Season 19

[Vos]

stage 3 Catalunya ;
26º  Adriaen ( masterhelper )
42º   Gritsal  on 0:24"
This cold and windy sprint race went very well, thanks to Adriaen who again got 5x the hand symbol.

Gritsal finished in the 2nd group of nrs 30 to 47.
Main GC rival Gois ( Flyvende_hjul ) did very well too, by finishing in this 2nd group as almost last ; 46º on also 0:24"
3 high ranked GC rivals ( Groenendaal, Sole and Menke ) were less lucky by finishing as first 3 (48º, 49º, 50º) of the 3rd group on 0:45"
GC rival Miorlin finished in the 4th group on 1:09 and dropped to 6º GC on already 2:09" So, he is not even a podium contender anymore.

The next stage 4 might be already decisive, and Gritsal will try to defend a GC lead of 0:30" towards Tirreno winner Gois.
The nrs 3 and 4, Groenendaal and Sole, are 1:17" behind.

[Vos]

stage 4 Catalunya ;
4º  Gritsal  on 0:18"
27º  Macannazi ( helper )
Excellent result, it is even the best race result of my team this season.
Gritsal finished in the same little chasing group as GC rival Gois(=2º), behind solo victor & CFF climb legend Mikalsen ( TeamEuroscalt ).

To my surprise Gritsal cannot challenge any favorites in the final stage 5.
Hopefully he can finish on 0:00" anyway, what is for sure needed because GC rival Gois is the 1st favorite.

[Vos]

stage 5 Catalunya ;
1º  Gritsal  --> stage victory ! 
When I saw he was in mountain section 4 in a three man breakaway with Gois ( Flyvende_hjul ) and Rio ( OphiukoCT ),
I knew that Gritsal would finish on 0:00" to secure the overall Catalunya victory , but unexpectedly he even won the stage.

[Aurora Australis]

If I read correctly, you were the defending champion.  Can you make it three Catalunya victories in a row next season Vos?

[Vos]

If you insist, I will give it a go next season, hahaha.
But without kidding, indeed, Beck ( as silver tour cyclist ) won Catalunya for my team in previous season.

[Vos]

SPORTLIFE did not compete in all 7 classic races so far, but still high ranked ; a split 11º place in 1A.
Let's see if the next little tour can bring my team back into the top 10 of 1A.

   selection SPORTLIFE

Vorre is the GC teamcaptain despite he is just a silver tour cyclist.
But the expectations are high, because 3 seasons ago Vorre won Itzulia, and back then an Itzulia with almost the same stages as now.
Vorre should have good support in 4 stages, only in cobblehills stage 5 he has no helpers.
It is doubtfull if he can win Itzulia again as silver tour cyclist. Hopefully he can battle for the GC podium and I expect at least a top10 GC.
 
111 Vorre ( 31 ), silver tour
112 Stubbe ( 33 ), hillsclimb
113 Den Bakker ( 30 ), hillsclimb
114 Pinho ( 28 ), silver tour
115 Jackson ( 32 ), silver hills

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

stage 1 = 14º Vorre on 0:12"
stage 2 = 26º Vorre on 0:00"
stage 3 =  3º Vorre on 0:05" ( and 21º Bakker as helper )
stage 4 = 21º Vorre on 0:41" ( and 19º Jackson as masterhelper )
stage 5 = 48º Vorre on 1:39"

final TOP 3 GC =
1    Garikoitz Benavent   28   HTCHungria   0: 00"   
2    Ricky Vorre   31   SPORTLIFE   0: 36"   
3    Lourenco Madaleno   33   Kelme4ever   2: 23"

An excellent tour of Vorre.
I don't think mistakes were made to close the time gap of 34 seconds, even the opposite, some stages went much better as expected.
Benavent was simply better. And the gap Vorre made towards the nr3 is impressive.

Ricky Vorre is for sale, just 1½M and today is the last day :
https://www.cyclingforfun.org/cff/vision.php?ciclistaid=65370

[Vos]

Finally SPORTLIFE was competing in the poit-rich classic races of this season.
It was not a good hills-campaign. but also not very bad.

Amstel Gold Race ;  12º Rubiera
Flèche Wallonne ;  12º Rubiera
Liège–Bastogne–Liège ;  19º Rubiera

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Putman and Makarov make their debut for my team.
Catalunya winner Gritsal regrets that there is a time trial in this little tour, but the 2 debutants like the time trial.

101 Putman ( 31 ), tour
102 Gritsal ( 32 ), tour
103 Makarov ( 30 ), TT
104 Kummer ( 28 ), climb
105 Macannazi ( 28 ), climb

Good luck everyone !

[Aurora Australis]

Richard Levin aged 37, is attempting to score points in the TT race, but with no top form (I hadn't been paying attention to the races).  It also means he'll possibly race in the BinckBank Tour before retiring.

