Season 16

[Vos]

Omloop het Nieuwsblad ;
21º  Jonker
Good result, because none of his teammates were good enough to help.
And as expected he finished outside the points in Strade Bianche ; 39º on 0:14" of the number 30º

Most likely this was the last race of 32yo golden cobblehills specialist Jonker,
because my team is full with the purchase of 25yo climber Kummer for just 4,1 M.
The best and by far highest ranked pure climber I have ever had ( nr 65 in the golden climb ranking, and nr 25 listed as pure climber ).
Of course, no chance at all to win a mountain stage now TeamEuroscalt is riding in 1A.
Anyway, most likely Jonker will  be fired ( I bought him 1 week ago for 225k ),
because continously recruiting is more important to me than the DDV points of Jonker. Also not a loss to NL, he was just 3x Dutch international.

   selection SPORTLIFE

VanPutten used the Tour Down Under to get in topform, so he will be the GC contender in Paris Nice although the GC expectation is low.
This is not a good points scoring selection, because I expect just a few GC points, and also just a few points in stages 2 and 4.
Helpers Vonk, Vorre and Beck use this little tour to get in topform, and that is already in stage 4 ( all 3 rode OHN and SB ).
Very high start/backnumbers because my team is almost in the relegation zone.

261 VanPutten ( 33 ), golden tour / GC
262 Vonk ( 33 ), golden tour / helper
263 Kluivert ( 32 ), hills / free role
264 Vorre ( 28 ), silver tour / helper
265 Beck ( 29 ), silver tour / helper

Good luck everyone ! 

[wacco]

Well my first big mistake.

I forgot to put tactics, so leader Janno Noor rode as a free role with 22222. He still ended at number 20. But top ten should have been possible.

Next up Paris Nice.
With Ruedi Landenberger I will have one of the favorites. A victory would be nice but top 7 will be enough for our sponsor with some much needed extra cash. This will be his goal for the season, getting the experience, achieving sponsor goals and the WC TT.

Elio Calheiros may give his best in the flat cobble stage.

The rest is just there for experience

[wacco]

A nice 3th spot in this TT. The first three sections looked like it would even be a silver medal but the stage was just to long. Ruedi is perfect for a prologue. The longer the stage the harder it gets. But he still has time to improve

[Vos]

stage 1 PN ;
55º  VanPutten  on 2:04"
stage 2 PN ;
8º  Kluivert ( free role )
24º  VanPutten  on 0:35"

At the moment VanPutten is on a split 2º GC on 0:08" behind the famous Alex Riis, who is back in 1A because his (new) team promoted.
But everything is still very close together, for example the nr 33º GC is on 1:00"
I assume that the upcoming flatcobble stage with sun, rain and storm, will cause big time differences among the GC contenders.

[kirin]

So far, not a great season for azerite team.
50º      azerite   0   0   0   0   
But the chances of getting any points were minimal. Today is the first time this season where the team will aim for victory with the recently signed Pandolfi.
Also, the team signed Kellman to help Pandolfi along with Dukurs, Cobos to dominate the mountain sprints, and a bunch of young sprinters.
The objective this season is at least getting podiums on several small tours and classics, like Roubaix or GW.

[Vos]

stage 3 PN ;
69º  VanPutten  on 2:28"
stage 4 PN ;
10º  VanPutten  on 0:10"
23º  Vonk ( free role )  on 0:32"

Excellent results of VanPutten, thanks to very good help of his teammates, especially in stage 3 Vonk did a superb helper's job.
As reward, Vonk got a free role in stage 4, because VanPutten had already 2 good helpers,
ánd because I saw that Vonk might score a few GC points despite his helper's roles in stages 1 + 3 (and not in topform in the first 3 stages).

Vonk is 17º GC after this stage 4. Maybe it is possible to score a few GC points with again a free role in stage 5.
Teamcaptain VanPutten dropped to place 8 after stage 3, but moved up now to 3º GC on 0:31" behind Blix ( Aspigarri ).
VanPutten is doing much better as I expected, although he is not so suited for stage 5.
But with a good lead of almost 1½ minute to the nr 11, it looks very good that he can finish in the final top 10 GC, what would be excellent.

[Vos]

So far, not a great season for azerite team.
50º      azerite   0   0   0   0   
But the chances of getting any points were minimal. Today is the first time this season where the team will aim for victory with the recently signed Pandolfi.
Also, the team signed Kellman to help Pandolfi along with Dukurs, Cobos to dominate the mountain sprints, and a bunch of young sprinters.
The objective this season is at least getting podiums on several small tours and classics, like Roubaix or GW.

Almost a victory in stage 3 PN ; 2º Pandolfi on 0:00" behind the higher ranked Brady.
At least your team has left the last place in 1A now, that is a kind of victorious too. 
Good luck with your season goals, Kirin.

