Season 24

[Vos]

ROM stage 4, hills-TT ;
143º  Yakovlev   2:53"  --> with mechanical breakdown in s3.
This result caused a drop of 11 GC places and now 19ºGC on 3:31"
It seems that I made the right decision to go for stage results, rather than a possible GC of Yakovlev.

[Kekipi]

ROM stage 4, FHFDF TT

14º  Haan   1: 06"
23º  Ektov   1: 13"
27º  Goedkoop   1: 20"

Though we could not come close to the 250-point haul made by team Aurora_Australis, we were happy about the 76 points banked by our three tour riders, which included GC captain Haan, who moved into the top 10 GC (8th @ 2:12) as a result of his 14th place finish in this TT.

Next up is the final stage of S24 Tour Romandie, where we return to the mountains to see how our team will fare.

In the real world, the 155km race route from Gstaad to Leukerbad was last contested at the 2021 Tour de Suisse and was won by Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).   Meanwhile, the 30th place rider, Kilian Frankiny (Team Qhubeka Assos) came in @ 6:07". 

It will be interesting to see what the time gap will be between 1st and 30th in our virtual race later today.  Whatever it turns out to be, we hope Haan is among the 30 (but that may be a big ask).   

[Vos]

ROM stage 5, MDFMM ;
5º  Beckham
29º  Yakovlev ( free role )

To my surprise Yakovlev moved up 5 places in the GC.
Tour de Romandie, final GC ;
14º  Yakovlev   4:08"
With 2x free roles in the crucial mountain stages, and even 1x a helper role in stage 3. ( and mechanical breakdown in the time trial )

On second thought, maybe not the best decision after all to go for stage results, Yakovlev could have finished top8 GC easily.

On third thought, the best is to forget this Romandie right away.
Because also in hinside ; it is very clear that I missed out a lot of points ánd top results.
Yakovlev and Beckham were planned to ride this Romandie as helpers, for my 3 much better cyclists who did not get the right TC period,
and due to this mega mistake, they were absence in this little tour. Luckily the next tour is more important = Giro d'Italia.

[Kekipi]

ROM stage 5, MDFMM

38º  Haan (captain)  1: 42"
59º Perry (helper)  2: 10"
64º Ektov (free)  2: 10"

To my dismay, Haan was isolated in the flat S3 ( ).  Why?  Because I had miscalculated the energy expenditure needed for his two helpers.  With better energy allocations for his two designated domestiques, Haan should have comfortably finished @ 1:14 (in the top 30) or, in the best case, @ :56 (in the top 20). 

Despite my continuing EP miscues, we were able to score points in the GC, with Haan finishing 10th GC @ 3:18 and Ektov, who was used mostly as a helper, finishing 18th GC @ 5:06.   

As we near the halfway point of Season 24, we are 19th in the team standings, with 2842 points.   As such, we are on track to achieve the goal of non-relegation at season's end. 

I also hope to win the for the first time.  Codex will not make that hope easy to achieve, so I'll have to improve and keep pushing.

Next up is Eschborn-Frankfurt, a race that intrigues me.   I am eager to find out the results of my tactical choices.

 

[Kekipi]

24º  Haan 0:00" (captain)
43º Queiros 0:46" (free)

I imagine that a few of the top thirty rode flat S1 with 0 EP.   It was a chance I was not willing to take, so I assigned my captain 1 EP.  All my helpers (3 of 'em) rode S1 with 2 EP, which was a mistake.  I should have had at least one of them ride S1 with 1EP, if anything, to test the waters to see if that would've resulted in a drop. My guess is it wouldn't have.

A review of Vos's posts of the past re: Eschborn Frankfurt indicates to me that captains riding S1 in calm mode (i.e. 0 EP) has happened without a drop occurring.  According to Vos, the contrary (a captain being dropped due to 0 EP is S1) has occurred.  I suppose the flat strength of the captain and the helpers, plus the prevailing weather conditions, are also factors in whether a drop in S1 will occur or not.

Whatever the case, we are happy to have scored in this classic race, particularly after the dismal results for our team in the recently-contested hills classics.

Now it's on to the first grand tour of the season, where we are uncertain how our captain (Haan) will fare.  We anticipate the GC competition to be fierce, but we are eager to participate in the battle.

[Vos]

Eschborn-Frankfurt ;
9º  Yakovlev   0:00"
27º  Viñas ( helper ) 0:00"

This was an almost traditional EF in how the race went = 161 - 60 - 61 - 1 ( 2nd group= 7 ) - 41.

Despite my EF notes said "172 in s1, and 0 EP in s1 with a helper is possible in a windless EF"
I decided to make a last-minute tactical change due to the low flat-skill (63 or so) of not-favorite Yakovlev who has a very good EF-GV,
and also due that even a windless EF had sometimes exceptional hard starts in the past seasons, for example in previous season.
Also the best helper had the same last-minute change of 1 EP in s1 instead of the original 0 EP.
What was clearly a tactical mistake and a waste of energy with such a mega s1 peleton of 161,
where only unhealthy young cyclists could not follow.

Looking at the result(s), probably more managers made this same tactical mistake, maybe also due to the "rare" EF of last season.
Maybe back then there were 2 favorites of the same team, then even a "quiet" s1 as in a windless EF can be tricky if that team attacks.
Most editions of EF had wind, often not such a problem to a teamcaptain, but for sure it is to helpers, then the 0 EP trick is not possible.

