Season 16

[Vos]

stage 4 Vuelta ;
8º  Ros
25º  Roman
Bad luck for Roman ; a mechanical breakdown in the crucial section 5.
Just 2 cyclists were so unlucky in s5 ; Roman and a 23yo talent. This costed some seconds for my teamcaptain, who is now 11º GC.

[Vos]

stage 5 Vuelta ;
Not a perfect hills stage ; masterhelper Vorre started too slow and never returned to teamcaptain Roman, who finished 44º on 1:10"
But this was good enough to move up two places ; now 9ºGC.

stage 6 Vuelta ;
11º  Ros ( masterhelper )
20º  Roman  on 1:34"
Ros went too slow on mountain s1 and went too fast on mountain s3, but he returned in both dh sections to his teamcaptain Roman.
And Roman had help in all sections, even s1 and s3, because back up helper Vorre stayed with Roman in the first four sections.
Of course important that masterhelper Ros was with Roman in s4, and therefore a great result of my GC contender without TC bonus.
Still 9ºGC. And as a "reward" to masterhelper Ros that he did an excellent job in s4 and s5, he was sold after this stage 6.
 
stage 7 Vuelta ;
1º  Smith  --> victory ! 
Roman finished 44º on 1:23" and dropped one place, now 10ºGC on 2:32" of GC leader Pires ( FrançaiseDesJeux ).

The Vuelta will be decided in the final 3 stages with a total of 8 cobblestone sections.
Roman has just a cobbleskill of 51, so it would be amazing if he can stay in the top10 GC.
But maybe this is whisfull-thinking, especially because his form drops from 99 to 94 in the final stage 10.

[Vos]

stage 8 Vuelta ;
Remarkable that Roman was in flat s2 on 0:32" and suddenly in flat s3 on 1:26"
A positive aspect of this negative time drop ; he met his 2 helpers in s3 again, and both stayed with Roman in s4 ánd even in s5.
Roman finished as 79º on 2:37" and could hold on to his 10ºGC place. So far, so good.

[Vos]

Roman moved up one GC place after a good stage 9, but after a bad stage 10 ( due to his 94 form ) he dropped luckily just one GC place.
Final TOP 10 GC Vuelta =
1Maurizio Lorenzetto   28   FaltososDeChigre   0: 00"   
2    Lazare Pires   29   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 41"   
3    Oscar Marcos   30   IKIBASQUE   0: 44"
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Alexander Castilla   27   Innioraths   0: 57"   
5    Alexey Ryazanov   27   Spitz   1: 46"   
6    Yvo VanStraalen   27   Combuijs   1: 53"   
7    Henri Laine   29   CuencaTeam   2: 46"   
8    Arjan Putman   28   MarquinaTeam   2: 59"
9    Reinis Melderis   29   Kelme4ever   3: 42"   
10    Jaime Roman   32   SPORTLIFE   4: 03"

[Kekipi]

Roman moved up one GC place after a good stage 9, but after a bad stage 10 ( due to his 94 form ) he dropped luckily just one GC place.
Final TOP 10 GC Vuelta =
1Maurizio Lorenzetto   28   FaltososDeChigre   0: 00"   
2    Lazare Pires   29   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 41"   
3    Oscar Marcos   30   IKIBASQUE   0: 44"
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Alexander Castilla   27   Innioraths   0: 57"   
5    Alexey Ryazanov   27   Spitz   1: 46"   
6    Yvo VanStraalen   27   Combuijs   1: 53"   
7    Henri Laine   29   CuencaTeam   2: 46"   
8    Arjan Putman   28   MarquinaTeam   2: 59"
9    Reinis Melderis   29   Kelme4ever   3: 42"   
10    Jaime Roman   32   SPORTLIFE   4: 03"

Good job with Roman, Vos.  I was impressed with how you managed him.

It was another interesting tour, with Lorenzetto using his strong cobble skill to overcome Pires, who had nearly two minutes on him coming out of the S7 mountain TT.

Meanwhile, my guy, Rafail Levitskiy, finished 15th GC.   I had hoped for much better, but that was contingent on being tactically perfect (or near perfect), which wasn't the case in most stages.

