Season 15

[Vos]

stage 1 Tirreno ;
12º  Martinez  on 0:14"
27º  Macannazi ( free role )

My two climbers are not in topform yet, and probably the reason the helper's tactic of Basov was too risky.
But back-up-helper Smith came to the rescue on the flat sections, and kept Martinez in the front s3+s4 peleton of 62.
Smith is not suited for this stage, so he had no energy left to launch his teamcaptain hard.
Otherwise maybe a 7 seconds better result of Martinez if Basov could have helped on the flat sections.
But this result is great too and much better as I expected.

Martinez finished in the same time ( 0:14" ) as possible GC rivals Gois, VanStraalen, DiLuca, Mulikov and Pires (title defender).
And he won a few seconds on other GC rivals, for example Figueras (nr1 PN) and Vrijmoed (nr2 PN) finished on 0:21".
The only GC contender who was better than Martinez, that was 4 times TdF winner Palmer who finished on 0:07"

[Vos]

stage 2 Tirreno ;
1º  Smith  --> victory ! 
11º  Basov
17º  Martinez  on 0:54"

A very close victory of Smith because rival Gregory Debie ( 26, RemcoEvenpoelckx ) finished also on 0:00"
Martinez moved up to 4º GC, just on 0:09" of new GC leader Alessandro Figueras ( 32, RemcoEvenpoelckx ).
But just tiny differences in the GC, a matter of seconds. Even the top 22 GC is less than 1 minute behind Figueras.

[Vos]

stage 3 Tirreno ;
2º  Martinez  on 0:19" 

A very surprising and amazing result of Martinez.
Although it was a big gamble and maybe a miracle that it did not go wrong, because there were just 58 cyclists in the s1 front peleton.
And for example (best) helper Macannazi unexpectedly started too slow.
Luckily I had a back up plan that helper Basov had a "many EP in the flat sections"-tactic, and he did a great job in the first four sections.

Martinez moved up to 2º GC on just 0:03" of GC leader Figueras.
But still very tiny differences in the GC, and the top 17 GC within one minute.
The next stage has a sprint finish and Martinez does not like that. And the storm will make the crucial stage 4 even more difficult.

[Vos]

stage 4 Tirreno ;
61º  Martinez  on 1:43"
Hmmmm, it seems to me Martinez was a bit unlucky by not finishing one group earlier on 1:18", what is a big difference of 25 seconds.
Dispite this, still satisfied because it was a good race in the storm and helper Kluivert did an excellent job.

Martinez dropped to 6º GC on 0:39"
A podiumplace is not possible due to his hills GV. Hopefully the final hills stage goes well and he ends up in the top 10 GC.

[Sjiz]

4th for Verbeek, not enough in s2. Still an ok result.

[Vos]

stage 5 Tirreno ;
5º  Kluivert ( helper )
76º  Martinez  on 1:15"

Remarkable good result of Kluivert in a helpers role. Less good was that he only could help in s1.
After a good start,  clearly Martinez had not his day with his bad race and bad result.

Martinez ended up as 8º GC on 0:57" behind Tirreno winner Daniel Mulikov ( 29, IKIBASQUE ).
A little dissapointing GC result, because I hoped that the mountains had more influence on the time differences than the hills.
It seems to me the hills were more decisive in this Tirreno.
Despite this doubtfull GC result, it was a good Tirreno of my team with these stage results ; 12º, 1º,  2º,  5º.

Hopefully Martinez can ride a good Catalunya, although that tour is much less suited than this Tirreno was.
But Martinez finished as 11º GC in the also less suited Paris-Nice, so maybe he can compete for top 10 GC in Catalunya as well.

First my team has to play the role of spectator in the classic races MSR and E3H. Unfortunately no suited cyclists and 0 points.

[Sjiz]

Oldie Verbeek does it again: a solid top 10 without TC in MSR, his 31st in a classic. Happy with the result.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Martinez finished 11º GC Paris Nice and 8º GC Tirreno Adriatico, again he will try to ride a GC result.
Probably it will be more difficult in this less suited Volta a Catalunya. Martinez has also the ambition to score points in stages 2 and 4.
I expect that Portugal, Millan and Lebrun will score stage points too.

