Season 19

[Vos]

stage 2 Dauphiné ;
12º  Blix  on 0:56"
stage 3 Dauphiné ;
7º  Blix  on 0:14"
stage 4 Dauphiné ;
44º  Blix  on 1:09"
stage 5 Dauphiné ;
21º  Makarov
24º  Blix  on 0:59"

Final GC ;
1º  Blix  --> Dauphiné victory ! 
19º  Klaassen  on 4:16"  --> incl. bad luck, bad tactics, and once even used as a helper with big time loss.

For the first time in CFF3 the Dauphiné is won by a SPORTLIFE cyclist. 

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

I do not know what is possible in this windy little tour with just 2 mountain sections, and not even a s5 mountain finish.
Hopefully GC points are possible, and I assume I have not a top GC contender for this specific TdS. But maybe I'm wrong ;
Putman might surprise due to his good TT as extra, Pinho might surprise because he seems allround for this TdS,
and Blix might surprise due to his sky-high morale after winning the Dauphiné.

81 Putman ( 32 ), tour
82 Blix ( 32 ), tour
83 Pinho ( 28 ), silver tour
84 Gritsal ( 32 ), silver tour
85 Makarov ( 30 ), flat TT

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

Excellent start of the Tour de Suisse ! 
stage 1 TdS ;
5º  Gritsal ( free role ) on 0:00"
6º  Blix ( free role ) on 0:00"
7º  Pinho ( free role ) on 0:00"
8º  Putman ( teamcaptain ) on 0:00"
189º  Makarov ( "helper" ) on 6:07"

[Vos]

stage 2 TdS ;
Due to a mechanical breakdown, teamcaptain Putman dropped out of the s4 front peleton.
This costed him for sure 31 sec. and even a little chance this costed him 58 sec. Not good at all for his GC ambition.
Putman finished in the 4th( ! ) group on 1:22"
Free role riders Blix and Pinho finished in the 3rd group on 0:51"
To Pinho a dissapointing result, he started too slow and this could be an unnecessary loss of 27 sec. Also not good for his GC ambition.

[Aurora Australis]

Missed out on getting a much-needed 30mill for Tod Henderson, plus the chance to see Vos lose the CFF Cup semi-final 

(Actually 30mill possibly wouldn't have been enough to buy Henderson anyway: currently Stam 91 : Flat 99 (99.9) : Tech 94 : TT 99 : Exp 77 [Nobby is similar stats except tech 97 & exp 80])

[Vos]

stage 3 TdS, the windy 38km flat time trial ;
10º  Makarov
33º  Putman  on 1:50"
43º  Blix  on 1:59"
86º  Pinho  on 3:04"
According to my speculations ;
Blix had luck, he finished just 9 sec. behind the much better Putman. About Pinho, I cannot estimate if he was lucky or not.
And it seems to me that Putman and Makarov ( 3rd favorite ) had an unlucky time trial, my expectations were higher.

Although it is logical that Makarov was not entirely focussed on this TdS time trial,
because he is still upset that Russia did not make a selection for the NT time trial race.
Makarov was fully motivated to beat all Australian TT specialists and win that NT race.
I guess Aurora Australis was lucky that Russia has a bad NT manager.     

stage TdS, the stormy heavy-hills-sprint race ;
41º  Pinho ( free role ) on 0:41"
60º  Blix ( free role ) on 0:41"
64º  Putman ( teamcaptain ) on 0:41"
I was not online yesterday evening, otherwise I would have changed my original tactics and made Blix the teamcaptain.
Because he was ( and still is ) higher ranked in the GC.
And Pinho would have been an extra helper. In hinside needed, because Gritsal failed as helper and dropped already in s1.
Well, all 3 tour cyclists finishing in the 3rd group is not bad, although Pinho dissapointed in his risky free role tactic with a too slow start.
And maybe more was possible if Blix was the teamcaptain with better tactics, especially better helper tactics.

Anyway, this little tour is a bit of a strategic- & tactical mess so far, on top of that, Putman is not lucky in this TdS,
but despite this mess, my tour cyclists have a high GC ranking at the moment :
4º Blix ( free role ) on 0:51" +  6º Putman ( teamcaptain ) on 1:14" +  12º Pinho ( free role ) on 1:57"

[Vos]

stage 5 TdS ;
42º  Putman ( teamcaptain ) on 1:15"
59º  Blix ( free role ) on 1:31"
63º  Pinho ( helper ) on 1:44"

Final GC Tour de Suisse ;
4º  Blix ( all free roles ) on 0:40"
6º  Putman ( all teamcaptain roles ) on 0:47"
9º  Pinho ( 3x free roles and 1x helper role ) on 1:59"

Hmmmm, it could be that I missed out on a final GC victory, what makes this bad little tour even worse.
Too many bad luck and too many wrong strategic and tactical choices.
On the positive side ; 3 SPORTLIFE cyclists in the final top 10 GC is nice.

