Season 27

[Vos]

Clasica San Sebastian ;
22º  Masschelein   0:49"
A little bit dissapointing.
Although I knew he could not ride top10, still, I expected he would finish at least top20 in this points-rich race.
And there was a little hope that Reigersman or Milne could make it into the top30 in a free role, but they did not ( 32º and 36º ).

The competition scored more points in San Sebastian ;
( 1. JGMTeam = 370 ) --> the future 1A champion is not a rival in the battle for a podiumplace.
2. SPORTLIFE = 65
3. Elgrand = 385
4. CaptainOrange = 130
5. CobbleCrushers = 190
6. LottoStelvio = 555
7. Villavante = 70
8. Flandria = 0

I guess that I can expect that the competition will do much better in Lombardia as well.
What makes the upcoming tours even more important for my team.
I don't expect to make a difference in BBT, but I'm optimistic about my Vuelta selection. Hopefully my optimism is justified.
Because the current 1A situation is hard to predict with these small differences, for example the nr 6 is just 702 points behind my team.

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

New buy Madanov is not in topform yet, what is also the reason that I did not send him on training camp for the Vuelta, his main goal.
With Vuelta TC bonus, he could not ride the BBT,
and he would not be in topform in the first 5 Vuelta stages, and I don't have +form WC cards.
Too bad that I could not buy him earlier ( he was on the transfermarket before for a higher price, but I did not had enough money )
then this tricky situation could be avoided and of course then he would have had the TC bonus period BBT + Vuelta.
 
Now his season schedule is SSB + BBT + Vuelta, all without TC bonus. A good decision for the max. points he can score for my team.
But a very difficult and tricky decision, because it is a weird Vuelta and who knows, maybe Madanov can compete for the final GC victory.
And I like to win the Vuelta much more than to win a podiumplace in 1A, because my team never won a big tour.
Although, the first 5 Vuelta stages seem pretty decisive in my opinion, and not being in topform but with TC bonus, is not ideal also.
It is a difficult game sometimes, but such hard decisions are fun too , and hopefully I made the right choice, the future will tell.

Anyway, because Madanov is not in topform yet, his teammate Kaarnamets gets the backnumber that ends on 1.
Despite that Kaarnamets cannot sprint at all ( = time loss in stage 2 ), he is in topform and he is better in stage 1, the time trial.
So, I estimate that Kaarnamets can ride a better GC than Madanov, but my estimation could be wrong.
Because Madanov seems suited for this BBT, even despite no topform ánd a bad time trial ( what might be an issue in the Vuelta as well ).

Perhaps my BBT strategy will be changed after stage 1 or later, because it will be a puzzle how to get the most points out of this BBT.
No top results are expected, also not in the GC, with one exception ; Hunter should get a top result in stage 1 as 5th favorite.

11 Kaarnamets ( 31 ), cobblehills & GC ?
12 Madanov ( 29 ), cobblehills-sprint & GC ?
13 Hunter ( 25 ), time trial
14 Udod ( 31 ), hills
15 Postigo ( 22 ), flat-cobble

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

I just looked at the BBT selections of the rival teams in 1A, and..... WOW, it seems they have very impressive BBT teams.
Probably it will be damage control for my BBT team by not losing too many total BBT points against the rival teams.

[ophiuko]

La Vuelta is my main objective this season for Simsons to complete the big three. I had already lost all hope in winning La Vuelta this season after seeing Madanov signing with your team. Now that I see he hasn't got TC, there is hope again 

[Vos]

Well, if Madanov would have TC in the Vuelta, he would not be in topform in the first 5 Vuelta stages, what also would give you hope.
Good luck with Simsons in the Vuelta !

BBT, stage 1, time trial 19 km ; 
2º  Hunter   0:01"   
19º   Kaarnamets   2:03"
62º  Madanov   2:53"

Again almost the very first victory of Hunter, in TdF stage 3 he was 2 seconds behind, and now just 1 second.
Kaarnamets scored some unexpected stage points by profiting of that many TT specialists are absent in this BBT.
The result of Madanov is not promising for a Vuelta top GC result , but I assume he can limit the time loss better when he is in topform.

