Season 9

[EpoGlucK]

Hmmmm, Pelle ( Peachy ) is riding this Vuelta.
Maybe I should make a last-minute change and select Jannakopulosz to battle for the Hungarian jersey.
He still has 100 health now in case Pelle was selected at the last moment.

Thé main rival, golden tour rider Szekér, is not riding this Vuelta.
So it is between my sprinter and Pelle, the other Hungarians are too far behind.

Jannakopulosz has a lead of 114 points and there are just 2 stages where both can score points.
A disadvantage is of course that Pelle is the 1st favorite in stage 1.
But the most biggest disadvantage is that my sprinter raced many tours this season and his form is now just 94, what is too low.
Although I have a +5 form card, with that card my sprinter will do very well in stage 2.
But probably Pelle will do very well too in stage 2, also there he has a better GV than my sprinter, but fox tactics can compensate that.

Sometimes this game is difficult with such choices, what makes the game even more fun.
But everything considered ; I think Jannakopulosz will lose the battle despite his current lead of 114 points.
So he is not going to ride the Vuelta.
What is good news for Pelle, because now it is certain he will win the Hungarian jersey for the 4th time.

The main objective in Vuelta is helping Pelle to win the Hungarian Maillot^^.

Pelle got a 2th place in the first race, behind Bleidelis.

1   Miksa Pelle   27   °Peachy°Melocotons   1302
2   Alfréd Jannakopulosz   27   SPORTLIFE   1216
3   István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   1003

[Vos]

I had a similar problem. Verbeek has chances on the golden bike. Not very big chances, but with luck he may have a shot. Riis is not riding the Vuelta and can only score in Lombarda. Lorenzetto is riding the Vuelta and can do well. All can get some where around the 4000 points. So do i go all in and see if i can get the win, or do i follow my original plan and go for Luna in this race?

I chose Verbeek and got Woods as a domestique instead of another climber. The first stage went well. Verbeek got 10th and 85 valuable points. Tonight is another important one. We need to get a similar result but it will be more difficult.

The golden bike is of course a much more prestigious objective / price, than just a nation jersey.
Just a little chance on winning the golden bike is worth fighting for.

Maybe even Verbeek has a good chance, and it would be mega impressive if your Dutchman wins the golden bike, Sjiz.
Because so far only tour riders* won this biggest CFF price for individual cyclists, and Verbeek is a versatile specialist.
( *= 4x Bauer, 1x Roethlisberger and 2x Palmer )

But as you already mentioned ; Lorenzetto ( 4x silver bike ) will be a very fierce competitor despite he had his TC bonus in the Giro.
He can score points in 3 Vuelta stages, in the Vuelta GC and in Lombardia.
Versus Verbeek in 3 Vuelta stages ( and now 2 more to go ).

To me a bit unexpected that Riis is not riding the Vuelta with his current lead in the golden bike ranking,
but he still could be a rival with just one suited race left for him this season.
And that is Lombardia, although he never finished top10 in that classic race. But in previous season he was 6th in San Sebastian.

I don't see more real rivals for the golden bike, Verbeek has a big lead to many other amazing golden tour riders.
But who will win the golden bike ? It seems to me (also) the battle can be very close and exciting.
Verbeek has a good chance if "his" two stages go very well, but maybe it will depend entirely on how Lorenzetto does in this Vuelta.
For sure he is motivated and eager to win the golden bike after 4 times silver.
To me the Vuelta GC competition (with TC bonus) seems very fierce for Lorenzetto,
and maybe (or even probably) too fierce to score enough GC points to win the golden bike. And he needs many GC points to beat Verbeek.

Good luck Sjiz ! If Verbeek wins the golden bike, it would be an amazing and unique achievement with a specialist cyclist.
Although to me Lorenzetto deserves it too, so good luck also, Aurelio !

[EpoGlucK]

I think we need a "poll" between the 3 contenders.

I vote for Verbeek!

[Vos]

The main objective in Vuelta is helping Pelle to win the Hungarian Maillot^^.

Pelle got a 2th place in the first race, behind Bleidelis.