[Vos]

stage 1, sprint ; 
38º  Gritsal ( free role ) on 0:31"
45º  Putman ( teamcaptain )  on 0:58"

stage 2 flatclimb ; 
8º  Gritsal ( free role ) on 0:40"
24º  Putman ( teamcaptain )  on 1:21"

stage 3 climb ; 
7º  Kummer ( free role )
41º  Putman ( teamcaptain )  on 1:58"
48º  Gritsal ( free role ) on 2:07"

stage 4 TT ;
10º  Makarov
28º  Richard Levin ( 37yo !, Aurora Australis ) 
41º  Putman  on 2:00" ( with mechanical breakdown in the crucial s5 )
112º  Gritsal  on 3:30"

stage 5 climbsprint ; 
12º  Gritsal ( teamcaptain ) on 0:00"
24º  Putman ( free role ) on 0:46"

final GC ;
11º  Gritsal  on 2:38"
12º  Putman  on 2:54"

I made many tactical mistakes in Romandie, including strategic mistakes in free-, helpers-, and teamcaptain-roles.
Let's hope that the manager of SPORTLIFE will be in much better "form" in all other tours of this season.

[Vos]

Eschborn-Frankfurt ;
9º  Klaassen
Despite already isolated in s2, a good race + good result of Klaassen, who is also my teamcaptain in the Giro d'Italia.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

My Giro selection was not complete, so at the last moment I bought 2 extra helpers, Montana and Serrano, for 100k each.
The undisputed teamcaptain is Klaassen, but I have no idea how he will do in this strange Giro with only 1 mountain stage.

91 Klaassen ( 32 ), tour
92 Gritsal ( 32 ), tour
93 Rubiera ( 27 ), hills
94 Montana ( 32 ), silver cobblehills + bronze sprint
95 Serrano ( 32 ), cobblehills

Good luck everyone !

[Aurora Australis]

Well you're about to find out with Klaassen Vos.

[Vos]

The Giro is halfway, time for an update : 

climb-dh-sprint stage 1 ;
12º  Klaassen  on 0:00"
16º  Gritsal ( helper )
Too safe tactics, but the main goal is achieved, no time loss.

flatcobblehills stage 2 ;
12º  Serrano ( free role )
20º  Montana ( helper )
39º  Klaassen  on 1:11"
Unfortunately the masterhelper of Klaassen was going too fast in s4.
Despite this, a good race + good result of Klaassen who has a low cobble skill.

climbsprint stage 3 ;
9º  Klaassen  on 0:00"
19º  Gritsal ( helper )
Not an excellent race due to using too much energy, but Gritsal did a good helper's job and the mission is completed = finishing on 0:00"

hills stage 4 ;
12º  Rubiera ( free role )
52º  Klaassen  on 0:59"
Not a bad race of my team, but also not a good race.
Because with 2 better helpers, I expected that at least one of them would be the important s4 helper to Klaassen.
But that was a tactical failure of the helpers, what costed Klaassen at least 10 seconds.

windy (2str) sprint stage 5 ;
60º  Klaassen  on 1:47"
This to me extreme weird sprint stage was a disaster to Klaassen.
It seems he wasted energy in s1 due to the strange s1, and very unexpectedly he was already isolated in s2.
Remarkable to see that his two better helpers were riding 1 group behind Klaassen in s2, s3, s4,
and the 2nd best helper suddenly made a jump with 0 EP towards the s5 group of Klaassen.
A helper that dropped in s2 with +0 compared to his teamcaptain, and returns in s5 with 0 EP, that I have never seen before.
Anyway, Klaassen was not just riding an unlucky, bad race, but it seems he was also very unlucky in s5 by finishing as 2nd of a big group.
I estimate that this bad sprint race caused an "unnecessary loss" of 57 seconds, what is a lot !

TOP 21 GC after 5 stages :
1Gert VanZandbeek   29   ChampsElysees   0: 00"   
2    Bendegúz Csécs   30   RealMurciaCycling   0: 04"   
3    Kasper van der Goor   29   Zatarra   0: 08"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Sven Lauk   27   Turrones   0: 09"   
5    Espen Valgren   32   BlackHole   0: 15"   
6    Rodolphe Legarra   28   Flyvende_hjul   0: 48"
7    Maurizio Lorenzetto   31   FaltososDeChigre   1: 03"   
8    Teofilo Dias   29   OphiukoCT   1: 05"   
9    Midas Klaassen   32   SPORTLIFE   1: 06"   
10    Tristan Min   27   Flyvende_hjul   1: 19"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Sebastiaan Groenendaal   26   Astanadena   1: 20"
12    Felix Heijmans   32   Skrimshaw   1: 28"   
13    András Valter   30   Quickstepbronx   1: 36"   
14    Ryan Berry   32   Mlb   1: 51"   
15    August Thoelen   31   KunTeam   1: 52"   
16    Vince Palmer   32   Mlb   1: 54"   
17    Chris Rassier   30   Caracoles   2: 02"   
18    Albino Herreros   26   ZBT   2: 05"   
19    Reinis Melderis   32   Kelme4ever   2: 05"   
20    Justin Wilson   30   CC_Porco_Jones   2: 05"
21    Lucio Queiros   28   FaltososDeChigre   2: 05"

It is all still very close together and the current top 5 even extreme close.
Hopefully Klaassen and his teammates can ride a much better 2nd half of the Giro,
although I suspect that many other GC contenders did not had an excellent 1st half of the Giro too.

Today the only mountain stage of this Giro, it will shake the GC up. The also crucial flatcobble stage 7 will shake the GC up too.