Season 17

[Vos]

stage 1 Romandie ;
26º  Baiao  on 0:34"

WOW, I guess Baiao had extreme bad luck in this race ; with 3 EP in s5 he finished as 2nd of the 2nd big group.
Very surprising and very unexpected that Baiao could not finish on 0:00" in such a to him suited stage, and he was not far behind in s4.

The weird s5 of Baiao is best illustrated by the performance of helper Vorre with a much less good GV ;
Vorre his 3 EP start was not good enough to follow Baiao and the s1 front peleton of 42.
The whole race Vorre ( with 34500 in a helpers role ) was one group behind Baiao.
But in s5 ; Vorre ( with 0 EP + much less good GV + 21 points less flat + 14 points less sprint ) closed the gap towards Baiao ( with 3 EP ).
Very weird that Vorre and Baiao finished in the same 2nd group on 0:34" what is for sure an unnecessary big time loss.
And most likely this will have big consequences for the final GC ; this bad/unlucky stage 1 is an unexpected bummer to Baiao.

[Vos]

stage 3 Romandie ;
15º  Nyheim ( free role ) on 1:50"
22º  Baiao ( teamcaptain ) on 2:21"
25º  Kummer ( helper ) on 2:21"
27º  Vorre ( free role ) on 2:51"

A good race of Baiao, thanks to an excellent helpers job of Kummer. And needed, because 2nd helper Macannazi had an off-day or so.
This result added with the stage 2 time trial result (45º on 2:30") brings Baiao a current 11º GC place on 1:11"
Without the bad luck failure in stage 1 he would be 5 GC places higher. Hopefully those 34 seconds damage have less effect in the final GC.

[Vos]

stage 4 Romandie ;
5º  Baiao  on 0:13"
14º  Vorre ( helper )

Ups, suddenly Baiao was solo in the lead in s3, the first mountain section.
"Thanks" to Vorre who was together with Auestad ( FlyEaglesFly ) also in the front of all others, and 0:05" behind Baiao.
Of course this was not my intention, and tactical not good that teamcaptain and helper were seperated already in s3.
Because now Baiao was also isolated in s4 ( in a front group of 4 ) and the tactics of masterhelper Vorre were based on helping in s4,
but that did not happen because now Vorre was 0:14" behind in the s4 chasing group of just 5.

The tactics were not perfect at all, but still a good race and a very good result of Baiao. In fact, his 2nd best stage result of his career.
Baiao moved up 7 places to 4º GC and still the same 1:11" behind the GC leader. (if stage 1 went normal, Baiao would be 2ºGC)

[Vos]

stage 5 Romandie ;
11º  Nyheim ( free role )
25º  Baiao
26º  Kummer ( helper )

Unfortunately Nyheim had a mechanical breakdown in s2, otherwise there was a good chance he would be in the s2 frontgroup of 12.
Also due to his weather icon, but now he was in the 2nd group on already 0:40". And he missed a little sponsordeal of top10 in this stage.

All other SPORTLIFE cyclists had to help teamcaptain Baiao. Also he and helper Vorre had active weather icons.
In retrospective it was a mistake to make Vorre a helper in this little tour, because his helpers tactics were of almost no use,
ánd he finished 1:07" behind the top20 GC. Most likely a few extra GC points were possible with 4x free roles of Vorre.
Again the tactics were not good in this stage ;
that helper Kummer finished in the same time as Baiao is misleading, because Baiao was isolated in s3 and s4.
In the end Baiao finished as 6º GC, just 0:19" behind the nr 3º, so he could have been on the podium easily (nrs 1º and 2º were out of reach).

[Vos]

5º  Beck
16º  Baiao ( free role )
19º  Roman ( free role )
27º  Vorre ( helper )
Excellent results and many points ! 

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Baiao and Roman are different tour cyclists ;
Baiao is better in hills + TT, and Roman is better in the 3 stages that end in a sprint + stage 6 with a cobblemountain finish.
To me it is hard to estimate who is better,  they could be just as good in this specific Giro.

