Season 16

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Results in the mountain stages are the goals. Hopefully top results but the competition might be too fierce.

Vorre will be the teamcaptain in stage 1.
He cannot challenge favorites and he will be missing helper VanPutten, who was originally planned to ride Romandie.
But I decided to sell VanPutten ( 5º and 10º in the climbhills stages of PN and ITZ ), who has several bids and will be sold in 20 minutes.
So, probably Vorre has to do it entirely on his own and hopefully he surprises me in this windy climbhills stage.

Macannazi will be the teamcaptain in stages 2, 3 and 5. He should have good help of Nyheim and debutant Kummer.

One open place in this little tour due to the upcoming sell of VanPutten.
And that place is for climb TT specialist Smith to gain experience, and nothing more, because he is useless as helper.

111 Macannazi ( 25 ), climb
112 Vorre ( 28 ), climbhills
113 Kummer ( 25 ), climb
114 Nyheim ( 27 ), climb
115 Smith ( 29 ), experience

Good luck everyone !

[Zatarra]

After the good results in the cobble hills classics, I'm very disappointed with the results in the last races. Several tactical mistakes - or risks that were not paid out - caused a complete doomed hill classics trilogy. Caldeira had to do it on is own in the first two, because new Zatarra rider Aavik didn't know how to handle the wind (and he was not perfectly prepared; no TC certainly did not help him). In LBL Aavik had the start I planned him to have but this time Caldeira messed up himself. He was last seen crying, at the moment he passed the finish line. We will have to look for him and hope to find him before the Giro starts.

However, we will look forward. In Romandie it's up to Balenko+Stegmeier to get the results in the climbing stages. The newspapers already predicted a tough battle with the SPORTLIFE  delegation. They are with three (Macanazzi+Nummer+Nyheim, red.), so we will have to find a tactic that is just perfect and nothing less. Also, the preparation and the circumstances are far from perfect; the director already focuses on the Eschborn classic and the Giro and both Balenko and Stegmeier will go on TC for the Tour. We will see what will happen.

After that it's up to KvdG. His seventh place at the finish line in Frankfurt last season should be changed for the better this season and in the Giro he will be aiming for a top10. That will be hard as he's already having nightmares about the time trials, especially the flat one. We'll see once again.

Hopefully our further season's schedule can result in a battle for Australia's champion, but I have the feeling I've already made too many mistakes for that. At least 500 points were 'lost' in the Ardennes, I assume, and then there are several minor stage errors on top of that.

In the mean time we build a new generation of cobble Hiller's that will hopefully rule the U23 DT next season. Our hopes are high for Haber and Lucas especially. Write down their names for the next seasons if you want to join any prediction games! .

[Vos]

stage 1 Romandie ;
8º  Vorre

This little tour started with a decent good result.
Now it is up to the climbers in the very first real mountain stage of this season.
The competition / rivalry among climbers is very fierce, and most likely at a higher level than it ever was before.

This season the climbers have 12 opportunities ; 3x Romandie, 1x Giro, 2x Dauphiné, 4x Tour, 2x Vuelta.

And the upcoming stage 2 Romandie is the first one :


section 2 = Col des Planches --> 10,4 km at average of 8,7%
section 3 = Champex-Lac --> 15 km at average of 5%
section 4 = Les Giettes --> 9,9 km at average of 7,4%
section 5 = Villars-sur-Ollon --> 15km at average of 5,6%
after a short, steep descent there are a few flat kilometers to the finishline in Aigle ( see picture below ).


Aigle, a historic Swiss town on the east edge of the Rhône valley, at the foot of the Swiss Alps.
Not far from the French border and below the lake of Geneva.
Aigle is the French word for eagle ; so who will "fly" over the mountains in this stage and will be the victorious eagle in Aigle ?

[Vos]

In Romandie it's up to Balenko+Stegmeier to get the results in the climbing stages. The newspapers already predicted a tough battle with the SPORTLIFE  delegation. They are with three (Macanazzi+Nummer+Nyheim, red.)

His name is Kummer.
And if he wins of your climbers, you may call him "kummer-and-kwel", that is what he causes to your team.

Hopefully a fun battle between our climbers, but maybe a battle somewhere behind the favorites,
because there are a few ( too good ) amazing climb teams in 1A this season.
Probably even above these amazing teams = TeamEuroscalt.
My tactics this season are to follow the Euroscalt climbers as long as possible.

About the Australian championship ; this season I have set up a mini youth team aside.
You have also a youth team aside, so the chance is more fair now, and maybe it is possible for your team to battle for it.

However, I did not look into this yet, way too soon to tell, and perhaps $Tourmalet will be a rival too if he reorganises his team.
Aurora_Australis will also score many points this season, especially in both WC races ( and he has 2 good climbers ).
But I don't expect he will be rival ; he has a youth team aside too, and according to me no intention to reorganise his team,
and fully go for the Australian championship, what would be an option if he really wanted to. By far the most points are still in the game.

