Season 10

[Vos]

stage 5 BBT ;
18º Takács on 0:31"
A good race, and he moved up a few GC places. Final GC ranking = 15th

Let's go to the weird Vuelta with 5 sprint finishes and just 2 mountain sections ( both in stage 10) !^^

[Aurora Australis]

Because I haven't been paying attention to my team etc, I still need a few points to be safe in Div1 next season.  As such, my Espana squad is.

221 Kirk Workman   22 (bottle holder)
222 Mark Friend   23 (bottle holder)
223 Neil Bell   27 (TT)
224 Nail Tinaev   28 (cobbles probably leader)
225 Pavel Lezhnev   28 (cobbles)

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

I don't know what to expect of this selection, most likely it will depend on how strong the competition is.
So I will be flexible in the strategic choices and at the moment it is uncertain if stage results or the GC is the main goal.
Maybe (and hopefully) it will be a combination of both.
Escartin gets the number that ends on 1, because I suspect he can ride the best GC of these 5, so a Spaniard as "teamcaptain" in this Vuelta.

91 Escartin ( 28 ), allround
92 Perea ( 28 ), flat-sprint
93 Takács ( 27 ), semi-allround
94 Faber ( 28 ), flat-cobble
95 Milinte ( 28 ), allround

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

Two main goals for me this Vuelta:

Vaca needs to do well in the last stage but Verbeek is the absolute leader. I hope to win 2 stages with him and score points in 6. Depending on the cobbles we will look at the GC.

[Vos]

stage 1 ; 11º Takásc
stage 2 ; 8º Faber
A good start of the Vuelta.
Less good is that already after 2 stages the SPORTLIFE cyclists are too far behind in the GC.

[Sjiz]

Two main goals for me this Vuelta:

Vaca needs to do well in the last stage but Verbeek is the absolute leader. I hope to win 2 stages with him and score points in 6. Depending on the cobbles we will look at the GC.

Well, the hill stage didnt go well. Verbeek finished second behind Laksa. That has happened too many times before Maybe i need to sabotage Peachy. Vaca did score an unextepected 15th place in the hillTT. Thats very nice.

Tomorrow Verbeek may go for another podium in the hillsprint.

[Vos]

No points in hills stage 3, and as expected a very bad hills time trial stage 4 for my team. But in stage 5 a very good result ;
8º Escartin

Halfway the Vuelta the GC does not look good ;
20. Takács  3:40"
38. Milinte  4:38"
39. Escartin  4:41"
I have no faith anymore in a good GC result, and therefore the main Vuelta goal of my team will be good stage results.

[Sjiz]

Well, again a little dissapointed. Still a 4th for Verbeek is goed but when you are that close you want the podium. Tonight we will go for a top 20 and finish in the front group.

[Vos]

stage 6 Vuelta ;
Ups, apparently the 1 EP start was not good enough for Perea (who could challenge the 5th favorite).
His only helper started good and he was in the s1 front group of 52, what means Perea was isolated and riding a lost race from the start.
Hopefully a revanche in stage 8 of this 22 times Colombian international.

Free role rider Milinte saved the honor of my team by finishing 30º and scoring a dazzling 13 points.
At the moment he is 23rd in the GC as best ranked SPORTLIFE cyclist.
 

[Vos]

stage 7 Vuelta ;
9º Escartin -->
30º Perea ( helper )

[Vos]

stage 8 Vuelta ;
2º  Perea
stage 9 Vuelta ;
5º  Faber

Very good stage results. 
In the final stage no point scoring cyclist, but maybe it is possible to score a few GC points if the GC competition is also bad in stage 10.
The GC after 9 stages ;
16. Milinte on 5:09" --> 6x free role and 2x helper's role, to my surprise this bronze cyclist did much better as expected.
19. Escartin on 6:15" --> 3x teamcaptain role and 5x free role.

[Vos]

Very good stage 10 Vuelta of the not suited Escartin, thanks to his helper Takács who was even with him in s4.
He moved up 5 places in the GC, and free role rider Milinte dropped 1 place.
Final GC Vuelta / congratulations CobbleCrushers !  =
1 Yannick Pierre   28   CobbleCrushers   0: 00"
2    Vladimirs Kreilis   28   Atlantico   0: 25"   
3    Dré Degrande   28   Cabrasverdes   1: 03"   
4    Runar Myran   28   FaltososDeChigre   1: 46"   
5    Pavel Kainov   28   CaptainOrange   1: 55"
6    Ned Williams   28   galegospolabici   2: 21"
7    Sergey Gofman   28   ProdopingPong   2: 31"
8    Henriks Blumbergs   28   WinterIsComing   2: 35"
9    Blerim Gump   28   OphiukoCT   3: 48"
10    Ketil Fossum   28   Thorboassonarvesen   4: 22"
- - - - - - - - - -
14    Raimundo Escartin   28   SPORTLIFE   5: 33"   
17    János Milinte   28   SPORTLIFE   5: 59"

[Sjiz]

A nice finish for my team. Vaca gets the second podium of this Vuelta. Unfortunately, like Verbeek, one place short of the stage win. Ah well. He proves to be a fun cyclist. Maybe ill keep him
Verbeek moves up to the 20th place in the GC and some points. Even with a little better sprints he wouldnt been able to challenge for the top 10. There was one cobble stage too many here.

Pierre adds another impressive victory to his palmares. Winning the Vuelta after having ridden the entire race in the red jersey. Very dominant!

Now the last 3 races of the season and my seasons main goal moves closer and closer. But first we ride Lombardia

[ophiuko]

After Innsbruck WC TT
Quickstepbronx 10
Flyvende_hjul 9
Flandria 7
Turrones 6
SPORTLIFE 6
OphiukoCT 5
Azerite 5
JGMTeam 4
Codex 3
Mlb 2

[Sjiz]

Lombardia wasnt as big of a success as San Sebastian but still some points for Vaca. The WC TT was a good race. Moresi finished 7th and adds another nice result to his palmares. Vaca and Jobet also made a top 30. All in all 600 points for my team. A good haul.

The last stage of the season is also the one i have been waiting for the entire time. Verbeek is well prepared and has to win. Anything else will be a big dissapointment for me :p. WiC has a strong new kid with Marino and Caracoles will be a major contender with Kluivert as well. It will be difficult but I am confident i have done everything in my power to win.