1   Miksa Pelle   27   °Peachy°Melocotons   1302
2   Alfréd Jannakopulosz   27   SPORTLIFE   1216
3   István Szekér   27   FlyEaglesFly   1003

With Pelle his 2nd place in stage 1,  I'm 100% sure now that I made the right desicion no to select Jannakopulosz for the Vuelta.
This stage 1 had too many hills in it to be suited for my sprinter, top10 with 100 form was (maybe) impossible.
And he even had to ride this stage with 94 form, so he would be too many points behind before stage 2 started.
There Jannakopulosz could ride with 99 form and he is suited for that stage 2, most likely he could challenge favorites.
For sure it would have been a losing battle against Pelle, who is in both stages the 1st favorite.
And then I even don't take into account that my sprinter would have had bad support and Pelle has amazing helpers.

Congratulations, Peachy, to me it is certain now that Pelle wins the Hungarian jersey.

ps ; My focus is/was on a nation jersey, because my team never won a jersey in CFF3, what looks great on the palmares.
Maybe next season, although I think I have to buy a rider who makes a good chance to achieve that goal.

[Vos]

I think we need a "poll" between the 3 contenders.

I vote for Verbeek!

Yes, that would be fun , but I don't know how to make a "poll", hopefully someone else makes it.

[Aurora Australis]

Yes, that would be fun , but I don't know how to make a "poll", hopefully someone else makes it.

Whoever created this thread can possibly edit their first post to create a poll (otherwise it'd require a new topic).

[Rico]

No golden bikes here, but Hilton did have a nice start to the Vuelta by finishing in the 2nd group, together with Leipheimer, Lorenzetto, Collins and some other gc contenders I probably forgot. A lot of other tour riders arrive in the third group , 36 seconds behind Hilton.

[Vos]

Just a remark to make it even more exciting than it already is : 

I forgot to mention the WC climb race. Lorenzetto is also a good pure climber. But he has no TC, and many pure climbers ride with TC there.
But who knows, if the tactics are right and he can finish 20th in the WC climb race, that is already 150 points extra.

[Vos]

No golden bikes here, but Hilton did have a nice start to the Vuelta by finishing in the 2nd group, together with Leipheimer, Lorenzetto, Collins and some other gc contenders I probably forgot. A lot of other tour riders arrive in the third group , 36 seconds behind Hilton.

Good luck with Hilton in the Vuelta, Rico !
Probably one of the not-mentioned real GC rivals is Rusakov ( Flyvende_hjul ) who finished one group behind Hilton.
For sure positive for Hilton that he wins 36 seconds on Rusakov and many other tour riders.

[Rico]

Yeah, Rusakov might even be considered the #1 favourite  because he has tc bonus.

[Atalm93]

Rusakov was maybe the favourite, before the first stage. After Peachy made Rusakov suffer for his positioning in the peloton in the first section, the edge is over to Hilton again. 

[Sjiz]

The GC will be a cool battle, yes. I think you are lucky Peachy didnt bring Loinaz :p

[EpoGlucK]

I would say Lepheimer is the favourite^^

[Sjiz]

20th place for Verbeek. Thats another 38 points, 3695 now. Only one race for him to get some more points. A maximum of 3945 is possible. We will see if its enough. I dont think it will be.

[Vos]

stage 3 Vuelta ;
3º Basov
Excellent result, because he could not challenge favorites and has 99 form.
So, this podium place was mainly thanks to helper Crouzel who did a great job.

It is rare that a SPORTLIFE cyclist is among the favorites, but this is the case in the next stage 4 with even 2 favorites.
Because, besides 1st favorite Benett, the 5th favorite is Basov. A bit unexpected because this is the only mountain-TT of the season.
Hopefully his 99 form does not affect his result too much, or even better, not at all.

Golden bike battle ;
Bad expected news for Verbeek ( TeamRHB ) ;
Lorenzetto ( Marcatone_Due ) did great in stage 3 and finished as 6th, =113 points.

Golden Bike ranking =

1º      Alex Riis   27   3816   Astanadena   --> he does not ride the Vuelta, but might score points in Lombardia
2º      Arno Verbeek   26   3695   TeamRHB   --> he needs to finish at least top5 in stage 6, to have a theoretic chance
3º      Antonello Lorenzetto   27   2924   Marcatone_Due   -->  maybe 5 chances to score points, stage7, stage10, GC Vuelta, LOM, WC