Season 16

[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.

I guess Naglis has to stay for 3 more Catalunya stages, because it is impossible to fire him in the middle of a tour.
Probably I should have known this due to the big chance such a situation happened to me before. But apparently I forgot this.
Now I have to be creative to make space in my team, while Naglis and his mechanic are not happy with eachother the next 3 stages. 

[Vos]

stage 3 Catalunya ;
7º  Beck
stage 4 Catalunya ;
21º   Millan

As expected ; the time trial killed the GC chances of Beck, he finished 4½ minutes behind the TT winner Bezotosnyi ( 32, Mlb ).
Beck dropped many places and at the moment 34º GC. Hopefully he is good enough to score a few extra points with a stage 5 result.

[Vos]

stage 5 Catalunya ;
32º   Beck
No points in this stage, but I'm satisfied with the stage results in this little tour ( 3x top10, including 1 podiumplace ).

In the next 3 point-rich classic races my team will be just a spectator ( and gain some experience ).
After that ; Itzulia ! There SPORTLIFE should be much stronger as in this Catalunya, and the GC will be a goal also.

[wacco]

I made the mistake of picking the wrong leader for catalunya. My donestique ended before him in the first two stages and in the mountain sprint stage my leader was sleeping. The last stage we switched and a nice third spot was the result.

The next staged race will be the last of my GC riders. They will be sold or fired.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Ricky Vorre won Itzulia in previous season. 
But that was a little tour without a time trial. Now Itzulia starts with a TT stage, and Vorre is bad at that and he will lose much time.
Despite this, I hope he still can ride a good GC ánd 3 good climbhills stages.

VanPutten is my other GC contender. This season he finished 4º GC in Paris Nice.
He likes the time trial, but his teammate Vorre is much better in the 3 climbhills stages.
So it might be that VanPutten will not be the teamcaptain, but I have to look into this after the TT stage 1 results.

Vonk will be the helper because his season schedule changed due to a new buy who is going to ride the Giro instead of Vonk.
So now he can ride Itzulia. This season he already proved to be a good helper in Paris Nice, where he finished 15º GC himself.

Millan is selected for some extra points in the time trial. He finished as 21º in the time trial of Catalunya, hopefully he does better now.

The last spot is for an extra helper in the climbhills stages, who was bought today for 3k. Although I expect he can help just a few sections.
But Cabrera is born in Basque Country, so he is of good use to my team because of his road- and mountain knowledge.
Functioning as "guide" for SPORTLIFE in his own native region will probably be the highlight in his career, because he has no palmares.
But this also a great way to end his career in style, and most likely this causes that the enthusiastic Basque spectators will cheer for my team now.

171 Vorre ( 28 ), silver tour
172 VanPutten ( 33 ), golden tour
173 Vonk ( 33 ), golden tour / helper
174 Millan ( 32 ), TT
175 Cabrera ( 34 ), extra helper

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

stage 1 Itzulia ;
13º  Millan
- - - - - - - - - -
42º  VanPutten  on 2:04"
78º  Vonk  on 2:51"
137º  Vorre  on 3:41"

With 3 suited GC contenders this time trial made clear that I had to chose for VanPutten as teamcaptain.
But I made the wrong strategic decision to go for Vorre in stage 2, what turned out to be a stage with big tactical failures ;

stage 2 Itzulia ;
18º  VanPutten ( free role ) on 0:19"
29º  Vorre  on 0:32" 
- - - - - - - - - -
46º  Vonk ("helper")  on 0:45"

Vorre started too slow and he was already isolated in s1,
because helpers Vonk and Cabrera ( incl. free role VanPutten ) were in the s1 front peleton of 76.
Vorre dropped even from the 2nd- to the 3rd group in s2, while his 3 teammates kept their position in the front group of now just 20.
Also in s3 Vorre was isolated.
In s4 he finally got help of Cabrera, but both were in the 5th group on already 0:48"
Vorre could not challenge favorites, but he should have been really good in this stage 2.
He was the only CFF cyclist who finished with the dissapointment icon.