[Vos]

BBT, stage 2, FCCFF ( storm ) ; 
26º   Madanov ( free role )   0:34"
44º  Kaarnamets ( teamcaptain )   1:20"

The 22yo Postigo gave up his white jersey ambition after seeing that Lepasalu ( 21, Northwest ) finished as 13º in the time trial.
Instead, now he had the important job to help Kaarnamets in this stormy stage, what Postigo did perfectly despite very different stats.
And nice to see that Madanov scored a few points, although the 1A rival teams scored many more points in this stage.

As expected, the GC after 2 stages is very close between my 2 GC contenders ;
20º  Kaarnamets   1:21"
23º  Madanov   1:25"
Most likely Madanov would not have finished one group sooner when he would be the teamcaptain in stage 2.
The best strategy seems to hold on to Kaarnamets as teamcaptain. Hopefully both will move up some ( or many ) places in the GC.

[Vos]

La Vuelta is my main objective this season for Simsons to complete the big three.

Extreme impressive, to have this as a goal. 
I see that Daumants Simsons came very close in the Vuelta of two seasons ago ; 2º GC on just 0:11"

There is not a milestone / achievement for an individual cyclist if he wins all 3 different big tours.
But there is one for the manager, and so far just 4 managers achieved to win all 3 different big tours ;
CyKings, CaptainOrange, FrançaiseDesJeux and °Peachy°Melocotons.

And just 3 cyclists won all 3 different big tours ;
Mike Bauer ( CyKings ), Anthony Hilton ( CaptainOrange ) and Lazare Pires ( FrançaiseDesJeux ).

If Daumants Simsons will be the 4th cyclist who achieves this in the upcoming Vuelta, according to me that is uncertain,
because it might be possible that there will be a few surprising top GC contenders in this weird Vuelta with just 3 mountain sections.
Again good luck !

[Vos]

No points in stages 3 and 4, but in stage 5 teamcaptain Kaarnamets ( 8º ) and free role Madanov ( 28º ) scored points.
And more importantly are the excellent final GC results in this BBT ; 
3º  Kaarnamets   1:12"
8º  Madanov   2:31"

[Vos]

   selection SPORTLIFE

Compared to a "traditional" tour cyclist, Madanov will lose ( many ? ) minutes in the mountain stage + the 2 time trial stages.
Hopefully he can strike back in the second half of the Vuelta and achieves a top GC result.

11 Madanov ( 29 ), GC
12 Lust ( 25 ), tour
13 Kaarnamets ( 31 ), cobblehills
14 Caneschi ( 29 ), climb
15 Herd ( 24 ), time trial

Good luck everyone !

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 1, MDMDM ( 1x wind ) ;
- - - - - - - - - -
4º  Norris ( OphiukoCT )   0:23"
5º  Simsons ( OphiukoCT )   0:31" --> amazing result thanks to perfect help of Norris.
- - - - - - - - - -
6º  Caneschi   0:31" --> a perfect prepared climber with 2 active weather icons + 1 victory on his palmares.
45º  Lust   3:20" --> very bad result in his debut for my team, due to a mechanical breakdown in s3.
54º  Madanov   4:49" --> a lot of time loss of the SPORTLIFE teamcaptain, and that will be even more in both TT-stages.
81º  Kaarnamets   8:36" --> the nr 3 GC of the BBT does have a TT icon, but way too many minutes lost now, and he cannot sprint.

I accepted a sponsordeal of top 9 GC, it probably is very doubtfull now if that can be achieved.
Perhaps I have to switch of teamcaptain, because Lust will do minutes better in both TT stages than Madanov.
The 1A podium battle of my team relied heavy on an excellent GC result in this Vuelta, so this battle seems in big jeopardy now.
Also because not many stage points are expected, besides stage 1 ( Caneschi ), stage 2 ( Herd with low xp ) and stage 9 ( Kaarnamets ).

