Australia NT Season 11

[Vos]

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

Thanks Floppy.
The final 2 NT races will make clear if it will be an amazing NT season or not.
Perhaps the picture below can be reassuring :

the girlfriend of Angus Friend 

[Floppy]

the girlfriend of Angus Friend 

I gave her like a deaf man to a bell

En inglés no tiene tanta gracia

[Vos]

Tienes razón, en inglés no tengo ni idea de lo que significa, pero tu foto lo explica, y eso seguro que es divertido.

[Vos]

RACE 6 : LIMBURG to ZEELAND

28ºC

Hulst, the Netherlands,
A very important race for Angus Friend ánd Australia because of the world championship ambitions( yes, in plural ).
Hopefully it goes much better than in previous season, where the Australian teamcaptain had an unexplicable off-day and finished as 9th.
This season he is going for the victory, and that is not all, a few of his teammates have the objective to score some extra points.
It could be that my expectations are too high, and the wind can be of influence what makes this NT race even more unpredictable.
Also it is important how the rival countries will do in this NT race, because it is very close in the season ranking.

Australia NT selection :

Angus Friend ( 28 ) °Peachy°Melocotons
Kent McClure ( 29 ) Yvo_Meppelink_ProCycling
Eric Kelly ( 29 ) Antequera
John Battle ( 29 ) Antequera
Dylan Gilliam* ( 29 ) Manicomicos_Cycling_Team
Jasper Sandfort ( 29 ) HorsCategorieProTeam
Jonny Glass ( 29 ) CCPicazo
Ron Dardar ( 29 ) Flandria
Denis Mitchum ( 29 ) Manicomicos_Cycling_Team

[Vos]

"Tactical failure"  ;
of course, as often in the NT, gamble on one thing and the other thing happens.
Australia had a very hard start, and some tried to save energy in s2 although all more then 0 EP except for the teamcaptain,
and of course this happens with 1 stripe of wind ;

s1 = a huge peleton of 115, despite 2 very good helpers started full power to try to make it a small peleton.

s2 = of course, now just a peleton of 55 cyclists, more than half the s1 peleton could not follow, including 7 Australians.
Unfortunately among them also teamcaptain Friend.

s3 = also the 2 Australians who were in the front dropped to the 2nd group on 0:16" behind the big break away group of 30.

s4 = I anticipated on that s4 was tricky, but despite many fox tricks, just 1 Australian could make the jump.
And that was indeed a jump, because the break away group narrowed down to 27 in s4.
So, still all Australians ( now minus 1 ) in the 2nd group on 0:19"
Well, the positive thing is that they all ride good together in this NT race, however, in the wrong group.

s5 = Also here numerous tricks, for example with free roles, but most tricks were based on a return in s4 what did not happen.
Well, at least 2 more Australians in the points, and Friend showed he is amazing on the cobblestones with a super jump from far behind.

Not satisfied at all, my tactics were not based on a failure in s2 with probably one of the 3 top favorites of this NT race.
Well, at least now I know where and why it went wrong, in contrast to the weird unexplicable cobble NT race of previous season.
And exactly the same dissapointing total amount of points as in season 10, although Friend finished much better now ;
6    Angus Friend
13    Eric Kelly
18    Jonny Glass

Also negative about this race is that it is for 99% certain that the goal of Friend, individual world champion, will not happen. 

Now the positive aspect of this NT race 6 : 
Because Australia scored just 280 points, but the Netherlands ( 0 ), Spain ( 0 ) and Belgium ( 150 ) did much worse.
And all 3 countries are (or were) rivals.
The only other rival did amazing in this NT race 6 ; Ukraine scored the most of all countries ; 395 points.

Ukraine moved up to the 2nd place in the season ranking, and most likely the only real rival left.
Australia was first with 20 points ahead on the nr2, and now first with 115 points ahead on the new nr2.
Funny to mention that this gap of 115 points is exactly what Ukraine scored more than Australia in this NT race 6.
If this happens again next week, both countries have the same amount of points.
So it is still very exciting and perhaps Ukraine has more chance to be the new world champion with this Australian"sucks in s2"NT manager.

Top 8 season ranking with just 1 more NT race to go :

1º    1.500
2º    1.385
3º    1.200
4º    1.190
5º    1.070
6º    1.000
7º      855
8º      815

Next week a sunny NT race of 231km with 5 cobble sections in Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
Hopefully the sun will shine figuratively too and Australia will be the new world champion.

[Aurora Australis]

I'm afraid it was the two Ukrainians (with 94 flat) in my team that gave them a bunch of points.  I don't believe a repeat will occur.

[Franky]

Well...only a disaster for our side/miracle for Ukranian side would stop us from being champs again...lets cross fingers

[Vos]

Well...only a disaster for our side/miracle for Ukranian side would stop us from being champs again...lets cross fingers

This is a bold statement for a race that never was on the NT calendar and when the difference is just 115 points.
Maybe it is possible that you are right ( it seems to me you underestimate Ukraine )
but who knows,
maybe it is possible that Australia has a very good race next week but Ukraine does amazing again and scores 120 points more.

