Season 11

[Vos]

stage 1 Dauphiné ;
10º  Løvdal on 0:06" with
Again a mechanical breakdown in a very crucial section (s5), that happens a lot this season.
Remarkable, because the mechanic is the same as in many previous seasons. Hopefully the time trial bikes are better this evening.

[Vos]

stage 2 Dauphiné, the time trial ;
10º  Kangert
155º  Løvdal on 4:19" , this is of course not good for his GC ambition. At the moment on place 41 in the GC.

[Aurora Australis]

Poor Christian Pinkney, being ahead for the first four sectors, I thought he'd get his first victory.

1st   Isaac Trump   29   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 0sg   167 points   
2nd   Christian Pinkney   28   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 0sg   133 points

[Vos]

stage 3 Dauphiné ;
37º  Løvdal on 0:59"
This result causes a jump of 20 places in the GC, but the current 21ºGC is not good enough.
Probably Jannakopulosz gets a teamcaptain role in sprint stage 5 due to the dissapointing GC of Løvdal.
Depending on his result in stage 4, maybe/hopefully many GC rivals are even worse on the cobblestones, but that is very doubtfull.

[Sjiz]

A small mistake in s3 cost me the victory. I tried to get Struckov in the top 10 as well but he lost contact. Still a good second place behind Valderend. Thats the 7th podium for Verbeek. He will only have one more race on his agenda this season.

[Vos]

stage 5 Dauphiné ;
18º  Jannakopulosz on 0:32"
Ups, despite a weather icon, my teamcaptain could not follow the s2 break away group of 25. Now he finished as 4th of the 2nd group.

"GC rider" Løvdal had a free role in this sprint stage 5, because after cobbles stage 4 he was 22nd GC.
But he did very good compared to some rivals, and he moved up to place 16 in the final GC.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

The goal in Switzerland is to score points in the separate stages.
A risky strategic decision to select just one real helper for Basov, because he can get the best results (stages 2 and 3) of this selection.
Three cyclists with climb TC bonus are not selected, but Miorlin without TC is better in the mountains, so he has to do very well as only helper.

Kangert and Perea should score enough points in their stages, and Dékány is selected as 5th instead of an extra helper in the mountains.
Maybe he can surprise me in the GC despite his free role and 61 downhill skill, what causes much time loss in the mountain stages.
But most likely Dékány tries to help in stages 4 and 5, and this little tour is to gain xp ánd a preparation for the Tour de France.
Probably Basov has more chance to score a few GC points, although that would be surprising too because he cannot sprint at all.

71 Basov ( 28 ), climb
72 Kangert ( 27 ), TT
73 Perea ( 29 ), sprint
74 Miorlin ( 29 ), climb
75 Dékány ( 29 ), allround

Good luck everyone ! 

[Aurora Australis]

In my strongest TT squad so far this season, I have three of my strongest five at Tour De Suisse, although I only rested one of them.  Clickett was supposed to race, but he forgot to check in & wasn't fit to compete.  If luck's with me, they could take out all three podium places in stage 1.  Second goal is to get closer to Vos's team in the standings.

181 Kirk Workman   23
182 Christian Pinkney   28
183 Richard Levin   29
184 Owen Acree   29
185 Isaac Trump   29

[Vos]

Second goal is to get closer to Vos's team in the standings.

Nice stage 1 victory of Levin, and good luck with your second goal ! 

stage 1 TdS ;
8º  Kangert
22º  Dékány
stage 2 TdS ;
4º  Basov
Good result of not-favorite Basov what is rewarded with a sponsordeal of 266.401,-

[Vos]

stage 3 TdS ;
1º  Basov 
Magnificent solo victory of not-favorite Basov. Also fun to see that he is the new (temporary) GC leader.

[Sjiz]

Fairly happy with Suisse so far. I made a big mistake and set Ablett as a domestique in the third stage. This has cost me at least 20 seconds.
The sprint stage went very well and Ablett moved up to 6th. Maybe we can challenge for the podium tonight.

[Vos]

stage 4 TdS ;
3º  Perea
Excellent podiumplace because he had no helpers. His teammate/helper Kangert started too slow and he was complaining about a little injury.
Markus Murphy (the SPORTLIFE-doctor) examined him and decided he had to leave the TdS so he can prepare for the Vuelta and the WC TT.
Kangert was not entirely happy with this ; "What about my experience ?"
Murphy replied ; "Being in topform is more important. And besides this, once one thing goes wrong, for example a bad helpers role in this stage 4 TdS, after that everything goes wrong. So it is better to take you out of the TdS".

GC leader Basov had a free role in this stage 4, and he proved that he cannot sprint at all ; 136º on 3:11"
Despite this result, he is still high ranked in the GC. So, he will be the teamcaptain in stage 5 instead of Miorlin, who has to help again.
And maybe even free role rider Dékány can score GC points. GC after 4 stages ;
7    Daniel Basov   28   SPORTLIFE   2: 05"
17    Zoltán Dékány   29   SPORTLIFE   3: 48"

[Aurora Australis]

Well you've put paid to my hope of my team closing towards yours.  If this was real life, you'd have cyclists begging to be on your team.

[Vos]

 

[Vos]

stage 5 TdS ;
15º  Basov
24º  Miorlin ( helper )
Both finished in the front group of 32 on 0:00", and Basov (thanks to Miorlin) kept his surprising 7th place GC. 

In this stage downhill counted a lot, what is not good for Dékány despite he has a good flat and a little sprint.
He came very close to finish in the front group, but he finished as 2nd in the chasing group on 0:50"
This result caused a drop in the GC to the 22nd place, 50 seconds faster in stage 5 and he would have been 14th GC.
But this little tour was just a preparation for the Tour de France, although also there many free roles for Dékany and probably no GC points.

Very good Tour de Suisse of my team, hopefully the Tour de France will also be successful.