Season 11

[Vos]

Looking ahead to the final two stages, it will be hard for Tusveld to maintain his podium position--the majority of the other riders in the top ten have cobbles icons.

It seems to me that Tusveld was riding a good stage 9, because he even moved up one place in the GC.
Well done and good luck in the final stage, Shalgo !

Top 10 GC after 9 stages :
1Anthony Hilton   29   CaptainOrange   0: 00"   
2    Tjerk Tusveld   29   SentinelChickens   1: 36"   
3    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   1: 45"
4    Richard Rogers   28   ProdopingPong   2: 23"   
5    Wendell Green   29   Marcatone_Due   2: 26"
6    Bart Ablett   29   TeamRHB   2: 50"   
7    Tom Cabanas   29   MortoviaCycling   3: 01"   
8    Nathan Lust   25   FaltososDeChigre   3: 32"   
9    Steven Pillig   29   KunTeam   3: 46"   
10    Jaime Roman   27   QuintoYtapa   4: 03"   


stage 9 TdF ;
6º  Faber
A good Tour de France of my team with 1x stage victory, 2x 2nd, 1x 3rd, 1x 4th, 2x 6th and 1x 7th. Stage 10 is just to gain experience.

[shalgo]

Final top ten in the Tour:

1   Anthony Hilton   29   CaptainOrange   0: 00"   1000   500000
2   Tjerk Tusveld   29   SentinelChickens   1: 49"   800   450000
3   Rafael Carlos Loinaz   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   2: 25"   650   400000
4   Wendell Green   29   Marcatone_Due   2: 30"   550   350000
5   Richard Rogers   28   ProdopingPong   2: 55"   500   300000
6   Bart Ablett   29   TeamRHB   3: 03"   450   250000
7   Tom Cabanas   29   MortoviaCycling   3: 14"   400   200000
8   Nathan Lust   25   FaltososDeChigre   3: 32"   350   175000
9   Steven Pillig   29   KunTeam   3: 33"   300   150000
10   Sam Lee   29   $Tourmalet   4: 09"   250   125000

I am both thrilled and surprised that Tusveld managed to hang on for second place.  Hilton completes the Giro-Tour double!

[Vos]

Clasica San Sebastian ;
12º  VanDerKroon

For the first time since the past 4 seasons (6º, 9º, 7º, 9º) in my team, he did not get a top 10 result in SSB.
Let's blame the director who really sucks in one-day-races.
He is much better in little tours, but also not really suited with just 30 points.
However, he is allowed to stay, because the upcoming BBT is not so important for my team and this director is needed in the Vuelta.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

The main goal in this BBT is a top stage result in Breskens (stage 2). I will try that with an amazing Ukrainian teamcaptain.
In the context of the upcoming NT race, it is a bit worrying there are in theory 5 better Ukrainian flatcobble specialists.

Pinkney gets the backnumber that ends on 1 because he will be twice the teamcaptain, and maybe he can score a few GC points.
But that is very doubtfull with his not so good sprint-skill, not so good TT-skill, ánd his 2 free roles.

51 Pinkney ( 29 ), cobblehills / allround
52 Melnikov ( 29 ), flatcobble
53 Jannakopulosz ( 29 ), hillsprint
54 Faber ( 29 ), flatcobble
55 Crone ( 29 ), cobblehills

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

stage 2 BBT ;
3º  Melnikov
Excellent result, and perhaps it could have been even better when his teammate Faber did a better helpersjob.

In the other stages a few points were scored by the other selected cyclists. "GC rider" Pinkney is at the moment 21st GC.
Maybe he can score a few GC points, but I guess that will depend on how good the GC-competition is in the final TT stage.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

My team goes to the Vuelta with a Spanish teamcaptain and his goal is to ride a good GC.
His best helper is also a Spanish tour cyclist, and a lot depends on him because the other selected cyclists are often not good enough to help.
The main reason the others are selected, is to score points in their suited stage. And Smith really needs the experience.

51 Ibarrola ( 29 ), tour
52 Bustelo ( 29 ), tour
53 Tafi ( 29 ), climb-sprint
54 Kangert ( 27 ), flat-TT
55 Smith ( 24 ), climb-TT

Good luck everyone ! 

[Aurora Australis]

For Espana, I've got my strongest TT team so far this season, with it being a dress rehearsal for the TT WC, well except for Owen Acree (not sure who my 5th TTer will be in the WC).

