Season 17

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Almost no mountains in this Volta a Catalunya makes it not very suited to Roman, despite this, he will try to score GC points.
In Paris Nice he finished as 10º, and in the Tirreno as surprising 14º due to all stages in a free role. Hopefully he can surprise again.

Beck is a climb-hills-sprinter, so he would like this little tour when there would not be a time trial in it.
His TT skill is just 15, and that should kill his GC chances. For example in the time trial of he Tirreno he finished as 198º on 3:54"

Stubbe makes his debut for my team. Yesterday I bought him for 9,2 M and he is the current 2nd best hillsclimber of CFF.
I assume he will be a favorite in stage 2, but he is not in topform yet, so there is also the possibility that Roman will be the teamcaptain.

Rubiera his season schedule was changed a lot yesterday, including his TC period, instead of the hills classics, it is Vuelta + WC.
Now he has the opportunity to ride the to him very suited hills stage 5.
It could be that he has to ride it in a free role, that will depend on if Roman still has a chance to ride a good GC.

This season TT specialist Millan finished as 14º TT- TDU and as 10º TT- Tirreno. Hopefully again such a good result.

241 Roman ( 33 ), "tour"
242 Beck ( 30 ), climb-hills-sprint
243 Stubbe ( 31 ), hillsclimb
244 Rubiera ( 25 ), hills
245 Millan ( 33 ), TT

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

stage 2 Catalunya ;
4º  Stubbe
Nice, also because this is the best season stage result of my team, and only the 2nd* top10 stage result, by far the lowest of all seasons.
( *Millan finished as 10º in stage 4 Tirreno )

[Vos]

stage 4 Catalunya ;
17º  Millan
I hoped he would do a little bit better, but probably my hope was not justified with 34ºC and storm.

Roman is still high ranked in the GC despite a free role in climbhills stage 2.
At the moment he is 11º GC, and just 15 seconds behind the nr 5º GC.
Although, most likely he should look what is behind him because I assume that he is not so good in a pure hills race compared to many rivals.
To my surprise, hills specialist Rubiera cannot challenge favorites in stage 5, so, maybe Roman will be the teamcaptain.

[Vos]

stage 5 Catalunya ;
4º  Rubiera
A pretty good result ( and his best result ever ) , thanks to Stubbe who did an excellent helpers job in the first 3 sections.

GC contender Roman got a free role and finished as 116º on 1:30"
And this was good enough to hold on to his 11º GC place ( with 2x a free role in this little tour ).

SPORTLIFE moved up to the 23º place in 1A.
But so far this season no cyclists for the point-rich one day races, including the upcoming 3 cobblehills races.
So, perhaps again a visit to the relegation zone.
But temporary, because the expectations are high for my Itzulia team, probably my strongest little tour selection so far this season.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Normally a time trial would kill the GC chances of Vorre, but I assume that he will lose much less time in this MDFFF time trial.
Still, it is difficult to estimate how he will do in the GC with his silver tour icon.
Golden tour cyclist Valotti likes the time trial, but Vorre is much better in stages 1 + 3 + 5, so Vorre will be the GC teamcaptain.

Stubbe and Beck might get free roles in their stages, that will depend on the situation / if Vorre needs extra help.
Rother is just an 8 star silver TT specialist and a 521k experiment because I estimate he is very suited for this time trial, but I could be wrong.

261 Vorre ( 29 ), silver tour
262 Valotti ( 30 ), golden tour
263 Stubbe ( 31 ), climbhills --> stages 3 + 5
264 Beck ( 30 ), climb-hills-sprint --> stage 4
265 Rother ( 25 ), TT --> stage 2

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

stage 2 Itzulia ;
4º  Rother ( as 3rd favorite )
21º  Valotti
stage 3 Itzulia ;
25º  Vorre
stage 4 Itzulia ;
7º  Beck ("helper")

A bad Itzulia to teamcaptain Vorre, who is now on a dissapointing 14º GC on 2:11" with one more stage to go.

[Aurora Australis]

Do you have the cyclists to keep you out of the red zone during the upcoming one-day races Vos?