Vonk should have been the best helper, but in retrospective it was also a tactical mistake to give him a helpers role.
Because he never helped, for example he was still one group before teamcaptain Vorre in s4.
So Vonk lost much unnecessary time due to his helpers role ánd due to his zero energy in the final 2 sections.

VanPutten should have had the teamcaptain role in this stage 2.
Still, he had a good race despite his free role, but as teamcaptain he would have finished 6 or 19 seconds faster.
And if 19 sec. faster, he would have been on a split 1º place in the GC, together with his fellow country man Zuiverloon ( JGMTeam ).
Now the GC looks like this ;

1    Rick Zuiverloon   31   JGMTeam   0: 00"   
2    Gisle Sundet   26   azerite   0: 13"   
3    Oscar Marcos   30   IKIBASQUE   0: 14"
4    Edward VanPutten   33   SPORTLIFE   0: 19"   
5    Samuel Lotz   28   Innioraths   0: 22"   
6    Adam Zipp   27   FaltososDeChigre   0: 30"   
7    Eric Morken   26   Zatarra   0: 33"   
8    Kevin Bush   31   CC_Porco_Jones   0: 33"   
9    Alvaro Vaca   34   Kelme4ever   0: 35"   
10    Pat Martin   25   HTCHungria   0: 35"
- - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - -
27    Leon Vonk   33   SPORTLIFE   1: 32"
58    Ricky Vorre   28   SPORTLIFE   2: 09" 

Too bad for title defender Vorre, but VanPutten will be the teamcaptain in the final 3 stages.
Hopefully this tactical stage 2 mistake of 6 or 19 seconds has no big consequences for the final GC.

As planned, Vonk already sacrificied his own chances, so he will be the helper of new teamcaptain VanPutten.
Vorre gets a free role, especially because he should be very good in stage 4,
ánd he should be good enough to still score some extra GC points despite he is far behind at the moment.
Hopefully this is the right tactical decision now, because Vorre is more suited for the final 3 stages than VanPutten.
Now the difference between them is already 1:50", and I estimate that Vorre is not thát much better. But maybe my estimation is wrong.

[Vos]

stage 3 Itzulia ;
61º  VanPutten  on 1:53"
65º  Vorre ( free role )  on 1:53"
78º  Vonk ( helper )  on 2:12"
A good race, and Vonk did a good job in the first 3 sections. Remarkable that Vonk finished good himself despite zero energy in s4 and s5.

All 3 SPORTLIFE cyclists moved up in the GC after this cobblehills stage 3 :

1    Oscar Marcos   30   IKIBASQUE   0: 00"
2    Edward VanPutten   33   SPORTLIFE   0: 04"   
3    Adam Zipp   27   FaltososDeChigre   0: 35"   
4    Alexey Ryazanov   27   Spitz   0: 49"   
5    Lourenco Madaleno   30   Kelme4ever   0: 52"   
6    Kevin Bush   31   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 00"   
7    Hidde Daelman   27   Combuijs   1: 07"   
8    Idar Borgen   25   BorinotTeam   1: 16"   
9    John Aakre   26   Mlb   1: 16"   
10    Rayco Martos   28   Rekutxuteam   1: 16"   
- - - - - - - - - -
16    Leon Vonk   33   SPORTLIFE   1: 37"   
18    Ricky Vorre   28   SPORTLIFE   1: 54"
- - - - - - - - - -

[Vos]

stage 4 Itzulia ;
5º  VanPutten  on 0:18"
7º  Vorre ( free role )  on 0:18"
- - - - -
42º  Vonk ( helper )  on 1:32"

Excellent results, in a maybe not perfect race ;
my team dropped in s2, VanPutten was isolated in the 2nd group of s3, and Vorre dissapointed in s3 by being in the 3rd group.
But in s4 they all were in the same group, although already 0:39" behind 2 escaped cyclists. In total 18 cyclists were in front of my team.
VanPutten got the important extra bonus of helper Vonk in s4, and this caused a surprising, magnificient s5 final climb of my teamcaptain.
Also Vorre ( in a free role ) had an excellent final climb, but that was more expected.
VanPutten takes the lead after this excellent stage 4 result. 

