Season 9

[Vos]

stage 3 Catalunya ;
Again congrats with the victory, Zatarra ! 

50º Fagan on 1:13" = suddenly 1st in the GC.  

Unexpected and nice, and even despite a possible mistake, because I thought Takács was way too good to help.
But in hinside he could have tried, also because he did not even scored points in a free role.

Good luck, Vos, in maintaining the #1 position in the GC for Fagan. If he needs some help from my guys, just let me know, the might be of use in ... during the first sect... eehm... kilometers! 

Thanks 

I think vanKerckhove will be the man to beat for Fagan in the GC. My cyclist Hvid will be fighting for a good position, although cyclists like Pantani and Moresi are (most likely too) close. Will Voegeli be able to keep up the pace in the mountains of Itzulia? We'll see tonight.

Despite his leader jersey, I don't think Fagan can ride a very good GC / battle for podiumplaces.
He will have big troubles in the final stage with his low flat and he does not even have a hills icon.
So he has to do very well in stage 4 to ride a good final GC. ( = top 10 GC ? or maybe better, I really don't know )

Good luck in the GC with Hvid, WiC !

[WinterIsComing]

Good luck in the GC with Hvid, WiC !

Dramatic 4th stage, crap result, and rumors say rebellion almost broke out in the team bus. Results in the last week are simply not good. What can the management do to turn things for the better? Time will tell.

[Vos]

stage 4 Catalunya ;
Again a bad race of my team, this is by far the worst tactical tour of the season and maybe of many seasons more.
Fagan had only help in s3 (of Dékány) and in s5 (of VanDerKroon). Fagan had a hard start, but in hinside it should have been even harder.
23º Fagan on 1:07"
25º VanDerKroon

Too bad that Fagan lost too much (unnecessary) time in this stage, most likely 19 seconds.
And probably he lost a few seconds too much in stages 1 and 3, because also there the helpers tactics should have been better.
He is now 2nd GC, so he still has a chance to ride a good GC, despite he is not really suited for the final stage.
Unfortunately a GC podiumplace is out of the question, and so far SPORTLIFE never achieved that.

Hopefully once (and for the first time) I can buy a good GC rider. Already all 9 seasons without such an important rider.
Or maybe I will succeed in training a top GC rider because I have plans to start (finally) a ½ youth team next season.

[EpoGlucK]

stage 4 Catalunya ;
Again a bad race of my team, this is by far the worst tactical tour of the season and maybe of many seasons more.
Fagan had only help in s3 (of Dékány) and in s5 (of VanDerKroon). Fagan had a hard start, but in hinside it should have been even harder.
23º Fagan on 1:07"
25º VanDerKroon

Too bad that Fagan lost too much (unnecessary) time in this stage, most likely 19 seconds.
And probably he lost a few seconds too much in stages 1 and 3, because also there the helpers tactics should have been better.
He is now 2nd GC, so he still has a chance to ride a good GC, despite he is not really suited for the final stage.
Unfortunately a GC podiumplace is out of the question, and so far SPORTLIFE never achieved that.

Hopefully once (and for the first time) I can buy a good GC rider. Already all 9 seasons without such an important rider.
Or maybe I will succeed in training a top GC rider because I have plans to start (finally) a ½ youth team next season.

I still remember fagan from season 1, winning Itzulia with 7 flat, It has been a relief this stage for Van Kherkove.
Hopefully he will win the first tour with mountains, for the peachey team this evening.

1   Dimi VanKerckhove   26   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 00"   0   0
2   Cliff Fagan   27   SPORTLIFE   0: 37"   0   0
3   Marzio Pantani   27   Wiggo_pupils   0: 44"   0   0
4   Frederico Amado   27   Flyvende_hjul   0: 58"   0   0
5   Christiaan VanDerVlies   26   Wizards   1: 16"   0   0
6   Dylan Crickton   27   Periquitos   1: 37"   0   0
7   Ivan Chiapucci   27   $Tourmalet   1: 45"   0   0
8   Javier Marin   27   ProdopingPong   1: 48"   0   0
9   Jan Hage   27   SentinelChickens   1: 56"   0   0
10   Dino Moresi   27   TeamRHB   1: 58"   0   0

[Sjiz]

Moresi is doing well on his own pace. Currently 10th. I think he should be able to move up a place or 2. That would make it a good small tour for my team. With some nice results in the stages and some GC points. A good warm up for the best races of the season.

[Vos]

I still remember fagan from season 1

Good old times in the 3rd division.

Excellent stage victory of VanKerckhove, Peachy, and I think he is a very good buy.
If I would had the money, probably my bid was higher, because I saw he was the 1st favorite in the WC race of previous season.
And the most prestigious rainbow jersey is always a goal of mine.
Hopefully for you and your Belgian rider there wil be that WC FMMMH race again in one of the next 4 seasons.

But first things first ; the upcoming Itzulia victory.
It will be a battle between VanKerckhove (4th fav) and Pantani (Wiggo, 5th fav) in the final stage.
And with 0:44" ahead in the GC it seems you have a very good chance to win the first 1A tour with mountains.
Although no doubt that your team won many climb tours in the 3rd division of season 1.
Funny to see that you still have 3h in your forum profile. Maybe that is a tribute to SPORTLIFE because my team was 3h champion ?  

Good luck with VanKerckhove versus Pantani (= the CFF record holder of this stage) !