[Vos]

I have no cyclists for Paris-Roubaix, but I have Rubiera for the 3 classic hills races, although he has no TC bonus.
I assume he still can score some points without TC. He gets help of my new 23yo training project Jelle Meijer, a 14M buy of 2 days ago.

Probably my team will "float" somewhere just above the relegation-line before Romandie starts.
Maybe a little higher if stage 5 Itzulia goes well, ánd if Rubiera can achieve better results as I expect.

I'm not worried at all to relegate ; 9 out of my 10 racing cyclists still have to peak, so I expect more than enough points.
But for the 11th time in a row top10 in division 1A ; I guess that will not happen this season.
Although my team was often low-ranked in this phase of the season due to no points in the classic races + training projects aside.
Perhaps this is fun to mention ; to all Australian 1A teams with Australian championship ambition ; don't rule out SPORTLIFE yet. 

[Vos]

stage 5 Itzulia ;
4º  Vorre
16º  Stubbe ( free role )
29º   Beck ( helper )

Excellent stage result of Vorre, this compensates a bit his bad Itzulia, also because he moved up 6(!) places to 8º GC.
Stubbe was the 3rd or 4th favorite, but his free role stage 5 result is a bit dissapointing. And Valotti finished 0:07" behind the top 20 GC.

And the moment SPORTLIFE is 23º in 1A, and already 546 points above the relegation zone. No worries overhere.

[Davilo07]

We race tomorrow Paris Roubaix and Bronx has posted an amazing preface in the Spanish forum (copa mapei) a very assertive analysis from several managers with the main favourites, teams and everything you need to know about what can happen in the cobblestones.

Everybody is welcome there hope you enjoy the reading

 https://cyclingforfun.org/smf/index.php?topic=706.180

[Vos]

Amstel Gold Race ;
17º   Rubiera
Flèche Wallonne ;
19º   Rubiera

Decent good results considering the circumstances of no TC bonus, no good director, and no s4-tophelper.
Hopefully another top20 result in the upcoming LBL where the weather is going wild ( hard wind, heavy rainfall, and very hot with 34ºC ).

[Franky]

Amstel Gold Race ;
17º   Rubiera
Flèche Wallonne ;
19º   Rubiera

Decent good results considering the circumstances of no TC bonus, no good director, and no s4-tophelper.
Hopefully another top20 result in the upcoming LBL where the weather is going wild ( hard wind, heavy rainfall, and very hot with 34ºC ).

Similar results than Hunter, without a good director, neither helper in S4 too haha, considering that Hunter is a Lombardia/Klasika profile rider... 

[Vos]

Pretty good results ( 18º and 16º ) of Hunter, especially because he has just a silver hills icon, well done.
He must have a good flat skill aside, otherwise these results are more than impressive.
Rubiera his flat is not so good, he even cannot win these 2 classic races in the World Challenge ; tomorrow attempt 10. 
For now the LBL-mission of Rubiera is to keep SPORTLIFE in front of Manicomicos_CT in the 1A ranking, currently just 1 place difference.

[Vos]

Liège–Bastogne–Liège ;
49º  Rubiera  on 1:04" what is even 22 seconds behind the top 30. 

Unexpectedly his 3 EP start was not good enough to follow his 2 helpers ánd the s1 peleton of 75.
In s2 Rubiera even dropped to the 3rd group of the nrs 104 to 139, and already 0:54" behind.

Not many total points in the hills classics, but at least the first points in the one-day-races of this season.
   

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

There are not many opportunities for climbers this season 17 ; Romandie is one of the exceptions, so all my 3 climbers are selected.
But most likely no teamcaptain role for them, because Baiao is trying to ride a good GC.
Only if Baiao fails after 4 stages, the climbers get their chance to try to ride a top result in stage 5.

As it seems now, they will get free- ánd helpers roles, so Baiao should have excellent support in the mountains.
Vorre ( 8º Itzulia ) will be used as helper too, especially in stage 4 he can be important to teamcaptain Baiao ( 8º Tirreno ).

211 Baiao ( 31 ), golden tour
212 Vorre ( 29 ), silver tour
213 Nyheim ( 28 ), climb
214 Kummer ( 26 ), climb
215 Macannazi ( 26 ), climb

Good luck everyone !