Anyway, I'm happy with the points in EF, the this night sold Yakovlev probably could not win anyway,
and rather be too "safe" than a tactical failure in s1 what causes zero points.
And my team needs the points desperately to avoid a for my team historic low final season ranking in 1A,
and perhaps more important ; my team has the ambition to stay ahead of LanihuliCycling.   

[Kekipi]

selection Lanihuli Cycling

191 Haan ( 31 ), tour
192 Campos ( 31 ), tour, (helper)
193 Goedkoop ( 30 ), tour, (helper)
194 Vien ( 25 ), hills/sprint (helper)
195 Pensec ( 22 ), hills-sprint (helper)

I have no doubt the competition for points will be fierce, but our hope is to score in every stage, save for the two flat TTs, where we have no hope (for points).   Another hope is for Haan to finish in the top 20 GC, the higher the better, of course.   

Best results to all the teams entered!

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Arnau was 5º in the Tour de France of last season. Now the Giro is his season goal, and hopefully again a top GC result.
His teammates will be used as helpers, although Viñas gets a free role in most stages.

151 Arnau ( 31 ), tour
152 Viñas ( 32 ), tour
153 Lewis ( 25 ), climb
154 Muntendam ( 32 ), silver hills-sprint
155 Granberg ( 31 ), bronze hills-sprint

Good luck everyone ! 

[Kekipi]

And my team needs the points desperately to avoid a for my team historic low final season ranking in 1A,
and perhaps more important ; my team has the ambition to stay ahead of LanihuliCycling.   

    Good luck with that!

And thanks for the explanation of what's happened at Eschborn-Frankfurt.   As always, lots of valuable info provided.

[Vos]

thanks 

Giro stage 1, FFFMD ( 1x wind ) ;
26º  Arnau  1:02"
28º  Lewis ( masterhelper )  1:02" --> with 5x hands symbols.
38º  Viñas ( free role )  1:30"

No risk taking in this stage that went like this = 88 - 88 - 85 - 1 - 1.
Because Arnau has skills like dh=69 & tw=12, what could bring his GV down too much.

In retrospective ; less energy was needed in s2 and s3, but after the race it is always easy to say what would have been the best.
Before this race the tactical choice of taking no risk was the best, and on top of that, Lewis did an amazing helper's job.
Lewis was one of the just 5 helpers who got a hands symbol in s5, also Campos ( LanihuliCycling ) was such an exceptional helper.
And Lewis was the only helper that indeed stayed with his teamcaptain in s5, for what it is worth, just nice to mention.

[Kekipi]

Lewis was one of the just 5 helpers who got a hands symbol in s5, also Campos ( LanihuliCycling ) was such an exceptional helper. And Lewis was the only helper that indeed stayed with his teamcaptain in s5, for what it is worth, just nice to mention.

Giro stage 1, FFFMD ( 1x wind ) ;
34º  Haan  1:19"
42º  Campos ( helper )  1:30" --> with 5x hands symbols.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the splits in S4 seems to tell the story of what happened in S1 thru S3.     

• 5 EPs spent = 0:34" (in S1 thru S3)
• 6 EPs spent = 0:40"
• 7 EPs spent = 0:57" (I raise my hand for this one)

Yes, Campos did good work as a helper.  Thanks, Vos, for pointing that out.  Chalk this race up as yet another lesson learned re: energy expenditure.  I'm sure in the future I will continue to falter tactically, but my continuing hope is that I falter less. 

Sadly, the goal of scoring in every stage save for the two flat TTs is now shot.  But we will perservere to see how Haan and the team will fare the rest of this Giro.

[Rico]

Giro stage 1, FFFMD ( 1x wind ) ;
5º  Azarov  0:23"
12º  Heemskerk (helper)  0:45"

Really nice start of the Giro, where Azarov manages to grab a few seconds on other Tour riders. Goal is a podium place in this Tour, we are even going to sacrifice a couple of trainings to that so that Dada can ride with health 96 or above this whole Giro 

Adding to the discussion on this stage, it looks like helper bonus plays a large role here. Because of the great help of Heemskerk (who was on the favourites list), Azarov manages to get a 5th spot without a climbing TC bonus.

[Kekipi]

Giro stage 1, FFFMD ( 1x wind ) ;
5º  Azarov  0:23"
12º  Heemskerk (helper)  0:45"

Really nice start of the Giro, where Azarov manages to grab a few seconds on other Tour riders. Goal is a podium place in this Tour, we are even going to sacrifice a couple of trainings to that so that Dada can ride with health 96 or above this whole Giro 

Adding to the discussion on this stage, it looks like helper bonus plays a large role here. Because of the great help of Heemskerk (who was on the favourites list), Azarov manages to get a 5th spot without a climbing TC bonus.

Nice work.

I was just remarking to Vos (via PM) about the game and that a big part of it is finding perfect marriages between helpers and leaders.   You obviously found the perfect marriage between Heemskerk and Azarov.   My guess is that Dada rode with the identical tactics of Heemskerk, something like 21153.   Meanwhile, D1 newbie me, rode my captain with 43050 and helpers with 54120.  Yes,     But I am always seeking to improve.   

[Rico]

No need to downplay your own knowledge about this game, I'm sure you know a lot after playing for many many seasons.

 In general, in stages like this with 3 flat sections to start and not a lot wind, I think that it's mainly a matter of being in the first group in s1 and then not spending a lot of energy in the following flat sections.

[Vos]

Giro stage 2, climb TT ;
13º  Arnau   0:40"
18º  Lewis   0:43"  --> with mechanical breakdown in s4.
44º  Viñas   1:17"
Excellent result of Arnau, who is now 16ºGC.