Season 17

[Davilo07]

A couple of days ago they were talking in discord about the outstanding level of d1 this year. So nothing to be ashamed for the only team that has been all the seasons racing in d1.

Ps: domani we go to Italy to start the Copa mapei season, do you mind if I give some updates here too? The idea is writing in the English spoken forum classifications to make it mor accessible for everybody and maybe a couple of opinions, or would you prefer me to open a different post for this?

[Vos]

A couple of days ago they were talking in discord about the outstanding level of d1 this year. So nothing to be ashamed for the only team that has been all the seasons racing in d1.

Ps: domani we go to Italy to start the Copa mapei season, do you mind if I give some updates here too? The idea is writing in the English spoken forum classifications to make it mor accessible for everybody and maybe a couple of opinions, or would you prefer me to open a different post for this?

Indeed, 1A is getting stronger with some great promoted teams. I estimate it will be even more fierce in next season 18.
This is good news to all the current 1A teams ; the better the rivals are, the better the victory tastes ! 
And I really like it that there is always a relegation battle in 1A, so every team can compete for something in 1A ( 40% relegates ).

ps ; this topic is for everything that has to do with season 17, this includes for sure the Mapei Cup.
I think everyone likes the English posts about the Mapei Cup in this topic, what makes this topic more active and more fun to read. 
I like it a lot, and very often I read it in the Spanish topic.
Unfortunately I never had a Mapei Cup contender,
but for sure it is one of my future goals in this game to win that amazing, prestigious Mapei jersey.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Probably it will be a strategic / tactical mess, with 4 tour cyclists in this little tour. But fun to test all my tour cyclists in Paris Nice.

It is difficult to estimate who is the best and should be the teamcaptain.
It seems to me that Roman and Baiao are the most suited, but I have no idea which one is the best.
Valotti is the only one who is in topform in all 5 stages, maybe that makes the difference.
Vorre is the best in hillsclimb stage 5, what is most likely the only chance that my tour cyclists have to score stage points.
But Vorre is not suited due to the too much flat, sprint and TT.

I hope and assume that at least one of the four tour cyclists will be good enough to score GC points.
And I expect a few stage points of Nyheim ( in a free role ) in climb stage 3.

371 Roman ( 33 ), tour --> previous s16 = 10º Giro, 5º Dau, 5º Sui, 10º Vuelta ( best result = 2º Itzulia s14, with QuintoYtapa )
372 Baiao ( 31 ), tour --> new buy of 10 M  ( best result = 4º Itzulia s11, with ProCyclingTeam10 )
373 Valotti ( 30 ), tour --> new buy of 2,1 M  ( no palmares, because he never rode in 1A )
374 Vorre ( 29 ), silver tour --> best result = 1º Itzulia s15
375 Nyheim ( 28 ), climb  --> best result = 2º stage 3 Vuelta s15

Good luck everyone ! 

[Davilo07]

a bit late, i know, but it has been a very long day today. first race of the Copa Mapei s17 and first victory in the race for Capilla and BlackHole. Its been a very entertaining race with Laguardia on the attack from the very beginning. but after the 4th section it was Pipinata the only one with 2 riders on the group. Last years winner, Jackson from Zatarra finished second after been left behind on s2. Great performance. we got some words from his manager:

almost a consecutive victory for Jackson, but he was very happy with this second place. His goals for this season are different than last season's, so finished on the podium in Sienna is actually very surprising.

Congratulations to Capilla and to Blackhole. His tactics appeared to be the best this morning. Quite a lot of favourites were already down after the first section. I mentioned it last year as well; the Strade is not so suited for risky tactics, because it's hard to close gaps.

Unfortunately Jackson+Haringa also lost contact with the first group after the second section, but when I saw that the riders of Blackhole were the only one upfront that still were together after section 4 I knew Jackson had a chance to finish on the podium after all and so he did. Very happy with that and now we're looking forward to DRVV mostly ;-).

Race analisis by Bronx, interview to Ophiuko and the winner and "best moments" from BlackHole teams car and  in the spanish chat. Next stop, San Remo

[Vos]

stage 3 PN ;
17º  Nyheim ( helper )
Finally some points, although I decided to sacrifice Nyheim as helper for teamcaptain Roman, so the other 3 tour cyclists got a free role.

Roman ( teamcaptain ) started with a mechanical breakdown, and was isolated in s2 and s3.
But masterhelper Nyheim returned to Roman in s4, and he did a good helpers job, what caused a very good 36º stage result of Roman.
GC after 3 stages = 11º on 1:38"

Baiao ( free role ) ; an unexplicable bad start in this mountain stage, and also his flatcobble stage 2 result was very dissapointing.
It seems that I made the right teamcaptain choice with Roman.
GC = 49º on 4:51" ( the nr 20º is on 2:44" )

Vorre ( free role ) ; he had no luck in this mountain stage 3 due to a mechanical breakdown in s2.
GC = 34º on 4:09"

Valotti ( free role ) ; the only one who was in topform in the first 3 stages ; in stage 4 his teammates will also be in topform.
GC = 38º on 4:26"

Maybe my free role tour cyclists are already too far behind the top 20 GC.
The time trial will make it clear if they ( or one of them ) have a chance to score a few GC points.
Teamcaptain Roman is doing very well, considering the circumstances. At the moment it seems that he should get a decent GC result.

[Vos]

stage 4 PN ;
30º  Valotti
8 unexpected points extra, but Valotti is 9 places and 1:05" behind the top 20 GC, what seems to me out of reach.