Good luck in the mountains, Zatarra !

[Zatarra]

Hahahah, nice one, Vos! Kummer-and-kwel it will be, indeed. As a Dutchmen you will know that the "Nummer"-typo is die to auto-correct. I'm sorry!

Yes, competition is fierce. Hopefully we will manage to ride a good result.

Concerning the Australian championship; I know most points are still in the game, but I'm very unhappy with tours so far. My golden tour riders are simple not good enough... or my tactics are not good enough. That's sad. Hopefully I can improve that this season. I have to think a way to do so.

Good luck to you too!

[Vos]

Thanks 
By the way ; I have no English auto-correct, although I had been planning to instal this for many years, but I guess I'm ánd was too lazy.
Well, as long as everyone can understand my English with sometimes mistakes in it, it is fine by me.
"Nummer" = Dutch ánd German for "Number", and my German cyclist is not a number, he has a name. So I had to react, and no sorry needed.
Fun fact ; his german name Kummer in English = grief, sorrow, distress, pain, misery. 
Hopefully he will bring that to others, and he does not have it himself. Anyhow, I like his German name a lot, perfect for a climber ! 

[Zatarra]

His fellow German NT-rider Stegmeier says he knows how to let Kummer struggle, so that would be nice to see happening once or twice... maybe even thrice this little tour .

[Vos]

Funny that you have a German climber too ! 
Just like Stegmaier, also Kummer will go on TC for the TdF.

But it will be very difficult for one of our climbers to be the best German climber in the Tour de France.
Petros Seeler ( TeamEuroscalt ) is German too, and the nr 2 pure climber of the game, versus Stegmaier ( nr 9 ) and Kummer ( nr 21 ).
And TeamEuroscalt has also the nrs 1, 4, 7, 22, 23 and 37 in the top50 of pure climbers.

To comfort us both a bit, all 3 German climbers were bought at almost the same day :
2021-03-30  Stegmaier = 6 750 750
2021-04-01  Kummer = 4 150 000
2021-04-01  Seeler = 57 876 987
What makes our climbers combined, even less than 20% "worth" compared to Seeler.
All pressure in the German climb battle is on Agtxla.



 

[Zatarra]

Nice one verview! Indeed. We will we battling with our climbers for the 'second best climber of Germany'-award. Looks like beating agtxla once this season should be the climbing goal for both of us this season .

[Vos]

stage 2 Romandie ;
2º  Macannazi 
21º  Nyheim ( helper )

A perfect race of Rekutxuteam who had 2 favorites.
First favorite Miro claimed another victory, after his 4 stage wins of previous season where he also won the NT climb race (and 6 victories in s14).
So, it was an excellent race + great result of not-favorite Macannazi, finishing solo as 2º on 0:22" behind Miro.

[Vos]

stage 3 Romandie ;
4º  Macannazi
19º  Vorre ( free role )
24º  Nyheim ( helper )
27º  Kummer ( helper )

Superb domination of TeamEuroscalt in this mountain stage !
And again a very good result of Macannazi because a pure mountain stage is not his speciality.
Remarkable and surprising ; Vorre did very well in a free role. Perhaps he has GC chances despite his 3x free roles in stages 2, 3 and 5.
Macannazi is even 2º GC at the moment, but he is very bad in hills-sprint stage 4, he will finish minutes behind the stage winner.

This is how mountain stage 3 went ; ( 49 - 54 - 6 - 5 - 1 ).

s1 = attack of PDM_cycling_team.
The first shift is made, 49 climbers in the front peleton, including 4x SPORTLIFE.

s2 =  a sneaky attack of TeamEuroscalt in the downhill section caused that just 5 cyclists could return.

s3 = another attack of TeamEuroscalt !
A break away group of 6, incl. 4x TeamEuroscalt. Only Fertovs ( ChampsElysees ) and Heijblok ( Mlb ) could follow.
Behind them 2 small chasing groups on 0:14" and 0:22", and unexpectedly Macannazi was isolated in the first chasing group.

s4 = very high pace of all 4x TeamEuroscalt caused that the only 2 other cyclists dropped out of the front group.
In the first chasing group a magnificient attack of Caruso ( Innioraths ) thanks to an excellent helpers job of teammate Nolte.
With a formidabel pace, Caruso could catch the front group of 4x TeamEuroscalt.
The 1st chasing group ( 8 ) on 0:17" incl. Macannazi, ánd helper Nyheim who made a good jump from the 2nd to the 1st chasing group.
The 2nd chasing group ( 13 ) already on 0:35"

s5 = the expected solo attack of one of the TeamEuroscalt climbers ; Palumbo secured the victory.
Stage 1 winner Miro ( Rekutxuteam ) attacked out of the chasing group, passed the 3x TeamEuroscalt climbers,
and came into the wheel of the brave Caruso ( Innioraths ).
On 0:10" of stage winner Palumbo, both sprinted for the 2º place. Miro was too tired of the effort to return, so Caruso won this sprint.

