Season 11

[Sjiz]

In what must be the weakest TT field for a tour with a flat TT race ever, there's only one or two lower gold TTers in the Giro field besides my cyclists.  Richard Levin took one look at who was competing, and declared that he wasn't going to bother wasting his time racing, and was going on holiday for the next week.  His replacement, Mark Friend, has declared that he's not going to bother resting from his training schedule, nor will Owen Acree.  So it's basically just Paul Clickett who'll be unbettable favourite, and daylight to second, & third.

251 Kirk Workman   23 TT
252 Mark Friend   24 TT
253 Dean Shields   24 TT
254 Paul Clickett   28 TT
255 Owen Acree   29 TT

Well, looking at the favourites i would have a word with Workman. He may be young but this shouldnt happen,not having all the favourites. I hope he can make it right in the race
Paul Clickett Aurora_Australis
Owen Acree Aurora_Australis
Dean Shields Aurora_Australis
Mark Friend Aurora_Australis
Andrzej Ebert Shiro_Lions

[Aurora Australis]

Well, looking at the favourites i would have a word with Workman. He may be young but this shouldnt happen,not having all the favourites. I hope he can make it right in the race

I'm predicting that Workman will get onto the podium, possibly second.  Clickett can't even go slap the top non-teammate in the face with a glove & say "I challenge you", his glove keeps knocking everybody out.

And the 8th favourite for the race is $Tourmalet's Efrain Segura, who's a bronze TTer.  Seriously, some managers should have brought their silver TTers along.

[Vos]

Maybe you have to look at it in this way, AA  ;
maybe everyone was affraid of your TT specialists, and that was thé reason they did not select their own TT cyclist for the Giro.

stage 2 Giro ;
4º  Tafi ( free role )
16º Løvdal on 0:00"
Good results and a good race of the GC teamcaptain, thanks to helper Miorlin who did a great job.
Ibarrola finished outside the points in a free role, but as tour rider it is good he finished on 0:00"

[Vos]

stage 3 Giro, the time trial ;

I'm predicting that Workman will get onto the podium, possibly second.

Good prediction, the just 23yo Workman finished as 2nd. Congrats with places 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 in this stage, AA.

One of the SPORTLIFE-cyclists could profit from the lack of TT-specialists in this Giro, he scored a few points :
20º  Ibarrola on 1:55"
But my main Giro-cyclist who is trying to finish top 10 GC did not well :
167º  Løvdal on 3:46"
He dropped in the GC many places and at the moment even outside the points on place 21.
Two of his teammates are better ranked ; Ibarrola ( place 11 in free roles ) and Miorlin ( place 16 in a free role and a helpers role ).

[Aurora Australis]

stage 3 Giro, the time trial ;

I'm predicting that Workman will get onto the podium, possibly second.

Good prediction, the just 23yo Workman finished as 2nd. Congrats with places 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 in this stage, AA.

It would have been 1 to 5, except Mark Friend saw a hot drink cart on the side of the road & decided to stop for a hot cocoa.  Still, with 851 points from the race, we can cheer for cyclists in the other Aussie teams, starting with $Tourmalet's Sam Lee up the stage 4 final cobble laid climb (my idea of a proper race - I'd be a really disliked tour designer in RL).

[Sjiz]

A 9th place for Luna, his first ever top 10 in 1a. Still, had hoped for more. However, with no domestique available for this stage i should have known better. Still a good result and we are up to 15th now.

[Vos]

stage 4 Giro ;
3º  Løvdal 
27º  Ibarrola ( free role )
30º   Miorlin ( free role )
Excellent race, tactics and result of Løvdal who could not challenge any favorites, with big thanks to Bustelo who did a perfect helpers job.

Løvdal back into the top20 GC, but still behind his teammate :

10    Marceliano Ibarrola   29   SPORTLIFE   1: 14"   
14    Nicolay Løvdal   29   SPORTLIFE   1: 48"
21    Nicola Miorlin   29   SPORTLIFE   2: 38"   
( Miorlin has no hill skill, so he cannot ride a GC, but fun to mention him also as the current 2nd best ranked Italian in the Giro )

[Vos]

stage 5 Giro ;
26º  Tafi 
Excellent job of helper Tafi who got 5 times the hand symbol and kept teamcaptain Løvdal in the front.
As expected, Løvdal could not follow in s5, but finishing in the 2nd group on 0:32" is a formidable result.

He moved up 6 GC places and now nr8 on just 1:37" behind GC leader Hilton ( CaptainOrange ).
Free role rider Ibarrola is still in the top20 (as nr13) despite he finished in the 4th group (what is not a bad result for him).

