Australia NT Season 11

[Vos]

BTW, we have a U23DT sprint-hiller...is he good experience already for not calling him yesterday?

Good question, he was for sure in the picture.
And even more because I saw he finally trained on sprint last week, it went up 3 points. Very necessary, because it was extreme low for a 22yo.
But I cannot show his stats on the forum without permission of his manager, if you would see that, it explains the not-selection.
He still can be a very good hill-sprinter if every training is 100% sprint from now on till he is 24yo.

And even more an explanation of his not-selection ; I decided to select the best 8 for this race, and just one xp-cyclist.
Also that 22yo would have been an xp-cyclist in this windy NT race, I'm 100% sure he was not good enough to help in 55200.
The as nr8 selected Australian did great in this race, he was as helper even with the teamcaptain in s4.

[Zatarra]

I'm a bit disappointed in the pool of pullable youngsters for Australia. In the first week I pulled a tour rider (climbing + cobble + TT) who surprisingly was sold for 10M, but I have been pulling TTs since then and found absolutely nothing...

I'm sorry Aurora. I keep trying, though.

[Franky]

BTW, we have a U23DT sprint-hiller...is he good experience already for not calling him yesterday?

Good question, he was for sure in the picture.
And even more because I saw he finally trained on sprint last week, it went up 3 points. Very necessary, because it was extreme low for a 22yo.
But I cannot show his stats on the forum without permission of his manager, if you would see that, it explains the not-selection.
He still can be a very good hill-sprinter if every training is 100% sprint from now on till he is 24yo.

And even more an explanation of his not-selection ; I decided to select the best 8 for this race, and just one xp-cyclist.
Also that 22yo would have been an xp-cyclist in this windy NT race, I'm 100% sure he was not good enough to help in 55200.
The as nr8 selected Australian did great in this race, he was as helper even with the teamcaptain in s4.

humm, interesting, I don't know how is him, but this week I contacted his manager to ask about a possible sell...but the answer was a big NO (obviously), but maybe he doesn't match with my training plan...That, in other way, I have no 100% clear...

[Aurora Australis]

I'm a bit disappointed in the pool of pullable youngsters for Australia. In the first week I pulled a tour rider (climbing + cobble + TT) who surprisingly was sold for 10M, but I have been pulling TTs since then and found absolutely nothing...

I'm sorry Aurora. I keep trying, though.

I'm having the same fortunes.  Fortunately, if this season turns out to be bust, I've got a second season where I can get 19 year old TTers & train them just as good (evidenced by my older TTers).

[Vos]

RACE 4 : TT BERN

6ºC

Bern, Switzerland,
Thanks to Aurora_Australis every season many points in the NT time trial.
In previous season even a CFF record of most points in one NT race.

Most likely less points this season, but of course, the expectations are very high.
For example ; Can three times world champion Richard Levin win the NT time trial for the 5th( ! ) season in a row ?
Let's hope so. McDermot (USA) is a fierce rival and perhaps more rivals, such as Anderson (GB) with his active weather icon.
None of the Australians have an active weather icon in this NT race.

So far the 8 best TT-specialists are selected.
The last one will be selected later. Also he will be a TT-specialist who might score points if he is lucky.

edit ; the final selected TT specialist is surprising and a bit experimental.
In the Aus.TT-list there are 9 better ones, and in the CFF golden TT-ranking there are 8 better ones.
But it is all close together in GV. And Coleman has an active weather icon, thé reason he is selected.
And maybe it is an advantage for him too that this specific TT race is not really flat and finishes a bit uphill.
Of course, there is a big chance this is not included in the software, and the not high xp of the young Coleman is a disadvantage.
And a big chance it does not matter who I select as last, because in previous season the best 6 Australians scored points.

Australia NT selection :

Richard Levin ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
Isaac Trump ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
Paul Clickett ( 28 ) Aurora_Australis
Christian Pinkney ( 28 ) Aurora_Australis
Ben Mitchum ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
Neil Bell ( 28 ) Aurora_Australis
Owen Acree ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
David Wilson ( 27 ) Facha_Bartolo
Peter Coleman* ( 24 ) Frenkie

[Vos]

Australia u20 ( 50 cyclists in total )

[Vos]

The final TT-specialist is selected. See edit in the preview.

[Franky]

RACE 4 : TT BERN

6ºC

Bern, Switzerland,
Thanks to Aurora_Australis every season many points in the NT time trial.
In previous season even a CFF record of most points in one NT race.

Most likely less points this season, but of course, the expectations are very high.
For example ; Can three times world champion Richard Levin win the NT time trial for the 5th( ! ) season in a row ?
Let's hope so. McDermot (USA) is a fierce rival and perhaps more rivals, such as Anderson (GB) with his active weather icon.
None of the Australians have an active weather icon in this NT race.