171 Paul Clickett   28 TT & TT-hill
172 Richard Levin   29 TT
173 Owen Acree   29 TT-hill & TT
174 Isaac Trump   29 TT
175 Ben Mitchum   29 TT TT-hill

Btw, stage 5 BinckBank Tour, several TTers were racing at low 70s high 60s health, which should have been obvious.

[shalgo]

My team for the Vuelta:

Espen Valgren (24)
Edward Van Putten (28)
Ignaz Steffens (29)
Nate Douglas (29)
Tjerk Tusveld (29)

In theory, we are all in for the GC, though Steffens and Douglas may pick up some hill or hill-cobble stage points along the way.  Valgren is the official team leader, though as I looked over the parcours again before the start of the race, the number of TT kilometres is greater than I seem to have noticed at the beginning of the season.  So Tusveld will get to ride in a free role for the time being and we will reassess after stage 6.  In the meantime stages 3 and 5 should be good ones for Valgren, provided I don't mess up the tactics.

[Vos]

stage 2 Vuelta ;
6º  Ibarrola on 0:10"
Excellent result !

stage 3 Vuelta ;
2º  Tafi
48º  Ibarrola on 1:24"
Bad tactics !

Of course a 2nd place for a 3rd favorite is good, but the only reason I made him the teamcaptain was that he could win and he didn't.

In retrospect it was a bad strategic/tactical decision to make Tafi the teamcaptain instead of GC rider Ibarrola.
And a bad estimation of mine that Ibarrola is good enough to finish on 0:00" in a free role.
Maybe he is good enough, but not in this free role tactic with a too slow start.

Also Tafi and his helpers started too slow, with the surprising exception of the TT-specialist who was in the s1 front peleton of 79 ( ! ).
Tafi was also behind in s2 and s3, he could return in s4. And in all these sections he was isolated what for sure was not the plan.
So, he did pretty well without a helper (besides in s1), and thanks to his good sprint he finished as 2nd.

But Ibarrola was struggling in this stage, including his bad start on 0:37". In s2 he even dropped to the 3rd group on already 1:03"
In s3 on 1:08" and in s4 again in the 3rd group on 1:15"
A really bad decision to let him ride in a free role, he lost many time unnecessarily, and also in this free role tactic with a too bad start.
As teamcaptain maybe possible to finish on 0:00" in the front group of 22 and if not, easily in the 2nd group.
Probably I was too optimistic that he could finish on 0:00" in a (better) free role,
but he should be for sure good enough to finish in the 2nd group as free role rider. The difference between groups 2 and 3 is 0:41"
So, it is certain to me he lost at least 0:41" unnecessary (and maybe even 1:24" when he was the teamcaptain).

This is very bad for his goal to ride a good GC, and in the end this unneeded time loss in stage 2 can make a difference.
Also because I accepted an 1 million sponsordeal of top7 GC, what most likely was way too optimistic already without this tactical stage 2 failure.
Ibarrola dropped many places in the GC and at the moment 23rd on 1:54"

[WinterIsComing]

It is a stage like yesterday in TdF. You can't win the tour, but you can lose it in these kind of races.

I expected Calderon to be with WinklerPrins from start to finish, but he started too slow as well. Luckily for me, WP managed to come through.

[shalgo]

A similar mishap for me in stage 3.  Valgren, although the leader and the 4th-favorite for the stage, showed his youth and inexperience by managing to get dropped in the second section even though it was flat and there was no wind.  Despite valiant efforts to make up the gap, he came in 25th, 43 seconds down.  By contrast, Tusveld, the canny veteran in a free role, stayed with the lead group all the way to the finish and was 13th on the stage.

After the stage 4 mountain TT, Tusveld is 4th on GC and Valgren is only 38th.  Going forward, it seems that their roles must be reversed.

[Vos]

stage 4 Vuelta ;
4º  Smith
19º  Ibarrola  on 0:48"