[Vos]

A last minute change in my TdF selection ;
Rubiera is selected instead of the 22yo climber Abolins, who was fully prepared to battle for the white jersey.

Not an easy goal, but probably duable to score more points than the current nr1 has now in that youth ranking.
But it is a too uncertain goal ; maybe the current nr1 or another 22yo might score more points this season.
Besides this, to go for this goal will cost Abolins a few precious trainings.

But the most important reason for this last minute change = now teamcaptain Putman has an extra hills helper with Rubiera.
Putman tries to ride a top GC result, so, every help is needed. Hopefully he is not so unlucky as in the TdS.
And in contrast to the TdS, now in the Tour de France the teamcaptain role is clear because Blix has just 5 stages left with TC bonus.

   selection SPORTLIFE

41 Putman ( 32 ), tour
42 Blix ( 32 ), tour
43 Meijer ( 25 ), hills
44 Pinho ( 28 ), silver tour
45 Rubiera ( 27 ), hills

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

This was not a good Tour de France.
Although some stages went very well, for example bug-stage 7 and MontVentoux-stage 4.
But in general ; too many tactical mistakes ánd too much bad luck.
Therefore a bit of a dissapointing GC result of Putman because I hoped he could compete for a top GC result.
However, thé main reason he did not, is that there were a few excellent top GC contenders in this TdF, they would be better anyway.

Free role GC contender Blix surprised me again by scoring extra GC points.
His TC ended in the 2nd half of this TdF, and he even had a helper's role in queens stage 2, what of course costed him a lot of time.
I already regret that I put Blix for sale, somehow he is always doing much better as I expect.

Also for some extra points, hills specialist Meijer had free roles in the 2 hills stages but with very dissapointing results.
Caused by a very fierce hills-competition in this TdF, combined with bad free role tactics of his manager.

In bold the final GC results, and in blue the points-scoring stage results :

41 Putman ( 32 ), teamcaptain --> 8º GC on 4:15" + 16, 7, 9, 15, 29.
42 Blix ( 32 ), free role --> 12º GC on 5:56" + 15, 24, 18.
43 Meijer ( 25 ), free role --> 13, 22.
44 Pinho ( 28 ), helper --> 10.
45 Rubiera ( 27 ), helper --> 14.

[Vos]

Clásica San Sebastián ;
9º  Stubbe

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

The goal is to go for ( hopefully ) top 10 results in stages 2, 3, 4, and battling for the GC is not possible.
Because my BBT selection had just 3 suited cyclists, the 2 remaining places are for my hills specialists to gain experience.

51 Real ( 29 ), cobble
52 Bordeneuve ( 34 ), flat-sprint
53 Gazetti ( 32 ), cobble
54 Meijer ( 25 ), xp
55 Rubiera ( 27 ), xp

Good luck everyone !

[Aurora Australis]

Good news for my 22-year-olds, there are far too many top climbers (and probably in top form) for any 22 year old to score points, there's no sprint or hill stage, and just one cobble & one cobb-hill stage with over 30 golden cobblers with hill.  Whether Alfier can score points doesn't seem to matter, it'll just affect which of my 22-year-olds finally obtains the white jersey, hopefully.

Espana Team
341 Jonny Alfier      22     (stealing points - exp)
342 Markus Benett   26    (TT WC test run)
343 Christian Pocock   26    (stealing points)
344 Kirk Workman   31   (TT WC test run)
345 Dean Shields   32   (TT WC test run)

Just a note, the greatest ever TTer will officially retire within the next day.

[Vos]

Good results in the BinckBank Tour, and to my big surprise even some extra GC points.
stage 2 =  2º  Bordeneuve
stage 3 =  6º  Real
stage 4 =  9º  Real
stage 5 =  21º  Bordeneuve ( free role )
Final GC =  11º  Real  on 1:27"

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

The goal of Makarov is to wear the red jersey after 3 stages.
My other selected cyclists are going for good results in the hillsclimb- and climb stages.

51 Kummer ( 28 ), climb
52 Stubbe ( 33 ), hillsclimb
53 Makarov ( 30 ), TT
54 Macannazi ( 28 ), climb
55 Bakker ( 30 ), hillsclimb

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 1, flat-cobble ;
The teammates of flat-TT-specialist Makarov are extreme bad in this stage, so Makarov ( with cobbleskill of 71 ) had to do it on his own.
And he did great in this stage ! :
16º  Makarov

Vuelta stage 2, flat-TT ;
It looked very promising to 5th favorite Makarov in the first 2 time checks ; s1 = 2º on 0:01" and s2 = 2º on 0:03"
Unfortunately a mechanical breakdown caused a drop in s3 = 6º on 0:08"
Although this broke his high pace cadence, he fought back in s4 by moving up one place, and in s5 again one place better :
4º  Makarov
The s3 bad luck caused no podium place in this stage, but Makarov achieved his goal and was called to the podium anyway :


Vuelta GC leader after 2 stages ; Shalva Makarov ( SPORTLIFE )