GC Itzulia after 4 stages :

1    Edward VanPutten   33   SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   
2    Oscar Marcos   30   IKIBASQUE   0: 32"   
3    Lourenco Madaleno   30   Kelme4ever   0: 57"   
4    Adam Zipp   27   FaltososDeChigre   1: 08"   
5    Kevin Bush   31   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 24"   
6    Alexey Ryazanov   27   Spitz   1: 41"   
7    Ricky Vorre   28   SPORTLIFE   1: 50"   
8    Diogo Fraga   25   ProCyclingTeam10   1: 52"   
9    Hidde Daelman   27   Combuijs   2: 17"   
10    Samuel Lotz   28   Innioraths   2: 21"   
- - - - - - - - - -
16    Leon Vonk   33   SPORTLIFE   2: 47"   
- - - - - - - - - -

[Vos]

stage 5 Itzulia ;
18º  VanPutten  on 0:10"
22º  Vorre ( free role ) on  0:16"
- - - - -
55º  Vonk ( helper ) on 0:37" --> with 5x hand-icon.

Excellent final stage of my team ; all 3 were in the s3 front peleton of 55.
And in the end an amazing GC victory of VanPutten ! 

Final GC Itzulia :
1Edward VanPutten   33   SPORTLIFE   0: 00"   
2    Lourenco Madaleno   30   Kelme4ever   0: 52"   
3    Adam Zipp   27   FaltososDeChigre   1: 08"   
4    Kevin Bush   31   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 18"   
5    Oscar Marcos   30   IKIBASQUE   1: 26"   
6    Diogo Fraga   25   ProCyclingTeam10   1: 42"   
7    Alexey Ryazanov   27   Spitz   1: 46"   
8    Ricky Vorre   28   SPORTLIFE   1: 55"   
9    Samuel Lotz   28   Innioraths   2: 10"   
10    Semion Filatkin   27   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   2: 16"   
- - - - - - - - -
16    Leon Vonk   33   SPORTLIFE   3: 14"
- - - - - - - - -

[Kekipi]

Last season, in Div 2, I had my captain ride 03045.  He got help in the first three sections and finished 6th.

This time, I'm with the big fish in the big pond (i.e. Div 1).  I have a different captain but he has a similar GV, and with 3 flags wind pummeling the course, I knew 03045 would probably lead to a place far outside the top 30 (or akin to the image below).

So more aggressive tactics were obviously in order and it netted my captain, Hank Lane, a 26th placement, which was gratifying, especially because 23 of top 25 were golden flat cobblers (there are currently 78 of them in the game).  And the rider who finished 25th, Jakob Heijmans, is the #1 flat cobbler but he likely rode too conservatively in the first three sections and was subsequently gapped.  Btw, Lane (riding in black below) was a golden flat cobbler at the start of the season but he dropped to silver due to his age, 33, and less than diligent attention to his training by me.   

Now looming are the Ardennes trio.  With only 25 golden flat hillers in the game (but with none of them on my team), there may be some opportunities for points if I can hit the mark with my tactical stab.  We shall see.   

[Vos]

Amstel Gold Race ;
15º  Kluivert  on 0:33"

A lot of energy ( 2 captain + 3 helper ) was wasted in s1 of this stormy AGR, because it was not even enough to follow the front group of 38.
Probably with less EP they would have been also in the 2nd group ( of 102 cyclists ) on 0:28"
Rubiera did a good helpers job in s2 ( 0:30" behind ) and s3 ( 0:25" behind ), but dropped in s4 due to a tactical mistake of his manager.
What meant that Kluivert was isolated in the s4 group ( of the nrs 15-23 on 0:26" ), and therefore in s5 a dissapointing final result.
I guess he was not the only one who did not had a good race, because it seems that this stormy AGR had difficulties for many rivals too.

