Season 10

[Vos]

We started with a 5th, at least its better than last season. Still not what we are hoping on.

Timmermanis 8th in AGR, and a very good 3rd place in Flèche Wallonne. Not a single team was able to keep a domestique with his leader in the 4th section of Flèche Wallonne. Competition is fierce as ever in the hills.

Congrats to Wirth (thorboassonarvesen) and Poldoja (Atlantico) winning the Hill Classics so far. Tonight Liege-Bastogne-Liege, where the fight for wins and points continues.

Paris Roubaix ;
14º Faber  --> good race, good result.
Amstel Gold Race ;
( 31º Gregersen )  --> his manager decided to change the tactics at the last moment, what was a dumb tactical move.
Flèche Wallonne ;
22º Gregersen  --> despite a good job of his 23yo helper, Gregersen could not follow the front group of 28 in s3.
Hopefully a better result in La Doyenne, but for the future of Gregersen it does not matter, his days are numbered in my team.

Just a few points in all the one day classic races of this season ( zero, 22º, 21º, 20º, zero, zero, zero, 14º, zero, 22º ),
means missing out many points and at the moment 20º in 1A.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Time to score some points in the mountains.
Unexpectedly Miorlin won the overall GC of previous season, but now the GC of Romandie is not suited for him.
Perhaps Løvdal can score GC points, but that will be (too?) difficult with twice a free role in the mountains.
Crouzel gets the number that ends on 1, because he is the current world champion.

191 Crouzel ( 27 ), climb
192 Miorlin ( 28 ), climb
193 Løvdal ( 28 ), tour
194 Faber ( 28 ), cobble
195 Basov ( 27 ), climb

Good luck everyone ! 

[Sjiz]

Before going to Romandia i still have ambition for la doyenne. A sixt place on the mur this morning was OK. Not spectaculair. Tonight we will try again

[Vos]

The GC battle of silver tour rider Løvdal in Romandie :

stage 1 ;
72º  Løvdal on 1:14"
In hinside it was very surprising that he lost 23 seconds in s3 compared to s2.
I guess he was very unlucky,  9 out of 10 times he should be in the front (with 2EP)  when s3 was flat.
Now he was even further behind, what is very bad for his GC ambition.

stage 2 ;
2º  Crouzel
19º  Miorlin
40º  Løvdal on 1:43"
Løvdal had to ride in a free role, because not-favorite Crouzel was the teamcaptain who finished good thanks to helper Miorlin.

stage 3 ;
125º  Løvdal on 2:43"
In this sprint race he had a masterhelper ; Faber (cobblesprint) who tried to help in a just 5 EP tactic.
And that went well in this first two sections, but Faber was going too fast in s3 so Løvdal had to do it on his own in the hard wind.

Løvdal now on a shared 12th place GC with 3 others on 3:11"
Probably he has to ride stages 4 and 5 in free role again, so it is doubtfull he can score GC points.
And because he has no cobble icon, he can only hope his direct GC rivals ar not so good on the cobbles too.
Maybe Miorlin can surprise in the GC, unexpectedly he is just 1:13" behind the nr20 GC despite 2x free roles and 1x helper role.

[Vos]

stage 4 Romandie ;
14º  Faber
74º  Løvdal on 3:17"
A free role for Faber, and a teamcaptain role for Løvdal to give him a fighting chance in the GC although he had no helpers for this stage.
At the moment Løvdal is 13th GC, 3:49" behind GC leader Roethlisberger.
It looks like he will score GC points with a free role in the final stage.
Because stage 5 is for my climbers. Hopefully a good stage result, despite nobody of my climbers can challenge a favorite.

[Vos]

stage 5 Romandie ;
2º  Miorlin
16º   Løvdal ( free role )
27º  Crouzel ( helper )

Very good climb stage of my team. Løvdal and Miorlin moved up some GC places and both scored GC points.
Final GC Tour de Romandie :
1    Anthony Hilton   28   CaptainOrange   0: 00"   
2    Adam Roethlisberger   28   Atlantico   0: 10"   
3    Ryan Leipheimer   28   Wiggo_pupils   1: 10"   
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11    Nicolay Løvdal   28   SPORTLIFE   3: 32"
18    Nicola Miorlin   28   SPORTLIFE   5: 41"

[Vos]

  13º  Løvdal
A mechanical breakdown as only one of the front group of 20. This cost him a top10 result. Hopefully he has more luck in the Giro.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Crouzel gets the number that ends on 1, because he is the current world champion.
But the real teamcaptain in this Giro is Løvdal with his GC goal of top10.
This season he was really close in Paris Nice ( 11th ) and Romandie ( also 11th ).
Now he gets more support and hopefully top 10 GC is possible, despite the fierce competition.
Maybe Løvdal will ride mountain stage 6 in a free role, but in all other stages he will be the teamcaptain.

171 Crouzel ( 27 ), climb
172 Løvdal ( 28 ), tour
173 Miorlin ( 28 ), climb
174 Tafi ( 28 ), climbsprint
175 Garces ( 28 ), flatclimb

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

stage 1 Giro ;
4º Løvdal on 0:14"
8º Miorlin ( free role )
An excellent result thanks to a very good helper's job of Crouzel.

[Aurora Australis]

Giro Team: Season 10

271 - Aksel Myklebust   25 (sprint captain)
272 - Cato Kvam   27 (flat climb captain)
273 - Fraser Morris   27 (climb captain)
274 - Sergei Wild   28 (sprint dom)
275 - Ben Mitchum   28 (TT)

This wasn't the team I was gong to bring, however seeing so few sprinters, I decided why not.  It'll probably mean the sprinters won't do Espana, but hey, a bunch of easy points in the hand is worth two potential bunch of points in the bush.

[Sjiz]

After the 11th place of Mota in the opening stage, a nice 9th place for Jimenez in the flatsprint. That promises something for the Hillsprint later in the Giro.

[Vos]

stage 2 Giro ;
Climbsprinter Tafi had the important helper's job to keep teamcaptain in the front as long as possible.
And he did that for 3 sections, but Løvdal could not follow in s4 and there he was in the 2nd group on 0:30"
Isolated and with little energy left, Løvdal lost many time in s5 and finished on 1:23". He is now 7th GC on 0:49" behind the 3 GC leaders.
To my big surprise Tafi scored points with his helper's role of 31000 and he barely has a bronze sprint icon. (and no weather bonus or TC bonus)
27º Tafi 

[Vos]

stage 3 Giro ;
1º Løvdal 
Amazing victory ! This Norwegian cold weather specialist could not challenge favorites, has just a silver climb icon and has not even a cobble icon.
Nothing changed in the GC ; still 7th on 0:49"

[Sjiz]

Well done Vos!

I remain consistent. Another 11th place.

[Vos]

Thanks Sjiz 
I hope Løvdal will not be consistent with another 11th place in the final GC. ( already 2 times 11th GC this season )
Top10 final GC is his goal, although he does not have a top10 big tour GC on his palmares.
But he never won a race before, this was his first victory, so it is time he achieves the first top10 big tour GC as well.
He is just 3 weeks in my team, but he proved in his previous team that he can finish top10 GC, he did that 4 times in little tours.