But I have to make a choice, and for now my teamcaptain will be Baiao. I estimate that he can ride a slightly better GC.
I have no idea what his final GC result could be ; it will depend on many factors, and the main factor is how his rivals will do.
Roman can ride most stages in free roles, because Baiao should have good help of the other selected cyclists.

141 Baiao ( 31 ), tour
142 Roman ( 33 ), tour
143 Bleidelis ( 33 ), hill-sprint
144 Nyheim ( 28 ), climb
145 Vorre ( 29 ), allround helper

Good luck everyone ! 

[Vos]

  The Giro is halfway and we did not see a mountain yet. 

What makes it hard to estimate how teamcaptain Baiao is doing compared to the many GC rivals.
One thing is certain ; this first half of the Giro could have been much better. Let's hope the competition made many mistakes too.

Free role contender Roman is doing even worse.
At the moment he is already 2:10" behind Baiao. What should have been a much smaller gap, because Roman likes this first half more.
In contrast to the second half, what could mean that Roman has no chance to score a few GC points.

The next stage 6 will be crucial for my GC contenders ; perhaps this is not a suited Giro for them due to just 4 mountains in this Giro.
At least there is the very first mountain in stage 6, and probably that will make the ( possible ? ) GC chances more clear.
Unfortunately for Baiao that s5 mountain is paved with cobblestones and s2 is a flatcobble section.
Roman likes this stage 6 more, but maybe Baiao can get a better stage result because of his teamcaptain role.

So far the only Giro points were scored by Bleidelis ;
stage 1 = 22º ( in a free role )
stage 2 = 10º ( as helper )
stage 4 = 20º ( as helper )
Bleidelis was bought right before the Giro to win the CFF Cup race of 3 days ago. And he is of good use in this Giro too.

But halfway a big tour just a total of 156 points of my whole Giro-selection, that is of course not SPORTLIFE-worthy.   
Hopefully the 2nd half of this Giro will be better, what mainly depends on if Baiao can ride a good GC. Right now, I still have no clue.

[Vos]

top 5 stage 6 Giro ;
1º  Ruup ( Zatarra ) on 0:00" --> congrats ! 
2º  Baiao  on 0:06" 
3º  Vonk ( Combuijs ) on 0:06" 
4º  Fredickson ( Combuijs ) on 0:12"
5º  Zipp ( FaltososDeChigre ) on 0:18"
Baiao ( cobble=28 ) finished with a well-deserved lightbulb thanks to a magnificient helpersjob of Vorre.
Vorre finished just outside the points, but 2 other SPORTLIFE cyclists scored points too :
18º   Roman ( free role ) on 0:50"
22º   Nyheim ( free role ) on 0:50"
Roman did great in the first 3 sections where he could keep up with Baiao and Vorre, but he was very unlucky to miss the cut in flat s4.
As expected Nyheim was far behind ( no flat, no hills ), but he is a climber with a cobbleskill and 2 active weather icons,
so he had a superb final climb where he passed many other cyclists, and scored some surprising extra points.

Baiao moved up to an excellent 6º GC on 2:48" behind GC leader Voisin ( LaGuardia ).
Again Roman dissapointed a bit ; probably my expectations were too high of my free role GC contender ; now 26º GC on already 5:42"
That does not look good to Roman. But Baiao might be happy with this because this could mean he has an extra good helper from now on.

[Vos]

After stage 7, the time trial, Baiao could hold on to his 6º GC place, now on 3:11"
Roman moved up to 20º GC on 6:14", so he gets another free role chance in the next stage.

For those who did not see it yet ; the new season 18 calendar is published.

[ophiuko]

For those who did not see it yet ; the new season 18 calendar is published.

Climbing-hillers for the win!