[Vos]

. . . . . . . . . . FUTURE NEWS FLASH . . . . . . . . . . FUTURE NEWS FLASH . . . . . . . . . . FUTURE NEWS FLASH . . . . . . . . . .
Basque Country, near Urdax,

A massive crash in the descent of the first mountain in the final stage of Itzulia !
The whole peleton crashed and the road was blocked for some minutes.
But somehow Fagan ( SPORTLIFE ) managed to stay out of troubles and suddenly he was ahead, totally on his own.
All riders of the peleton were not aware of this, including the race jury, who ordered a break of a few minutes more because many bikes were broken and had to be repaired.

Finally the peleton was on the move again, and only on the ascent of the 2nd mountain, they all realized that nr2 GC Fagan was ahead.
And not just a little ahead, the gap was 4:48" !
In a joint effort of the peleton the gap was reduced with minutes on the flat kilometers of stage 5.
But Fagan was still a few minutes ahead when the final hills of this race appeared.
Almost no energy left because he was riding solo for a long time, the hills were a struggle for Fagan.

Finally the finishline. And the totally exhausted Fagan could not even raise his arms anymore to cheer because of the stage victory.
Now it was a matter of looking at the clock, because the group of favorites were coming in a very fast pace.
Including GC leader VanKerckhove ( Peachy ) who had a lead in the GC of 0:37" towards Fagan.
The Belgian top rider of Peachy won the sprint of the chasing group, so he finished as 2nd. But he was very dissapointed when he saw the time difference in this stage ; VanKerckhove finished on 0:39" ! So ; Fagan wins Itzulia by 2 seconds !

[Atalm93]

Congrats with the podium Vos! Fagan struggled a lot, but managed to stay with the 18 second group in the end, and kept Amado behind him! 

[Vos]

Thanks Averatalm 
An unexpected good final stage of Fagan (45º on just 0:18"), thanks to masterhelper VanDerKroon.
Althoug in s2 it was not looking good, suddenly his helper was in the 1st group and Fagan in the 2nd group, and both used the same amount of EP, and in s1 also both the same amount of EP. A bit strange to me. But luckily Fagan came back into the big peleton of 79 in s3.

Congratulations to Peachy, because the final top10 GC Itzulia looks like this :

1    Dimi VanKerckhove   26   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 00"   
2    Marzio Pantani   27   Wiggo_pupils   0: 44"   
3    Cliff Fagan   27   SPORTLIFE   0: 56"   
4    Frederico Amado   27   Flyvende_hjul   1: 04"   
5    Christiaan VanDerVlies   26   Wizards   1: 16"   
6    Dylan Crickton   27   Periquitos   1: 43"   
7    Ivan Chiapucci   27   $Tourmalet   1: 45"   
8    Dino Moresi   27   TeamRHB   2: 04"   
9    Javier Marin   27   ProdopingPong   2: 06"   
10    Jan Hage   27   SentinelChickens   2: 14"   

The very first GC podium of SPORTLIFE.

[Vos]

I see that the nr4 GC Frederico Amado ( Flyvende_hjul ) is on the transfermarket.
Looking at his stats, it seems to me a very good tour result of him, so despite being 4th, well done Atalm.

[Sjiz]

Moresi had a good final stage. Together with Tweed he stayed where he needed to be an finished 17th. As expected he was able to climb two places to finish 8th. A fine result and a good tour for my team. Tomorrow the real fun begins. First a run for a top 20 in Roubaix and then the Dutch classic where Verbeek will have to defend his title.

[Vos]

Bad results in the last 4 classic races : 23º PR, 21º AGR, 12º FW and 27º LBL.
A dissapointing total of just 320 points.
I expect in a little tour even more points as this total, so let's go to Romandie !^^

   selection SPORTLIFE

A nice little tour for my team due to the 3 pure mountain stages.
Miorlin is the teamcaptain and he will be supported by 3 other climbers.

161 Miorlin (27), climb
162 Crouzel (26), climb
163 Basov (26), climb
164 Faber (27), flat-cobble
165 Fagan (27), climb

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

Finally! Happy to have been able to finish with a win. It was not going smoothly with Verbeek and his Russiancl colleague. In Liege they found each other and that shows directly with a win. Very happy to have been able to win one. Seeing Verbeek as the favourite in all classics is also very nice. But only if it leads to results :p

Romandie started ok, with a 16th place for Luchtenveld. No lead out really hurts his potential. Tonight Mota, Pyck and Jobet can show how well they work together.

[Vos]

Great victory in La Doyenne, Sjiz ! 

Maybe Arno Verbeek can win la Flèche Wallonne next season, what would mean he won all 3 hills classic races.
Then he can join the very select elite group who achieved that, because just 3 teams have the prestigious Philippe Gilbert Trophy.
Of course, Verbeek is an impressive cyclist anyway, also without this trophy. Because he is versatile compared to the other hills specialists.
Again he proves that this season with for example 8º MSR and 2º GC TDU, both results even without TC bonus.

[Vos]

stage 1 Romandie ;
To my surprise climber Miorlin and masterhelper Faber ( both not in top form ) started great in the front.
Even in s2 Miorlin could follow, but apparently this costed too much energy because in s3 he dropped out the first peleton.
Faber was not aware of this, and in hinside he should have not used any energy at all in s3 to stay with Miorlin.
But due to the huge sprint GV difference between these 2 teammates, I'm already happy that Miorlin had help in the first 52 kilometers.
The isolated Miorlin had to do it on his own in the remaining 79 kilometers and finished as 118º on 1:51"

This is a very good result of Miorlin as not-sprinter who is not in top form yet.
And perhaps important, because if he can win a lot of time in the mountains, maybe he can score some GC points as well.
He is in top form in the very first real mountain race of this season (=stage 2), but his 2 best helpers not yet, they will be in stage 3.
As almost usual, my climbers are not among the favorites. But I have high expectations for stage 2 because Miorlin likes wind and rain.