stage 5 Vuelta ;
6º  Ibarrola  on 0:00"
17º  Tafi (helper)
Very good stage and very good result by finishing in the front group of just 15, so no unnecessary time loss now.
After these 2 stages, Ibarrola moved up many GC places :
1Alessandro Figueras   28   QuintoYtapa   0: 00"   
2    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 41"   
3    Jacopo Palandrani   29   galegospolabici   0: 55"   
4    Allan Palmer   28   Shiro_Lions   1: 20"   
5    István Szekér   29   ProdopingPong   1: 25"   
6    Tjerk Tusveld   29   SentinelChickens   1: 30"   
7    Anthony Hilton   29   CaptainOrange   1: 31"   
8    Sven WinklerPrins   28   WinterIsComing   1: 34"   
9    Antonello Lorenzetto   29   Marcatone_Due   1: 57"   
10    Ivan Semon   29   MortoviaCycling   2: 04"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Marceliano Ibarrola   29   SPORTLIFE   2: 05"   
12    Romeu Rosario   29   KunTeam   2: 17"   
13    Mariano Caro   29   Wiggo_pupils   2: 23"   
14    Alessio Annini   29   Marcatone_Due   2: 25"
15    Diego Mora   29   Bergtoppers   2: 26"   
16    Mikael Nikoladze   29   $Tourmalet   2: 26"
17    Tim Bell   27   QuintoYtapa   2: 32"   
18    Antonius Berner   29   cave   2: 33"   
19    Sandis Stabulnieks   26   FaltososDeChigre   2: 34"   
20    Huub Meppelink   29   ProdopingPong   2: 36"   
- - - - - - - - - -
33    Espen Valgren   24   SentinelChickens   3: 35"

[Vos]

stage 6 Vuelta, the time trial, dominated by Aurora_Australis ;
5º  Kangert
34º  Ibarrola  on 2:14" with a flat tire in s4.
Ibarrola moved up 2 places in the GC, now 9th on 2:41"
But he fears the next hills stage the most of all Vuelta stages, hopefully he can ride a good damage control tactic and does not lose too much time.

[Vos]

In hills-stage 7 Ibarrola dropped 3 places in the GC to the 12th place.
After hill-sprint-stage 8 no changes, still 12th GC.
Apparently some GC rivals were not so good in cobble-hills stage 9, because Ibarrola moved up to the 9th place GC again.

VUELTA TOP 20 GC after 9 stages :
1Rafael Carlos Loinaz   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 00"
2    Alessandro Figueras   28   QuintoYtapa   0: 47"   
3    Ivan Semon   29   MortoviaCycling   1: 51"   
4    István Szekér   29   ProdopingPong   1: 58"   
5    Sven WinklerPrins   28   WinterIsComing   2: 18"   
6    Jacopo Palandrani   29   galegospolabici   2: 21"   
7    Anthony Hilton   29   CaptainOrange   2: 38"   
- - - - - - - - - -
8    Mariano Caro   29   Wiggo_pupils   2: 47"   
9    Marceliano Ibarrola   29   SPORTLIFE   2: 49"   
10    Antonello Lorenzetto   29   Marcatone_Due   2: 51"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Tjerk Tusveld   29   SentinelChickens   3: 29"   
12    Allan Palmer   28   Shiro_Lions   3: 32"   
13    Sandis Stabulnieks   26   FaltososDeChigre   3: 38"   
14    Diego Mora   29   Bergtoppers   3: 38"   
15    Romeu Rosario   29   KunTeam   3: 52"   
16    Adao Baiao   25   ProCyclingTeam10   4: 09"   
17    Leonid Foros   29   CC_Porco_Jones   4: 42"   
18    Tim Bell   27   QuintoYtapa   4: 51"   
19    Jose Guillermo Tello   29   Cabrasverdes   5: 26"   
20    Dries Smulders   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   5: 27"   

Two dot lines because ;
This is the only tour where SPORTLIFE never finished in the top 10 GC. And there is an 1 million sponsor deal of finishing top 7 GC.

That certain at least 41 seconds dumb tactical mistake in stage 3 seems very costly at the moment.
Without that unnecassary time loss, Ibarrola would have been 5th now.
And when he finished on 0:00" in stage 3, what I expected before that race instead of finishing on 1:24", he would be 3rd now.
Well, maybe not right to refer to stage 3, because some other stages went better ánd worse as I expected as well.
This is the exciting GC situation now, although I think the sponsordeal is out of reach.
Despite Ibarrola is not good in stage 10,  for sure he is going to fight for the very first top10 GC ever of my my team in the Vuelta d'España.

[Vos]

stage 10 Vuelta ;
45º  Ibarrola on 2:06"

WOW, this stage result is good enough to move up 4 places in the GC and Ibarrola finishes as 5th GC on 2:49" 
That is 49 seconds behind the nr 4, and the stage 3 mistake was 41 seconds. Comforting for me to know.
The best GC result ever for my team in the Vuelta, and Ibarrola scored a sponsordeal of 1.187.154,-