Also Macannazi attacked out of the first chasing group, but could not hold on to the wheel of Miro, so he finished solo as 4º on 0:20"
Menendez ( Luka_Warriors, 5º on 0:31" ) and Fertovs ( ChampsElysees, 6º on 0:41" ) finished solo too.

On 1:12" the first chasing group ( of 9 climbers ) finished, and they sprinted for the 7º place ;
7º Lange ( TeamEuroscalt, most likely in a free role ) won that sprint before 8º Lepin ( LOSRAYOSDELARRY ).
The best helper of TeamEuroscalt, Lebraud, finished even as 9º.
Tuum ( Quickstepbronx ) completed the top10 in this mountain stage.

Not only TeamEuroscalt dominated in this race,
also the Italian climbers did ; 3 out of the top 4 are Italian.
Only Miro ( Rekutxuteam )  is from Spain, and he is the new GC leader before 3 Italians ; 2.Macannazi, 3.Palumbo and 4.DiLuca ( MarquinaTeam ).

[Vos]

stage 4 Romandie ;
73º  Vorre  on 1:29"
190º  Macannazi ( free role ) on 3:40"

This stage was all about damage control. And good to see that both can score GC points.
Tour de Romandie, GC after 4 stages :

1    Samuele DiLuca   32   MarquinaTeam   0: 00"   
2    Armen Gritsal   29   JGMTeam   1: 04"   
3    Xavér Kövér   25   HTCHungria   1: 13"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Lambert Duxas   31   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 13"   
5    Adam Zipp   27   FaltososDeChigre   1: 19"   
6    Martijn Heijblok   26   Mlb   1: 23"   
7    Carles Verdugo   25   FlyEaglesFly   1: 41"   
8    Ricky Vorre   28   SPORTLIFE   1: 46"   
9    Emilio Jesus Costa   26   KunTeam   2: 16"   
10    Julio Manuel Miro   30   Rekutxuteam   2: 21"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Yvo VanStraalen   27   Combuijs   2: 29"   
12    Paul-Gerhard Cramer   29   JGMTeam   2: 49"   
13    Denis Macannazi   25   SPORTLIFE   2: 54"   
14    Romolo Palumbo   26   TeamEuroscalt   3: 00"   
15    Diogo Fraga   25   ProCyclingTeam10   3: 01"   
16    Sammy Caan   28   BlackHole   3: 05"   
17    Zsombor Endrõdi   27   azerite   3: 11"   
18    Murat Aeschliman   29   FrançaiseDesJeux   3: 11"   
19    Imanol Pages   30   team_piroshki   4: 13"   
20    Brent Holmquist   29   TeamSerfin   4: 22"   

[Vos]

stage 5 Romandie ;
5º  Macannazi
The helpers tactics were not good at all, what caused that the teamcaptain had to do it on his own the whole race.
And despite this, he did pretty well by finishing solo as 5º, although far behind the top 4.
But this result was good enough to score unexpected GC points ; Macannazi even finished 10º GC.

Vorre dissapointed a little bit in this final stage ( 56º on 2:21" in a free role ), but also he scored extra points ; 13º GC.

[Vos]

Eschborn-Frankfurt ;
3º  Beck

   selection SPORTLIFE

Roman seems to me not a top GC contender in this specific Giro, so possibly I will go for stage results, but I'm still in doubt.

61 Roman ( 32 ), tour
62 Rubiera ( 24 ), hills
63 Beck ( 29 ), climbsprint
64 Macannazi ( 25 ), climb
65 Kluivert ( 32 ), hills

stage 1 Giro ;
15º  Beck
24º  Roman ( free role ) on 0:00" 

[Vos]

stage 2 Giro ;
6º Macannazi
28º  Roman ( free role ) on 1:36"

The storm caused a battlefield in the flat sections.
Although I tried to anticipate on the storm, also the SPORTLIFE cyclists were among the many "storm-victims".
Because my whole team could not follow the s1 front peleton of 41.

The s2 back up plan ( Macannazi 1, and helper Beck 4 ) did not work, although they came 6 sec. closer to the s2 front group of just 21.
Maybe this back up plan was good anyway, because free role GC rider Roman ( despite 1EP ) dropped even further in s2, already on 0:43"

In the last 3 sections my cyclists had to do it on his own, as expected ( altough in s3 the full power launch of Beck helped ).
The final results are good, thanks to many rivals who had difficulties in this stage too, or even more difficulties.