Season 15

[Vos]

Thanks! Good luck to you as well, of course. I have no experience in riding tours at all. So far VdG's results (last season TdF for example) have been very disappointing. Hopefully he can be the Itzulia king .

Thanks 
About stage 1 and looking at the results of my sold cobblehills cyclists what made this clear ;
to me surprising that hills counted a lot more than I thought, compared to the cobble skill. What was beneficial to Vorre.

[ophiuko]

Itzulia (excel):

1. Dimi VanKerckhove (28) 80.71
2. Maurizio Lorenzetto (27) 79.52
3. August Thoelen (25) 79.48
4. Filipe Graca (26) 79.06
5. Bendegúz Csecs (25) 79.02
6. Samuele DiLuca (30) 78.95
7. Telmo Avila (32) 78.89
8. Neeme Põder (29) 78.86
9. Ivan Chiapucci (29) 78.78
10. Stijn Dijksma (30) 78.50
11. Leonid Foros (29) 78.47
12. Valentin Trezeguet (29) 78.28
13. Daniel Mulikov (29) 78.27
14. Guilherme Fonseca (29) 78.21
15. Serafim Gois (24) 78.03
16. Roberto Moro (32) 77.73
17. Sven WinklerPrins (31) 77.62
18. Lazare Pires (27) 77.58
19. Tim Bell (29) 77.57
20. Sam Lee (29) 77.54

Update with some of the contestants that I recently got:

Ricky Vorre (27) 77.81
Klaas VanDenAkker (27) 77.73
Sergey Rodionov (27) 77.51
Zsombor Endrõdi (25) 77.36
Rob Williams (27) 75.83

Last minute, courtesy of Zatarra:

Kasper van der Goor (25) 80.01

It seems that Kasper is the favourite on the list, as VanKerckhove looked like he didn't put any effort on stage 1 for the GC.

Training camps apart 

[Zatarra]

Nice! Of course KvdG is riding with TC bonus also, but on climbing, also in order to maybe have a good go in Frankfurt later on.

Hopefully there's some space to move up one place.

[Vos]

stage 3 Itzulia ;
15º  Vorre  on 0:00"
Also GC rival van der Goor ( Zatarra ) finished in the front group of 26 ( as 10º ), so the GC difference remains 0:23"

The nrs 3 and 4 in the GC could not finish in the front group and both lost 12 seconds in this stage.
The nr 3 GC is still 3rd, and together with the new nr 4 GC they are both already 1:07" behind.
That looks promising if stages 4 and 5 go well for Vorre.
Perhaps it will be a battle for victory versus only van der Goor, and not promising that he finished 5 places better in this s5 hills section.
The difference between 2 groups in hills stage 5 might be bigger than the 0:23" gap that Vorre has right now,
if Vorre is good enough to finish just one group later in stage 5, what maybe is doubtfull.

But first things first ; in stage 4 Vorre really needs to finish on 0:00" to keep a fighting chance for final victory.
What might be very difficult. Hopefully 5th favorite Beck can do an amazing helpers job.

[Zatarra]

Van der Goor gave everything in this stage 3, especially in section 5 seeing Vorre a few places behind him. He battled for every second but unfortunately the gaps on the finish were not big enough for the jury to appoint different times.

VdG: "It feel amazing to finally have something to battle for. It appeared previous season's TdF had just too many mountains for me to ride a good GC and we all know my TT capacities... or lack thereof it is. So, this Itzulia seems to be just perfect. My focus will be on stage 5. The mountain sprint will be a bit windy, so I will have to pay attention, but in the past I've finished nicely in a few hill stages, so that's where I will have to close the gap with Vorre."

Tomorrow morning's race will be exciting. It's important not to make a mistake, but I'm new to t he GC game and 'not losing time' rather than 'have a good stage result', so I'm a bit struggling here...

[Vos]

stage 4 Itzulia ;
14º  Beck ( helper )
20º  Vorre  on 0:00"

An exciting stage for my teamcaptain ;
his helper was too slow in s1 but returned in s2, and his helper was too fast in s3 but Vorre returned in s4.
And Beck was very needed as helper in s4 and s5, because Vorre made it extra exciting with a mechanical breakdown in the final s5.