111 Martinez ( 32 ), tour
112 Portugal ( 32 ), hills
113 Millan ( 31 ), TT
114 Lebrun ( 30 ), sprint
115 Vorre ( 27 ), climbhills helper

Good luck everyone ! 

[Aurora Australis]

Isaac Trump defies his age one final time.


Isaac Trump   33   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 0sg   167 points
2nd   David McDermot   30   Thorboassonarvesen   a 0 minutos 5sg   133 points   
3rd   Christian Pinkney   32   Aurora_Australis   a 0 minutos 11sg   108 points

[ophiuko]

Volta Catalunya (excel coefficients)

Alessandro Figueras (29) 79.29
Dario Fernandez (29) 78.84
Allan Palmer (32) 78.65
Rene Vrijmoed (25) 78.51
Tjerk Tusveld (32) 78.12
German Martinez (31) 77.95
Daniel Mulikov (29) 77.84
Murat Aeschliman (27) 77.23
Romeu Rosario (32) 77.20
Aksel Blix (27) 76.93
Rafael Carlos Loinaz (32) 76.69
Jaime Roman (30) 76.51
Samuele DiLuca (30) 76.35
Arjan Putman (25) 76.17
Adao Baiao (25) 75.63

[Vos]

stage 1 Catalunya ;
10º  Millan
33º  Martinez  on 1:55"
stage 2 Catalunya ;
44º  Martinez  on 1:10" 

Tactical failure because Martinez started too slow, never returned, and even was isolated in section 4.
This result is a big contrast to the other flatclimb stage of this season, where Martinez finished as 2º on 0:17" Well, no guts no glory.
And this time no glory, because now he can forget about a good GC result in Catalunya.

Martinez had to gamble because he is not really suited for this little tour, and by far not the nr 6 best tour cyclist as the list shows.
Of course, many other things play a role too in the ranking of "best suited" tour cyclists ; let's hope rival managers make big mistakes too.
For now Martinez is 11º GC on 0:53"

That is way too low because now his bad stages will come where he is gonna lose much time.
Especially in the next stage 3 he is not good. To compare ; hillsprint stage PN = 82º on 1:32", and hillsprint stage TIR = 61º on 1:43".
Maybe I should consider to go for a stage 3 result with sprinter Lebrun as teamcaptain, and really forget about the GC chances of Martinez.

[Aurora Australis]

If Martinez isn't going to get an overall result, of course you'll have Lebrun as teamcaptain in the next stage.

[Vos]

If Martinez isn't going to get an overall result, of course you'll have Lebrun as teamcaptain in the next stage.

You are right, but in my mind it is not easy. Of course, that has everything to with my own mind. 
Because Martinez will be the teamcaptain in stage 4 anyway, and by being also the teamcaptain in stage 3, he might score a few GC points.
Lebrun is not a hill sprinter, and as teamcaptain in stage 3 he might score less stage points as Martinez might score as GC points.

And some other things play a role too. For example weather icons, and the fact that I love to compete in the GC.
But on the other side, Martinez will be sold soon, so I don't have to consider an eventual Colombian individual championship.
Even stage 5 plays a role in the strategic decision of stage 3. Most likely Portugal will get support to go for a top stage 5 result.
If I could predict/estimate the GC chances of Martinez better, it would be easy.
This horrible stage 2 with an unexpected very big time loss,  makes this strategic choice difficult.

[Vos]

What makes this game difficult also = I almost never scout and  recruit a 19yo who is good or even a little good.
My bizarre, extreme bad luck continues also in this season 15. So far ; not even a 19yo who was good enough to be sold for 1,-
Maybe complaining a bit in this topic helps, and today a miracle happens that I scout/recruit a good 19yo.

My statement is even : most CFF managers scout/recruit much more good 19yo's in one season than I do in all 15 seasons combined.
Maybe I should mention my extreme bad luck in the bug topic,
because I can think of just one explanation ; there must be something wrong with the CFF software.

[ophiuko]

I also have the impression that the quality of 19yo promotions has decreased this season.