Maybe you mean by a disaster the bad luck / flat tyres / mechanical breakdowns.
Indeed, this could be decisive with just 115 points difference. Hopefully this will not happen for Australia,
because for example in the time trial already more than enough bad luck for the whole season, what costed a lot of points.

Anyway, a good moment to assess this situation more realistically :

In the schedule below the past results of Australia in flat cobble races. It looks that the less flat sections, the less the result is.
Australia never finished podium in a cobble race with 1 flat section. Perhaps Australia has even more difficulties without a flat section in it.
That seems logical, but we don't know that, because next week it is the 1st time ever a pure cobble NT race is on the calendar, see schedule :

s11 --> CCCCC 231km = ?
s11 --> FFCFC 129km = Australia (6º+13º+18º) 280

s10 --> CFCCC 190km = Australia (9º+11º+17º) 280

s9 --> no flat cobble NT race

s8 --> CFFCC 230km = Australia (1º+19º) 320

s7 --> CFFCC 230km = Australia (1º+18º) 330

s6 --> CFCCC 211km = Australia (4º+18º) 230

s5 --> CFCCC 190km = Australia (4º+17º) 240

s4 --> no flat cobble race

s3 --> CFCCC 190km = Australia (3º) 225

s2 --> CFFCC 230km = Australia (5º) 180

Also the flat cobble Dream Team gives information to try to assess this situation ;
numbers 2 - 27 - 33 - 55 - 56 - 58 - 64 - 83 - 92
numbers 11 - 16 - 26 - 28 - 38 - 40 - 74 - 84 - 87

Australia should have the better teamcaptain, and Ukraine has more chance to score extra with cyclists (what is very important too).
The Ukrain teamcaptain finished as 2nd in previous season, and as 3rd in this season.

How both countries will do in a pure cobble race ( CCCCC ), we will know next week.
It can be a very exciting race because maybe both countries are approximately matched and there is just a difference of 115 points.
But Australia is in the lead, and maybe that can be the decisive advantage. Let's hope so.
My conclusion ; it is more fun when it is exciting till the end.

[Franky]

haha, I dont understimate Ukraine, I believe in you! 

btw, what about next year? can we count with you again?

[Vos]

haha, let's hope that is justified , and the unknown GV's among both countries is probably of more influence in this uncertain situation,
but one thing is sure ; Ukraine will not get the world championship as present, they really have to fight for their maybe little chance.

Good you bring up the subject of who will be the Australian NT manager next season. Since yesterday it is possible to be a candidate.
To me it does not matter what the result of the next NT race will be, and therefore also the season result ;
I decided not to be a candidate because I was the NT manager for the past 2 seasons now, time for someone else to do this fun job.
Better to announce this now already, because I would be really tempted if Australia becomes 2nd again.

By the way ; if there are no (good serious) candidates, no problem for me to do his honorable job again.
But I can imagine that you want revanche of that season where Australia had one NT race less due to a CFF software issue.
Also I can imagine if Aurora wants the job because it is the last top season of some of his amazing TT-specialists.
Maybe Tourmalet will be a candidate because it is a while ago he was the NT manager.
And perhaps someone else wants to make his debut as Australian NT manager, more likely such a person will be a candidate when I'm not.

[Franky]

haha, no, I wont be a candidate again soon, so, if any other one wants...Zatarra or Antequera maybe...hehe

[Vos]

Hmmmm, probably more smart of me (and you^^) to look at the candidates first before I write my previous post.
Because I see that Australia already has one good candidate.

About the upcoming final NT race in Frauenfeld ( translation = field of women ) ; the 8 best Australians are already selected.
The last one will be a flatcobble specialist too and he will be selected later this week.

[Vos]

Because I see that Australia already has one good candidate.

To other Australian managers ; this does not mean you cannot be a candidate, feel free to be a candidate too.

haha, no, I wont be a candidate again soon, so, if any other one wants...Zatarra or Antequera maybe...hehe

2 very good options, Franky, the more Australian managers involved in the NT, the better it is.

[Franky]

haha, nope, I didnt see Aurora there... xD, anyway, would be great to have options at least once! haha. Nah, just kidding, at the end, we are like 5-6 users voting only... xD. But after this Aurora period, any of the new guys would be great!

[Vos]

True, just a low number of active Australian CFF managers.
But awesome and great that Australia had never problems in the NT of all past 10 seasons, thanks to everytime a good NT manager.
I suppose there are countries that are very jealous of the Australian NT circumstances/mentality/conditions. Proud to be Australian !
And to make the foreign CFF managers even more jealous, also proud to be Australian because we have waves and pretty girls :