[Vos]

Despite the 1 stripe wind, a calm pace in stage 5 PN ( 141 - 135 - 132 - 3 - 17 ),what was beneficial to VanPutten and Vonk ( free role ),
both finished good in the 2nd group on 0:32"
Final GC ; 4º VanPutten ( = excellent ), and 15º Vonk.


   selection SPORTLIFE

121 Beck ( 29 ), GC
122 Markhus ( 31 ), flatclimb
123 Vonk ( 33 ), allround helper
124 Kluivert ( 32 ), hills
125 Naglis ( 33 ), sprint

stage 1 Tirreno ;
3º  Markhus
Not a perfect race, because unexpectedly he was already isolated in s2, so he was missing out the important extra bonus in s5.
It did not matter for stage victory, because Markhus finished on 0:16" behind 1st fav. Mork who had the 2nd fav. as helper.
Too bad, because the intention was to try to surprise as almost favorite who could challenge the nrs 3, 4, 5 favorites.

Well, it was worth the attempt and 3º is a decent result.
But it had the consequence that GC contender Beck had to ride in a free role, and also he dropped unexpectedly in s2 ( with 1 EP ).
Beck finished as 37º on 0:55" what is a dissapointing result / too much time loss.
Although I'm still optimistic that Beck can ride a good GC. This Tirreno should suit him very well despite no TC and just a silver tour icon.

[Vos]

stage 2 Tirreno ;
17º  Beck  on 0:15"
stage 3 Tirreno ;
8º  Beck  on 0:23"

After these 2 very good stages, Beck is 14º GC on 1:23"
A lower ranking than I expected. Hopefully Beck can move up to top10 GC in the final 2 stages. But I have no idea if he can achieve this.

[wacco]

Stage 1: 7th Kristof
Stage 2: 7th Kristof
Stage 3: 11th Kristof (I was hoping to play with the wind. But looks like I was the only one.

Result: GC 4th at the moment. Mostly afraid of stage 5

[Vos]

stage 4 Tirreno ;
3º  Kluivert ( free role )
46º  Beck  on 0:58"

A very surprising podiumplace of Kluivert in a free role, without TC bonus and as not-favorite.
GC contender Beck did also great, thanks to good help of Vonk in the first 3 sections.
Beck moved up 5 GC places and is now 9ºGC on 1:36"

[Vos]

stage 5 Tirreno ;
22º  Naglis ( helper )
56º  Beck  on 0:58"

Unexpectedly teamcaptain Beck dropped in s4 with 3 EP, and lost contact with masterhelper Naglis.
Luckily Beck had his 2 back up helpers in s4, so he still could finish with the extra bonus.
It seems to me that in a perfect race, Beck could have finished 22 seconds sooner, but that would mean just one place better in the GC.
Now Beck (with silver tour icon) stayed on the 9º place in the final GC ; what is the first top10 GC in his career.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

My team had no suited cyclists for MSR and E3H, but in Catalunya I expect some points :

Ulf Beck finished as 9º GC in the Tirreno, but he is not suited for this little tour due to the time trial.
So his main focus will be on stage 3, although this stage is probably too hard for Beck to get a real top result.
Top 10 in stage 3 might be ( or should be ) possible, and I estimate that he can finish top 30 in stage 5.

My 2 flat sprinters are happy that my team does not go for the GC,
so they can try to get a good stage 2 result despite it is not really suited due to the hill in section 2.
Also Libardo Millan should score points in his stage, the time trial. At the moment he is ranked as nr 42 flat TT specialist of CFF.

141 Beck ( 29 ), stages 3 + 5
142 Lebrun ( 31 ), sprint
143 Millan ( 32 ), TT
144 Naglis ( 33 ), sprint
145 Markhus ( 31 ), helper stage 3

Good luck everyone !

[Kekipi]

This being my first experience in D1,  I am still trying to get a handle on the tactics. 

For Tirreno, I decided to take a chance at a GC result with Manny Collins, 33, who was the USA's top cyclist in seasons 10 and 11.

Though he's old now and lacks TT and cobbles skill, he's adequately suited for climbing, hills, and sprints.

So looking at the S16 calendar, Tirreno seemed like the best opportunity for him to see if he still has what it takes to get a GC top 20 result.

He scored in S1 (FFFFM), S2 (FFMHH), and S3 (FFFHM) but my tactical ineptitude in S4 (HHHHH) and S5 (flat sprint) led him to lose close to a minute and with that time loss, a lost place in the top 20.   

I'm debating whether to give him a go at Romandie (no cobbles or TT for that), retire him, or put him on the market.
Other results:

San Remo--14th Harold Leeghwater (a good get on the market for 150k)
Harelbeke-- 10th  Fernando Maria Prado (a rider I bought for 100k and trained up from age 19).  And he's my #2 cobble hiller.  My #1, Julian Finn, is in TC preparing for upcoming cobble/hill trifecta.   Earlier, Finn finished 10th at Omloop.

[Vos]

stage 2 Catalunya ;
8º  Naglis with mechanical breakdown in the crucial final section 5.
As expected, my both sprinters were behind in hill section 2, but helper Lebrun did a very good job and both returned to the front in s3.
Unfortunately it went wrong in the final section 5, although this result is still very good.

Especially because 2 weeks ago I bought 9 stars silver sprinter Naglis for just 3.500,-
As a "reward" for his best result ever in his career ; he will be fired. My team is full and he is of no use anymore.
But 12 times Latvian international Naglis ( 33yo ) is happy that he can retire now, with finally something on his palmares ( this 8º place ).
Of course he is also happy that once in his career ; he could ride for the famous SPORTLIFE. Because every CFF cyclist is dreaming of that.