Flèche Wallonne ;
2º  Kluivert  , solo on 0:03" behind Valter, who also won the Amstel Gold Race.

An excellent result of not-favorite Kluivert ! 
Again it was a stormy race, and again a too slow start of the fully prepared helper Rubiera (=nr11 golden ranking, and Kluivert =nr15).

But this time Kluivert had (back-up)help in s1 of the recent Itzulia winner VanPutten, who kept Kluivert in the s1 front group of 70.
Of course VanPutten (bronze on hills) was not good enough to help in s2 too, so Kluivert had to do it on his own the whole race.

Despite this, he raced a superb Flèche Wallonne by staying in the front group of s2 ( 43 ), s3 ( 16 ), and even in s4 ( 5 ),
a 5-rider break away group that included 3 cyclists of Quickstepbronx ( ! ! ! ) and 1 cyclist of Aspigarri, who clearly had not much energy left.

Kluivert was no match to Valter who attacked and claimed a solo victory,
and the 3 others of the break away group were passed by the chasing groups.
The chasing group with favorites came a few seconds closer in s5, but not enough to prevent that Kluivert finished solo as 2º.

The second time in CFF3 history that SPORTLIFE achieved a podiumplace in a hills classic race.
Back in season 2 ( the first 1A season ), there was an also surprising 2º place in LBL.

[Kekipi]

Amstel Gold Race ;
15º  Kluivert  on 0:33"

A lot of energy ( 2 captain + 3 helper ) was wasted in s1 of this stormy AGR, because it was not even enough to follow the front group of 38.

Of the 38, 14 finished in the top 30 and 6 finished in the top 10.   That also meant that 24 of that group finished out of the points.   My captain was like yours (i.e. 2 eps in S1) but he was not strong enough to finish in the top 30 (he finished 36th on :55).  :-( 

He did do better in FW (33rd on :58) but I'm second-guessing my decision to have him use 0 eps in S1, which put him in chase mode the rest of the way.

We're hoping for more improvement (and points!) in LBL. 

[Vos]

Kluivert started with a very risky 1 EP in the stormy FW. And very risky, because in the stormy AGR his 2 EP start was not good enough.
And the also fully prepared helper Rubiera, even the nr11 in the golden ranking, had bad starts in AGR ( 3 EP ) ánd FW ( 2 EP ).

[Kekipi]

We're hoping for more improvement (and points!) in LBL.

Mission accomplished.  Even more gratifying was receiving a for the tactics employed.

15 Gábor Gazsó on :37.   

[Vos]

Liège–Bastogne–Liège ;
12º  Kluivert  on 0:37"

Because Kluivert could not challenge favorites, the tactical masterplan to get a top result was to take on purpose a sleep icon in s1.
That part of the plan worked perfectly ; Kluivert and helper Rubiera started in the 2nd group in this windless LBL.
However, also part of the plan was that they returned in flat s2, but they did not. ( just 7 cyclists could return to the s2 front group of 55 )
In fact, the race was over after this s2 failure, because in s1 just 0:16" behind, and in s2 already 0:42" ( ! ) behind.

In the rest of the race Kluivert could limit the big damage that was already done in s2, because he had help in every section.
Even in s4 despite Rubiera dropped suddenly with full power (before the race I was more worried that he would go too fast instead of too slow).
But luckily Kluivert met back-up helper Vorre in s4, who had an unintentional so called "forward pawn" helpers tactic.
Remarkable, because Vorre has just a bronze hills icon and was riding in a helpers role.
It shows that a good start and profiting of the faster slipstream is important, ánd the active weather icon of Vorre was also of influence.

Anyway, at least Kluivert had the extra helpers bonus in all sections, including the important final s5,
so he still could finish 12º despite being in s2 already 0:42" behind the front group of 55.
Well, no guts no glory, it was worth the attempt, unfortunately no glory this time.