Season 10

[Vos]

stage 5 Dauphiné ;
24º  VanDerKroon
Just a few points because he had no helpers.
Time for the Tour de Suisse, where another Dutch SPORTLIFE cyclist will be the teamcaptain.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

The objective is a good GC for teamcaptain Gunnewijk.
Top 10 GC might be too difficult, because he has no sprint and therefore not really suited for this little tour.
But he has very good support in all stages, so hopefully he rides a good damage control tactic in both stages with s5 as sprint.
Besides some GC points, he can score points too in stage 3, where he has to make the difference compared to many GC rivals.
And then he has to hope that many GC rivals are not good in stage 5, despite his 46 cobble skill, he might make a difference there as well.

91 Gunnewijk ( 28 ), GC
92 Løvdal ( 28 ), allround helper
93 Kangert ( 26 ), TT
94 Escartin ( 28 ), helper stages 2 and 5
95 Miorlin ( 28 ), helper stage 4

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

I will be cheering for Gunnewijk, Vos. Good luck.
Happy with the result for van Nieuwkoop, a nice 5th. Good result without a proper domestique.

[Vos]

Thanks
You too good luck, for example in stage 5 if your both cobblehills riders are not sold today.
They look pretty good and maybe Nyland can score such a good result as VanNieuwkoop did in the stormy stage 2.

stage 1 TdS ;
8º  Kangert  --> his best result ever in his career.
57º  Gunnewijk on 2:35"

stage 2 TdS ;
93º  Gunnewijk on 1:20"
Perfect job of helper Løvdal who stayed with Gunnewijk the whole race.
Hopefully this was a good damage control tactic, because Gunnewijk has just 19 sprint skill.

GC after 2 stages = 59º  Gunnewijk on 2:26"
This does not look good, I assume he will be much better ranked after stage 3.

[Vos]

stage 3 TdS ;
11º  Gunnewijk on 0:19"

This stage went not well, because his best helper took too much risk in s2 and suddenly could not follow.
And the tactics were based on that the best helper was with his teamcaptain in s4.
The 2nd best helper also dropped suddenly in s2, but luckily the other 2 helpers were good enough with 55 despite they have no hills skill.

Anyway, with a better helpers tactic Gunnewijk would have done better, although this 11th place is not bad.
And  for the GC it did not matter very much, most likely he lost 10 seconds too much because his best helper sucked.
Gunnewijk entered the top20 GC and at the moment 19º on 1:47"

[Vos]

stage 4 TdS ;
10º  Løvdal
14º   Miorlin
64º   Gunnewijk on 0:37"

Because Gunnewijk was not high ranked in the GC and the other 2 climbers were too good to help, they both got a free role to try to  score some points. They did better as expected, and in hinside maybe I even should have made Løvdal the teamcaptain with Miorlin as helper.

But despite Gunnewijk is not so good in this stage, he got the teamcaptain role anyway to give him a fighting chance to score a few GC points.
He dropped 7 places in the GC and at the moment 26º on 2:25" behind the yellow jersey of Loinaz ( Peachy ).
I don't think he could finish on 0:00" in this stage 4, even not with a masterhelper. But let's imagine he could, he would be just 15th GC.
So I think it was a good decision to score 100 points in stage 4 with the other climbers.
Unless Gunnewijk will do amazing in the final stage, what would surprise me. But I do expect he can make it into the final top20 GC.

[Aurora Australis]

TdF Selections

251 - Aksel Myklebust   25 (sprint leader)
252 - Neil Bell   27 (TT)
253 - Richard Levin   28 (TT leader)
254 - Owen Acree   28 (TT)
255 - Sergei Wild   28 (domestique)

With Trump & Clickett seemingly missing in action all season since the Tirreno Adriatico shambles, it's been left to Levin to be the TT flagbearer.  This time he's without Pinkney, so it'll be a solo attempt at keeping Aurora top of the TT races, something that's been sketchy this season with team illfocus (is that a word? it is now).
Aksel Myklebust has been sent here with Wild instead of two more TTers, as Aksel will be undergoing surgical procedures and therefore will miss the planned Binckbank/Espana double.

[Vos]

stage 5 TdS ;
40º  Gunnewijk on 1:37"
Again, the helpers tactic was not good. In hinside it is clear that Gunnewijk did not get the most out of this little tour.
But he did score GC points in the end ; 15ºGC Gunnewijk on 2:23" behind TdS victor Rogers ( Prodopinpong ).
That is 39 seconds behind the top 10, and that big gap is a kind of reassuring ; also with perfect helpers tactics top 10 would be difficult.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

The main objectives are good results in the sprint- and mountain stages and win these two  jersey's.
Dékány has no TC bonus, but I assume he is good enough to score points in stage 3.
Maybe he can surprise in a free role and finish top 20 GC, but in advance he has no chance when I look at all the great GC contenders.
Crouzel gets the number that ends on 1 because he is the current world champion, but he will be the helper in the mountains.

101 Crouzel ( 27 ), climber
102 Jannakopulosz ( 28 ), sprinter
103 Basov ( 27 ), climber
104 Dékány ( 28 ), stage 3
105 Colaco ( 27 ), sprinter

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

Here we went into the Tour with the objective to do good in the sprints with Van Nieuwkoop and Luchtenveld and for the climbs we have Nilsson, Jobet and Vaca.

The first sprint stage went well with a nice podium for luchtenveld.

I am not sure if i want to ride for the GC with Vaca or just go for stage wins. So far, I didnt have to choose :p I expect some points for Vaca tomorrow in the TT, maybe Jobet as well. Then i need to decide on the leader for the climbs.

[Sjiz]

A second nice result in a row. Vaca gets a podium. I think the GC will be difficult for him but this is a good result nonetheless.

[Vos]

stage 1 ;
( 35º ) Dékány  --> just 5 seconds behind the nr30, almost unexpected points, too bad he had a mechanical breakdown.

stage 2 ;
4º Jannakopulosz 
18º Colaco
Very good race of the sprinters, who could not challenge any favorites.

stage 3 ;
18º  Dékány --> as 4th favorite without TC bonus. 
( 32º ) Basov --> on 0:00" of the nr30 and just 1 second behind the nrs 28 and 29.

For what it is worth, because I don't expect Dékány will score GC points ; at the moment he is 16th GC on 2:21" behind GC leader Loinaz.

[Vos]

stage 4 ;
2º Basov   
Excellent race of Basov who could not challenge any favorites.
Despite the dissapointing Crouzel (no TC) who could help just 2 sections (instead of 3).

Basov finished solo as 2nd behind stage winner Reinertsen ( Flandria ) who is the new GC leader.
Very impressive stage of Flandria with an attack of 3 Flandria cyclists in s4, no other cyclist could follow them.

[Vos]

stage 5 TdF ;
Ups, a very risky tactic of not favorite Jannakopulosz, unexpectedly in s1 already on 0:42" and in s2 isolated in the 3rd group on 0:35"
Best helper Colaco dropped out of the break away group in s2 and was in the 2nd group, still one group before Jannakopulosz.
But luckily both could come back to the front group in s3.
Colaco did an excellent job in s4 and it was up to his fresh teamcaptain to sprint for a good result ;
1º stage victory of Jannakopulosz ! 

[Vos]

stage 7 TdF, the flat time trial ;
20º   Dékány
At the moment 1½ minute behind the nr20 GC and the final 3 stages are not suited for him, so no GC points for Dékány.