[ophiuko]

Indeed a great first stage, but I think Koen VanAmerongen is the top favourite for winning the GC. I think Simsons can only beat him on hill stages. It is going to be very hard with him. Probably Podnieks too.

Mi excel lists gave Fedir Madanov and my former Silver Maasikmets as top favourites, but it seems they have lost quite a lot on the first stage. Definitely Silver has lost more time than Fedir according to what they should have lost.

Whether Madanov can recover all that time is a great doubt, but at the moment VanAmerongen, Podnieks, Mira and Fevola seem the top contestants.

[Vos]

Vuelta stage 2, flat time trial 52 km ( 1x wind ) ;
4º  Herd   0:17"
30º  Kaarnamets   2:48"     
36º  Lust   2:54"
92º   Madanov   3:53" --> Oh, oh, more than 5 ( ! ) minutes behind the current top 7 GC.

[Vos]

Vuelta, final GC ;
6º  Madanov   2:38"
17º  Lust   9:12"

Madanov could come back in the second half of the Vuelta, thanks to perfect help of Kaarnamets in many stages.
Especially on the cobblestones both did great, with as highlight a 3º place on 0:00" in cobblehills stage 9.
Overall considered, Madanov scored more stage points as expected. And also nice, the sponsordeal of top 9 GC is achieved easily.

But the disasterous stage 1 might still be a bummer, for example only one place better there, would have been exactly 1:00" faster.
And then Madanov would have finished 4º GC, what is 100 points more than his actual 6º GC place.
Hopefully this "missing out" on these 100 points has no consequence in the final 1A ranking.

[Vos]

Lombardia ;
14º  Masschelein
18º  Reigersman ( free role )
29º  Machado ( free role )
Excellent results !
Masschelein ( 22º in SanSebastian ) had to finish as 22º again, to take the lead in the individual Belgian championship.
Goal achieved, and it seems certain now that Masschelein wins the Belgian jersey. 
Also very nice is the total of 250 points in this race, and SPORTLIFE still 2º in division 1A.

[Vos]

Salzburgo TT WC ;
13º  Herd   0:24"
21º  Hunter   0:37"
Hunter did very well without TC bonus, but I expected a little more of the fully prepared Herd.

Duitema WC ( 1x wind ) ;
3º  Szõnyi   0:21"
24º  Caneschi ( helper )   1:37"
Finishing solo as 3º is a very good result, thanks to his s4 helper.

These WC results are good enough to hold on to the 2º place in division 1A, in fact, there is a big gap of 1.257 points towards the nr 3º.
And an enormous giant gap of 3.408 points towards 1A champion JGMTeam, who won both WC races = 3x congratulations !!!

Achievements of SPORTLIFE in season 27 =

  2º place in division 1A with 13.182 points.

4 stage victories, all in little tours = Boyar, Osland, and 2x Vasconcelos.

GC podium results = 2º Boyar ( Tirreno ) and 3º Kaarnamets ( BBT ).
Best GC result in a big tour = 5º Milne ( Tour de France ).

Beckham ( climber ) --> for the 3rd time in a row American champion.
With just 636 points, and he was lucky that the strategic gamble paid off to use him as extra helper in the WC climb race,
instead of a free role to try to score a few points and defend his lead.
The gamble was that his only rival Norris ( OphiukoCT ) did not finish top 5 in Colombia, but superclose and lucky that he finished as 6º.
Milne ( tour ) --> the British champion of s26 successfully defended his title.
Masschelein ( tour ) --> once before there was a Belgian champion in my team ; Lebrun ( sprint ) in s16.
Kaarnamets ( cobblehills ) --> the most happy with this jersey, because my team never had an Estonian champion.

Not an achievement of my team, but for sure this is also worth to mention about my season 27 ;
= NT World Champion with 3 NT race victories.
It was my 10th time as Australian NT manager = 2x 2º and 8x 1º