GC rival van der Goor finished as 7º on 0:00", so Vorre has to try to defend his little GC lead of just 0:23" in the final hills stage.
But even if Vorre loses the final victory battle versus van der Goor, it is looking very good that Vorre will finish on the podium.
What is also a great result of this silver tour cyclist from Greenland ( see profile ) who had no palmares before he joined my team 1 month ago.

[Zatarra]

Van de Goor had to do it all by himself. Sunset was the appointed helper, but with a sprint skill of 7 it was clear he could not be of any use, beforehand already. Luckily, VdG was able to follow Vorre's wheel in every section and sprinted to a nice 7th place in the final one.

It all comes down to hillbilly stage 5. Stamer, Jackson, Haringa and Sunset all will have the domestique role. Most of them to bring VdG to the finish line in the best group possible, but if some of them have the opportunity to stay with Vorre, if fallen behind, then they might have the role of the annoying competitor who will whistle like a happy bird when Vorre is struggling to get back to VdG's wheel.

That's our battle plan.

[Vos]

That's our battle plan.

[Zatarra]

That's our battle plan.

Who laughs last, laughs best, so it appeares to be!

Congratulations, Vos with Vorre's Itzulia win. We had different tactics with our riders. VdG started too slow for group 1 after s1, but with back up helping managed to win back half of the time that was needed to beat Vorre. Maybe I had to start a bit faster (and spending one less EP somewhere else), but I think VdG 'lost' because of stage 1. My tactic should have been better with the helping of my cobble hill riders.

Anyway, a first tour podium for my team. This is kind of fun after all. Maybe I can find myself another suitable tour.

[Vos]

Thanks, Zatarra.
You were very close to the final GC victory, but 2º GC is also a great result.
This first GC podiumplace of your team is a promising result for future tours with your very young tour cyclists.

stage 5 Itzulia ;
17º  Simon ( helper )
62º  Vorre  on 1:05"

Simon did a great job in the first 3 sections, but it was not a perfect race because Vorre was suddenly isolated in the important s4.
Due to no help in s4, Vorre dropped a lot in s5. But his result was just enough to win Itzulia, and in the end it was very close :

TOP 10 FINAL GC ITZULIA :
1 Ricky Vorre   27    SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   
2    Kasper van der Goor   25    Zatarra   0: 11"   
3    Ivan Chiapucci   33    $Tourmalet   0: 18"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4     Kevin Bush   30   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 16"
5    Shane O´Neill   26   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   1: 18"
6    Gustav Wendt   29   IKIBASQUE   1: 40"   
7    Guilherme Fonseca   33   galegospolabici   1: 42"   
8    Rob Williams   27   Inglourious_Bastards   1: 43"   
9    Sergey Rodionov   28   FrançaiseDesJeux   1: 48"   
10    Bendegúz Csécs   26   Spitz   1: 49"   

[Aurora Australis]

Great result for Australian teams, and a minute to fourth.

[Vos]

Yes, and the nr4 Kevin Bush is an Australian cyclist.
But he has no Australian manager, of course thé reason he finished outside the podium. 

[Vos]

SPORTLIFE , equipo clásico de las ardenas :

Mas probable no haya resultados superiores, pero mi equipo también está compitiendo.
Most likely no top results, but my team is also competing.
Buena suerte a todos !
Good luck everyone !

51 Daniljev ( 32 )
52 Simon ( 32 )
53 Kluivert ( 31 )
54 Portugal ( 32 )
55 Rubiera ( 23 )

[Sjiz]

For those who want to see Verbeek in action in a hill classic: tonight is the last chance. His last ever Ardennes classic.

Please wear a face mask, he is old and now at risk to get Covid.

[Davilo07]

Will he be retiring tonight or is he going to race till the end of the season?
Are you scared at the new and stronger rivals you are facing now?

Well, last ride for him at the classics tonight. You all are welcome  to share your thoughts in the "Copa mapei post