[Vos]

Flathills stage 8 went very well thanks to masterhelper Bleidelis who was still with Baiao in s4.
Baiao could hold on to his 6º place in the GC. Free role Roman did less good and dropped one place to 21º GC.

stage 9 Giro ;
9º  Nyheim ( masterhelper ) on 1:51"
10º  Baiao ( teamcaptain ) on 1:51"
28º  Roman ( free role ) on 2:44"
Excellent results ! 
Although masterhelper Nyheim lost contact with Baiao in s4, but that was unavoidable because I could not use ½ energy points.
No problem to Nyheim ; excellent help in all earlier sections, and in the end he finished just before his teamcaptain in the same time.

Baiao still 6º GC, and now on 3:07" what is 35 seconds behind a podiumplace.
There is also a 558k sponsor deal at stake of top10 GC, what should be already certain with 1 more stage to go (nr10 is 2:14" behind).
To my surprise ; Roman moved up 6 places and now 15º GC on 7:23" It looks very good that he will score some extra GC points.

[Vos]

stage 10 Giro ;
2 very bad helpers tactics ( both started too slow ), so Baiao had to do it on his own in this hills race.
And he did pretty well ; his finish on the race track of Imola even caused that he moved up two places to 4º GC.
Roman ( free roles in the whole Giro ) managed to hold on to his 15º GC place.

FINAL TOP 20 GC :
1 Jarno Voisin   30   LaGuardia   0: 00"
2    Aksel Blix   30   Aspigarri   2: 28"   
3    Espen Valgren   30   SentinelChickens   2: 32"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Adao Baiao   31   SPORTLIFE   2: 58"   
5    Murat Aeschliman   30   FrançaiseDesJeux   3: 01"   
6    Adam Zipp   28   FaltososDeChigre   3: 13"   
7    Daniel Mulikov   31   CC_Porco_Jones   4: 09"   
8    Gustave Gloor   25   Turrones   4: 10"   
9    Ferenc Bartalics   26   HTCHungria   4: 31"   
10    Armen Huaco   27   KunTeam   4: 35"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Shane O´Neill   28   LOSRAYOSDELARRY   4: 54"   
12    Bendegúz Csécs   28   Spitz   6: 09"   
13    Daniel Ruup   27   Zatarra   6: 23"   
14    Joe Watkins   27   LaGuardia   6: 53"   
15    Jaime Roman   33   SPORTLIFE   7: 36"   
16    Midas Klaassen   30   Luka_Warriors   8: 00"   
17    Zsombor Endrõdi   28   azerite   8: 56"   
18    Marco Camilo   28   WaterBoys   9: 09"   
19    Esmir Jaggy   30   RealMurciaCycling   9: 37"   
20    Lino Otero   28   Innioraths   9: 41"   

[Aurora Australis]

My Dauphiné team is almost the same as my Giro team, just Christian coming in for Kirk Workman (who failed to win), & 19 yo Alex who comes in for the 20 yo points scoring Eric Armstrong (30th, but hey it still counts).

301 Alex Trautemberg   19
302 Kirk Clinton   24
303 Christian Pocock   24
304 Nobby Licuria   24
305 Tod Henderson   24

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

It is uncertain if Roman can ride a GC with just 2 mountain sections in this Dauphiné without a s5 mountain finish.
But he is going to try anyway because he is a little bit good in everything, and this is a versatile little tour.

121 Roman ( 33 ), tour
122 Bleidelis ( 33 ), hills-sprint
123 Rubiera ( 25 ), hills
124 Vorre ( 29 ), allround helper
125 Werge ( 31 ), cobble helper

stage 1 Dauphiné ;
28º  Rubiera ( free role )
Apparently my 25yo hills specialist is not so suited for this specific hills stage.
Teamcaptain Roman ( 42º on 0:52" ) did very well, thanks to his helpers Vorre ( s1 + s2 ) and Bleidelis ( s3 + s4 ).

[Vos]

stage 3 Dauphiné ;
5º  Roman  on 0:00"
Excellent result ! At the moment Roman is 8º GC on 0:56" behind GC leader Voisin ( LaGuardia ), who won the Giro.