[michinoo]

FAVORITES
Allan Palmer (26, Gbr, Codex), Adam Roethlisberger (27, Sui, Atlantico)
Tjerk Tusveld (27, Hol, Wizards), Dinar Samsonov (27, Ukr, FaltososDeChigre), Mariano Caro (27, Wiggo_puppils)
Wendell Green (27, Gbr, Marcatone_Due), Kieran Williams (27, Gbr, Paquetazos), Hartwig Adenauer (27, Ale, Cave), Ildefonso Mansilla (27, Esp, Caracoles), Dainis Vitols (27, Let, Psychoedge), Vitaly Tyan (27, Wiggo_puppils), Alessandro Figueras (26, Ita, CaptainOrange)

AFTER STAGE 1
Good morning! The 1st stage of the Tour was so calm, but we can read some lines on it; Palmer and Toode (Codex) are a very strong couple on mountain, while Dario Fernandez (Skunk) it seems that comes to play hard. Vitaly Tyan will be the leader of Wiggo_puppils, while Samsonov (FaltososDeChigre) shows a very good performance on La Pierre de St Martin. Nobody had lost too much time, and Green, Cabanas, Adenauer, Mansilla or Roethlisberger arrives the finish line only a few seconds after the winner.

This afternoon a windy time trial, where Figueras (CaptainOrange) and Caro (Wiggo_puppils) must show her skills. Probably the italian rider will get the yellow jersey.

[Aurora Australis]

Haven't been around except to sign up the team.  Anyway TdF team..

271: Richard Levin   age 27 (stage 2 TT - win?)
272: Christian Pinkney   age 26 (stage 2 TT - podium?)
273: Ben Mitchum   age 27 (stage 2 TT - top 5)
274: Aksel Myklebust   age 24 (stage 4 & 6 sprint leader - maybe stage 10 for bonus points)
275: Sergei Wild   age 27 (domestique for Aksel who's actually a sprinter [which he hasn't been getting] so that will please him, although Sergei's health isn't good so Aksel won't be completely happy).

[Sjiz]

Not entirely happy. Verburg lost the lead group in s3 which is strange. Only got like 40 seconds on riders such as Figueras. I think there could have been more. Ah well, now we go sprinting.