So far the 8 best TT-specialists are selected.
The last one will be selected later. Also he will be a TT-specialist who might score points if he is lucky.

edit ; the final selected TT specialist is surprising and a bit experimental.
In the Aus.TT-list there are 9 better ones, and in the CFF golden TT-ranking there are 8 better ones.
But it is all close together in GV. And Coleman has an active weather icon, thé reason he is selected.
And maybe it is an advantage for him too that this specific TT race is not really flat and finishes a bit uphill.
Of course, there is a big chance this is not included in the software, and the not high xp of the young Coleman is a disadvantage.
And a big chance it does not matter who I select as last, because in previous season the best 6 Australians scored points.

Australia NT selection :

Richard Levin ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
Isaac Trump ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
Paul Clickett ( 28 ) Aurora_Australis
Christian Pinkney ( 28 ) Aurora_Australis
Ben Mitchum ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
Neil Bell ( 28 ) Aurora_Australis
Owen Acree ( 29 ) Aurora_Australis
David Wilson ( 27 ) Facha_Bartolo
Peter Coleman* ( 24 ) Frenkie

It rings a bell for me that Osca always said that the color of the section doesn't really matter, it is the profile, and depending of that, the % changes. But now i'm not really sure

[Vos]

But now i'm not really sure

My reply on this subject by pm.

[Vos]

A bad s1 start for Mitchum (mechanical breakdown) and Coleman (flat tyre).
But they were just the 5th and 9th cyclists of this selection.
Much worse news was the flat tyre of Levin in s2, he lost seconds and was completely out of his rhythm to get another NT victory.
And in s4 also a flat tire for top TT specialist Pinkney, to make this NT race even more dramatic.

Luckily Australia ( read Aurora_Australis ) has an extreme good "back up", because Trump won this NT time trial ! 
Australian results NT race 4, in red the ones with bike problems :

1    Isaac Trump      29   0: 00"   300      Aurora_Australis
4    Richard Levin      29   0: 03"   200      Aurora_Australis
7    Paul Clickett      28   0: 05"   150      Aurora_Australis
16    Christian Pinkney      28   0: 14"   60      Aurora_Australis
18    Ben Mitchum      29   0: 14"   30      Aurora_Australis

Just outside the points ; Bell (on 0:00"), Acree ( on 0:01") and Wilson ( on 0:02").
The experiment with Coleman was not successful, he finished as 44th, 0:10" outside the points.

Despite the great victory of Trump ; Australia scored just 740 points.
That is 355 points (!) less as the time trial of previous season.
This TT result is almost the lowest since season 5 :
s5= 815, s6= 725, s7= 955 + 1.045, s8= 835, s9= 920 and s10= 1.095

In contrast to previous season, Australia was already high ranked as 6th before this time trial,
and these 740 points are good enough to take the lead in the season ranking :

1º 1190   
2º    920   
3º    740   
4º    720   
5º    695

[horace_vr]

Nice job once again!

But the comparison to the previous 2 seasons is  - don;t forget that Team GB was a no-show 2 times in a row; even France (Jobet) once...
I know, I know, it's not the winner's fault that competition did not show up   

Just don't count on 1.1k points every year. Nevertheless, AA's pool of talent is truly divine (as they say in another online manager game  )

[Vos]

RACE 5 : Muur van Geraardsbergen

5ºC

Bornem, Belgium,
In previous season a surprising 10th place in a NT cobblehills race of a silver Australian. But that was a race with 3 flat sections and storm.
Before season 10, Australia scored zero points in this type of race. With the exception of the first NT season and 17th in a SB-race in season 4.
So, the expectations are low and normally Australia will score no points. But the Aussies will try anyway, and every scored point is a bonus.

Australia NT selection :

Alex Byers ( 28 ) Fountain
Kirk Trump ( 29 ) $Tourmalet
Nate Douglas ( 29 ) SentinelChickens
Keith Sheehan ( 28 ) Sabmazz
Peter Beckham ( 28 ) Oloteam
Grant Curry ( 29 ) BLOEMENAANDEMITTE
Sam Rooney ( 21 ) Lemarche    ( debut )
Richard Davidson ( 22 ) Luka_Warriors    ( debut )
Jason Duffy ( 19 ) Frenkie    ( debut )

[Vos]

18    Keith Sheehan
This is 30 points more than expected, and these 30 points can be important, it for sure is at this moment :
Top 6 ranking by nations after 5 races

1º     1220
2º      1200   
3º      1190   
4º      990   
5º      920   
6º      730   

It is extreme close together at the moment.
Season 11 will be decided on the cobblestones in the Netherlands ( FFCFC ) and in Switzerland ( CCCCC ).
Already 7 flat-cobble specialists are selected for next week, including teamcaptain Angus Friend.
Also the final 2 places are for flat-cobble specialists because Australia will go full power in the next two NT races.

[Aurora Australis]

Good news is that Belgium is a fair way behind at the moment.

[Floppy]

2 bullets left, keep it up!
Amazing NT season Vos! Congratz!