Speaking of tactics, I was impressed by those used by Pires, the only one of the top seven without a bronze cobble icon.   He may also have been racing without the benefit of TC, which he may have used to finish 2nd GC in the Giro.

I needed to do much better to avoid relegation, and barring a miracle (unexpected) in the final three races, that's what's going to happen.

But I'm actually looking forward to a return to D2, which still will be challenging but in a different less intense and less stressful way. 

[Aurora Australis]

I needed to do much better to avoid relegation, and barring a miracle (unexpected) in the final three races, that's what's going to happen.

Yeah, last three races are hard to get out of the relegation zone, particularly with me seeking to do that yet again (meaning you'd need to be seeking an otherwise 29th spot).

[Vos]

Thanks Kekipi 
About avoiding relegation (for a next time) ; try to play with a total points target, for example 4.500 points (= save in the past 10 seasons).


RELEGATION GHOST, the amount of points of all numbers 30 (=save) in all past 1A seasons :

s15 = 3.891
s14 = 4.040
s13 = 3.947
s12 = 4.183
s11 = 3.617
s10 = 4.092
s09 = 3.875
s08 = 4.249
s07 = 4.490
s06 = 4.023
s05 = 4.553
s04 = 4.503
s03 = 4.732
s02 = 4.493

[Kekipi]

Thanks Kekipi 
About avoiding relegation (for a next time) ; try to play with a total points target, for example 4.500 points (= save in the past 10 seasons).


RELEGATION GHOST, the amount of points of all numbers 30 (=save) in all past 1A seasons :

s16 = 3.726
s15 = 3.891
s14 = 4.040
s13 = 3.947
s12 = 4.183
s11 = 3.617
s10 = 4.092
s09 = 3.875
s08 = 4.249
s07 = 4.490
s06 = 4.023
s05 = 4.553
s04 = 4.503
s03 = 4.732
s02 = 4.493

Thanks to a hoped for but still surprisingly good result in the WC sprint race (12th/300 pts!) for my silver icon sprinter, my team moved up four spots to finish 31st, which was 3726 - 3541 = 185 pts short of 30th. 

Three gold sprinters (ranked 2, 9, & 10) ended up with the dreaded icon, probably because they used just 1 EP in S1.  Fortunately, none of their teams were in danger of the relegation axe, so the lost points weren't tragic.

As for me, yes, I'm disappointed in relegation. But this game, especially in S16, has given me lots of opportunities in dealing with dismay.  So I'm sure I'll be okay.

And, as a warning to you all,      LOL.

It was a great season.  Thanks to all the Div 1 teams for making it so.

[ophiuko]

Now that we have all the available ages in the game, I've made an overview of winners and podium's ages this season:



Combined statistics of season 15+season 16:

[Vos]

And, as a warning to you all

Unfortunately, although you came much closer as I expected. Anyway, good luck next season, and I'm looking forward to your return in 1A.

Giro Lombardia ;
19º  Vorre
Excellent result with 94 form and without TC bonus.

Lisboa TT WC ;
10º  Millan
Probably a decent result of a 32yo. Two seasons ago he finished as 6th in this exact same time trial.

Doha WC ;
2º  Lebrun 
Magnificent result of my Belgian sprinter who could not challenge any favorites.
Also nice because I was almost broke after a 10M buy today ; Lebrun scored 450k price money ánd a sponsor deal of 438.640,-( top 8 ).
And super nice = Lebrun is individual Belgian champion ! 
This amazing 2º place with 800 points was just enough because he won with a difference of 140 points ( 3º place is 150 points less ).


Thanks to this result in Doha ; SPORTLIFE moved up two places in 1A and finished as 8º.
Fun to pass 2 friendly Italian managers at the last moment.  
But more "important" was that my team already "sort of secured" a top 10 place in 1A after the Vuelta,
what causes that SPORTLIFE has now 10 times in a row a top 10 place in 1A. I love my team !   

[Aurora Australis]

Were my 34 year olds the only ones to make a podium this season? (2nd for Levin best result).

[ophiuko]

Were my 34 year olds the only ones to make a podium this season? (2nd for Levin best result).

Exactly