Season 9

[Sjiz]

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.

He had already won Fleche, it just was a national race :p But i agree. That would be nice. Although i will just go for a win in all 3 in the same year :p

I really like him yes, his sprint makes him very versatile and a contender in many stages. I hope to win MSR one day too. But that means i would have to let a Tc for the ardennen go.

[Vos]

But that means i would have to let a Tc for the ardennen go.

Also it would mean he cannot complete all stages of TDU, so no GC points there.
MSR is not on a favorable place in the calendar for Verbeek. It is possible to go for MSR, but he has to sacrifice a lot.

[Vos]

stage 2 Romandie ;
Solo victory of Miorlin, who takes the lead in the GC. 

It was clear that Basov and Crouzel were not in top form yet, because Miorlin was in s3 already isolated in the leading group of 8.
Without helpers he decided to attack early (s4), solo and fierce. That was good enough. He even extended his lead with 1 sec. in s5.

[Sjiz]

Decent results from Mota and Jobet. A 6th and 4th. Still, you hope for a podium when you are this close :p

[Vos]

stage 3 Romandie ;
Again a solo victory of Miorlin.
And after 41 days, finally a sponsor deal is achieved.

[WinterIsComing]

Nice results, Vos! Congrats

[Vos]

Thanks 

Cobble stage 4 will be a problem for Miorlin.
Romandie top favorite Lorenzetto (3rd GC) is way to close on just 0:49" with his cobble icon.
Also the nr5 GC Semon has a cobble icon and just 1:14" behind.
I expect big time differences in stage 4 and the GC might look very different after 7pm.
Hopefully my expectation will be wrong, and Miorlin can ride a good damage control race.
Again he has 2 active weather icons and he has a masterhelper if Fagan does not go too fast.

It will all depend on this cobble stage 4. Because Miorlin is pretty confident he will do well in the final climb stage of Romandie.
Where I don't expect big time differences due to the final descent section. Hopefully I'm wrong in this too.

[Rico]

Before the Tour Romandie it was clear that Hilton would have quite some ground to make up  in the cobble stage. And that's exactly what he did. To be honest, if you would have told me beforehand that Hilton would be half a minute ahead of Lorenzetto after this stage, I would have thought that enough to fight for first or second place.

All that was without thinking about the general classification ambitions of Miorlin. It's well known that he can beat anyone in the mountains, but big compliments to Vos for keeping him so close in the sprint and cobble stage!

So, if the last stage roughly goes like the first 2 mountain stages, Hilton will fight with Lorenzetto for 2nd and 3rd spot, but like Joop used to say: "Sion is still far away."

(Although this saying is probably not as suited for this Tour's final stage, because it's starting in Sion as well...)

[Vos]

Thanks Rico. You did great with Hilton in stage 4. Good luck in the final stage.

stage 4 Romandie ;
79º Miorlin on 3:34"
Excellent race and excellent result. Thanks to helper Fagan who did a splendid job.

Miorlin now 2nd GC on 0:11" behind new GC leader Hilton.

[Vos]

stage 5 Romandie ;
3º Miorlin on 0:00"
Zinikov ( Yvo_Meppelink ) won and Miorlin finished in the leading group of 4 climbers, and GC rival Hilton was not among them.
So this means :


Nicola Miorlin ( SPORTLIFE ) wins the Tour de Romandie !

The very first tour victory of my team.
Funny it is achieved with a 9 star climber who is not a tour rider at all.
Because it looks amazing, also a post of the top 10 final GC ranking Tour de Romandie :

1    Nicola Miorlin   27   SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   
2    Anthony Hilton   27   CaptainOrange   0: 12"   
3    Antonello Lorenzetto   27   Marcatone_Due   0: 46"   
4    Gilles Kloosterman   27   Atlantico   1: 24"   
5    Elouan Simon   27   Cabrasverdes   1: 37"   
6    Ivan Semon   27   MortoviaCycling   1: 38"   
7    Graham Long   27   Astanadena   1: 44"   
8    Ronald Blaak   27   °Peachy°Melocotons   1: 48"   
9    Oscar Luis Sepulveda   27   Flyvende_hjul   2: 18"   
10    Nicolay Løvdal   27   ValeronIdolo   2: 25"   

[Atalm93]

Congrats! Great race! 

[Spammie]

For the first time since season 2(*), my team is winning stages without a bunch-sprint in the end. Voegeli did it - surprisingly - in the Tour Down Under, Zinikov repeates this in the Romandië Tour. I am really looking forward to the forthcoming small and grand Tours. Not only for the interests of Bentinck for flat sprints, but also in the mountainous (and hilly) areas.

* In Season 2, with all the world class time trialists in the lower divisions, Salustiano Revuelta won a flat timetrial

[EpoGlucK]

Congrats Vos!! Master in tactics!!

May we see the winner stats?

[Vos]

Thanks, I'm really happy with this first tour victory. 

[Sjiz]

Gratz Vos! You know how to get a lot out of your riders. Well done.

Eschborn went well for me. Verbeek got a good 5th place. One better then last season. That is his 13th top 10 finish in a classic. Now the Giro We focus on stage wins. Mota and Jobet for the climb stages and Verbeek for the hillsprint and the hill stage.