[Sjiz]

A nice stage. Poldoja does exactly what i needed him to do and be there in s4. A nice victory, Verbeek improves his stage record.
Luna finished little further back and keep his 15th place. Tomorrow he will need to fight in the mountains

[Sjiz]

A little dissapointed. Luna lost contact with Tweed early in the race. That cost him places, points and time.

[Vos]

stage 6 Giro ;
47º  Løvdal  on 1:21"
The helper tactic was not good, Løvdal was already isolated in s2 and he should have had help in the first 3 sections.
Nevertheless, not a bad result of the SPORTLIFE teamcaptain.

stage 7 Giro ;
3º  Løvdal on 0:04"
Excellent result behind stage winner Lorenzetto and GC leader Hilton
Silver tour rider Løvdal does great in the GC thanks to this stage result.
TOP 20 GIRO after 7 stages :
1Anthony Hilton   29   CaptainOrange   0: 00"
2    Antonello Lorenzetto   29   Marcatone_Due   0: 04"   
3    Rafael Carlos Loinaz   29   °Peachy°Melocotons   0: 35"   
4    Ivan Semon   29   MortoviaCycling   0: 43"   
5    Leon Vonk   28   Astanadena   1: 20"   
6    Nicolay Løvdal   29   SPORTLIFE   1: 41"
7    Hartwig Adenauer   29   cave   1: 58"   
8    Sebastien Bolshenkov   28   WinterIsComing   2: 17"   
9    Steven Pillig   29   KunTeam   2: 28"   
10    Alan Brady   29   FaltososDeChigre   2: 38"   
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11    Ryan Leipheimer   29   Wiggo_pupils   2: 56"   
12    Mannie Collins   28   Cabrasverdes   2: 57"
13    Alexander Rusakov   29   Flyvende_hjul   3: 17"   
14    Kevin Bush   26   CC_Porco_Jones   3: 50"   
15    Cipriano Luna   29   TeamRHB   4: 00"   
16    Marceliano Ibarrola   29   SPORTLIFE   4: 05"   
17    Igor Paraje   29   BLOEMENAANDEMITTE   4: 13"   
18    Mark Jefferson   29   ProCyclingTeam10   4: 16"   
19    Steinar Jonsson   29   Ciclastur   4: 19"   
20    Oliver Bru   29   BorinotTeam   4: 40"   

[Sjiz]

Verbeek and Poldoja did a great job. Unfortunately Poldoja was unable to keep the wheel of Cruyff on the last hill of the day. 3 seconds after him and Verbeek he rounded the top. Only for him to rejoin at the finish. Close to a win, but a 5th and 3rd place is not something you can be unhappy about.

[Vos]

stage 8 Giro ;
Løvdal did well, despite he and all his teammates (incl. 3 helpers) suddenly could not follow in s2.
According to me a good result that he finished just outside the points in the big group on 1:02"

stage 9 Giro ;
4º  Løvdal  on 0:09"
16º  Miorlin  ( masterhelper )
A very surprising and excellent result, all thanks to Miorlin who did a perfect helpers job.

Løvdal is now 6ºGC on 1:47"
Despite he is not good on the cobblestones in stage 10, it looks very good he can finish top 8 because that would mean a big sponsordeal.
I thought I was too overconfident to accept this top 8 GC sponsordeal before the Giro, but it seems a good decision now.
Free role rider Ibarrola is now 18ºGC, and the nrs 21 and 22 are just 29 and 38 seconds behind, it will be exciting to finish top20 GC.
Although this is not important, and already very surprising he was not needed as helper in this windy Giro.

[Vos]

The result of silver tour rider Løvdal in the final stage was good enough to hold on to his 6º place GC. 
What means a sponsordeal of 954.590,- is achieved with this best Giro d'Italia GC result ever for SPORTLIFE.
Free role rider Ibarrola scored a few GC points extra with his 19º place GC.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Let's see what the nr 6 of the Giro d'Italia can do in this little tour.
The Dauphiné is less suited for silver tour rider Løvdal due to the bigger influence of the time trial.
Again he gets Bustelo as main helper who did a splendid job in the Giro.
The other 3 selected cyclists will help the teamcaptain too (where and if they can), except for stage 5 where Jannakopulosz gets a free role.

111 Løvdal ( 29 ), tour
112 Bustelo ( 29 ), tour
113 Jannakopulosz ( 29 ), sprint
114 Kangert ( 27 ), TT
115 Bergman ( 29 ), flatclimb

Good luck everyone !