Baiao his bad luck continued in this time trial, because he finished with a mechanical breakdown.
Also he can forget about scoring a few GC points ; at the moment 15 places and 1:43" behind the top 20 GC.

As expected Vorre did not do well in this stage 4, he dropped in the GC and now 20 places and 2:17" behind the top 20 GC, way too much.

Roman moved up one place and is now 10º GC on 1:45" behind the Australian GC leader Ronnald ( LaGuardia ).
Hopefully Roman can hold on to this top 10 place after the final hillsclimb stage.
That will be difficult despite he has good helpers now, because they have no chance anymore to score a few extra GC points.

[Vos]

stage 5 PN ;
12º  Vorre ( free role )
13º  Baiao ( free role )
16º  Roman ( teamcaptain )
A very good final stage with a good amount of points.
Also positive is that Roman could hold on to the 10º GC place.
And my team is now out of the relegation zone, that is nice too.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

A last minute selection. I guess my team season schedule is still in progress, and a bit lazy due to nothing at stake so far this season.
Only Beck was planned to ride the Tirreno to get in form. No expectations of him anyway because the time trial kills his GC chances.

Still 4 more to be selected.
Millan was not sold for 1M an hour ago, so that is already one easy choice and he should be good enough to score some TT points.

Also Baiao and Roman are selected despite this Tirreno is not really suited for them too.
Hopefully this is not a big strategic mistake of too many races for one or both, further in the season.
This time Baiao gets the number 1 position. I estimate that he is a tiny little bit better than Roman, despite Roman is better in sprint.
Baiao gets the mission to finish in the top 20 GC.

And most likely with a free role in flathills stage 2, because Rubiera is selected as last one.
In a teamcaptain role Rubiera should score some points in stage 2, despite he does not like this flathills stage.
He "already" had a season schedule, but now he is riding the Tirreno instead of another little tour with a suited pure hills stage in it.

271 Baiao ( 31 ), "tour"
272 Roman ( 33 ), "tour"
273 Beck ( 30 ), "tour"
274 Rubiera ( 25 ), hills
275 Millan ( 33 ), TT

Good luck everyone ! 

[Aurora Australis]

My 24-year-olds & Workman are racing at almost full health in Tirreno's TT stage.

And Vos, my team's the only Aussie team which is supposed to be skirting the red zone at this point in the season.

[Vos]

Well, your team is still 3 places ahead, and probably your TT specialists will score more Tirreno points than my team.
At least I passed one other Australian team after Paris Nice, so SPORTLIFE is not the last Australian team in 1A anymore. 

[Vos]

probably your TT specialists will score more Tirreno points than my team.

It is possible that I'm wrong. Because more points were scored in stage 1 as expected.
Perhaps it might be very close in total Tirreno points of both our teams.

stage1 Tirreno ;
16º  Roman ( free role ) on 0:50"
25º  Beck ( free role ) on 1:03"
Roman surprised me a lot in this stormy flatclimb race, he was even in the s4 front group of just 19.
Also Beck did well ; he had a good start too, and was still in the s3 front group of just 28.
But he dropped out of the front in s4, probably due to his not-topform and free role.

Again Baiao dissapointed ; despite his teamcaptain role, he could not follow the s1 front peleton of 38.
After a bad race and after being in the 3rd group of s4 on already 0:38", he finished as 34º on 1:17"
I guess Baiao is such a cyclist that has weird start problems, and Roman is a cyclist that everytime is doing better as expected.

[Aurora Australis]

probably your TT specialists will score more Tirreno points than my team.

It is possible that I'm wrong. Because more points were scored in stage 1 as expected.
Perhaps it might be very close in total Tirreno points of both our teams.

Hope so, because I'm expecting good results in stage 4.

[kirin]

I keep forgetting to set tactics...

[Vos]

stage 2 Tirreno ;
14º  Rubiera ( teamcaptain )
24º  Baiao ( free role ) on 0:31"
An unexpected excellent result of Baiao in a very good time.
What makes the choice easier to go for him as GC contender. Also because Roman and Beck had a bad stage, and both finished on 2:03"
At the moment Baiao is 8º GC on 0:48"

stage 3 Tirreno ;
A good sprint stage of my team ; Baiao (teamcaptain), Roman (free role) and Beck (good helper) finished all on 1:16"
Baiao even moved up 2 places and now 6º GC on 1:24"
Also Roman moved up 2 places ( now 16º on 2:29" ), and Beck even moved up 8 places ( now 17º on 2:41" ).
But Beck sucks in the time trial, so he has no GC ambition and again he will be the helper in stage 5.
For now it is looking good for Baiao, but still too soon to tell, probably the time trial will shake up the GC a lot.

[Vos]

stage 4 Tirreno ;
10º  Millan

stage 5 Tirreno ;
Baiao ( teamcaptain ), Beck ( helper ) and Roman ( free role ) all finished on 1:18"
Not bad, but also not really good, because I hoped that Baiao could finish one group sooner.

What would be a difference of 29 seconds ; what would make a difference in the GC of four places.
Now Baiao finished as 8º GC, just 9 seconds behind the nr 4º.
Roman ( all stages in a free role ) did well by finishing as 14º GC.

SPORTLIFE entered the top20 of 1A.
But again no cyclists for the upcoming classic races, so perhaps my team will be again in the relegation zone after MSR + E3H.