WCS 2023

[Vos]

A thrilling non-stop-attacking stage of the many cyclists who saw this as last opportunity in this Tour.
In the end a 3-man break-away was the strongest ;
O'Connor started the final sprint, but soon overtaken by the 2 others. Mohorič won versus Asgreen, but a photo finish was needed.

CFF League stage 19 winner = AJFactoryCycling 

TOP 10 GC ;
0:00"  Averatalm **
2:15"  PieterJanVB *
2:37"  MarnixStar
- - - - - - - - - -
3:13"  HtcHun **
3:46"  WinterIsComing
4:38"  Sjiz *
6:32"  B.E-L **
6:38"  Foeke
6:58"  GaoYao
7:12"  Combuijs **

top 3 sprint classification ;
1793  MarnixStar
1786  Averatalm **
1764  WinterIsComing

top 3 mountain classification ;
757  Sjiz *
756  Foeke
720  Averatalm **

top 3 youth classification ;
263  PieterJanVB *
263  ophiuko *
247  Combuijs **

[Vos]

next ;
  13 hours and 45 minutes left to join.
previous winners ; Mitte ( 22 ), Kalarratas ( 21 + 19 ), Vos ( 20 + 17 ), BrotasTeam ( 18 ), 5o&Tapa ( 16 ).

  36 hours left to join.
previous winner ; Vos ( 22 ).

  7½ days left to join.
previous winners ; WinterIsComing ( 22 ), Vos ( 21 ), Tarod ( 19 ), Cosminelul ( 18 ), Thorin ( 17 ).

  7½ days left to join.
previous winners ; Vos ( 22 ), Cosminelul ( 21 ), Kalarratas ( 20 ), pizzaboys ( 19 ), PieterJanVB ( 18 ), 5o&Tapa (17 ), BrotasTeam ( 16 ).

[Vos]

Pogačar outsprinted an elite group ( Gall, Vingegaard, and the Yates brothers ) and won this mountain stage 20.
Again a lot happened ;
C.Rodriguez and Kuss crashed hard early in the race.
Ciccone already secured the polka-dot-jersey before the last 2 brutal mountains.
Stage 2 winner Lafay had to abandon after a crash in the descent of the Petit Ballon.
In the picture ; in his last TdF,  local hero Pinot took the lead with a solo attack on the penultimate mountain.
And many more stories in this stage 20, including "little" stories, such as the almost retired Devenys celebrated his 40th birthday.

CFF League stage 20 winner = Averatalm 

TOP 10 GC ;
0:00"  Averatalm ***
3:35"  PieterJanVB *
4:05"  MarnixStar
- - - - - - - - - -
4:33"  HtcHun **
4:49"  WinterIsComing
5:06"  Sjiz *
7:22"  Foeke
8:03"  5o&Tapa *
8:35"  ophiuko *
8:46"  GaoYao

top 3 sprint classification ;
1904  MarnixStar
1903  Averatalm ***
1874  WinterIsComing

top 3 mountain classification ;
889  Sjiz *
860  Foeke
858  Averatalm ***

top 3 youth classification ;
280  PieterJanVB *
280  ophiuko *
259  Combuijs **


  Ganna wins stage 1.

CFF League stage 1 winner = Animatoca 

[Vos]

  solo victory of Kopecky in stage 1.

CFF League stage 1 winner = PieterJanVB 

  De Lie wins stage 2 and takes the GC lead.

CFF League stage 2 winner = PieterJanVB 
Animatoca is still the GC leader with 3 more stages to go.


  stage 21 : Meeus wins the sprint on the Champs-Élysées.


Final GC podium =  2nd Pogačar 7:29",  1st Vingegaard 0:00",  3rd A.Yates 10:56"

CFF League stage 21 winner = MarnixStar 

Congratulations to Averatalm ! 

FINAL TOP 26 GC ;
0:00"  Averatalm ***
2:46"  MarnixStar *
4:49"  WinterIsComing
- - - - - - - - - -
5:43"  Sjiz *
6:02"  PieterJanVB *
6:13"  HtcHun **
8:38"  Foeke
9:37"  Combuijs **
9:51"  GaoYao
10:15" Patrick Kok **
- - - - - - - - - -
10:37" B.E-L **
10:42" Aurora Australis
11:00" 5o&Tapa *
11:17" Teacher
11:45" ophiuko *
13:03" Vos *
14:09" Mitte *
14:13" Vlominck
16:14" ValeronIdolo
16:35" AJFactoryCycling **
- - - - - - - - - -
17:56" Animatoca
20:43" edu5 *
21:00" pizzaboys
21:25" Kalarratas
23:03" azerite
27:26" BrotasTeam

other jersey winners ;

MarnixStar  &  Sjiz  &  PieterJanVB  &  ophiuko

[Vos]

  Lippert wins stage 2.

CFF League stage 2 winner = PieterJanVB 

  Kielich wins stage 3 and takes the GC lead.

CFF League stage 3 winner = PieterJanVB 
Animatoca is still the GC leader with 2 more stages to go.

[Vos]

Up to date, so, incl. stage 2 TdF-Femmes and stage 3 Wallonie.

SEASON TR0PHIES 2023
( the only rule= when there is an equal amount of victories, the person who won last will be ranked higher )

TOP 10 Divine Champions Trophy

1 ophiuko   11
2 Vos   10
3 Patrick Kok   7
4 Kalarratas   3
5 Animatoca   3
6Mitte   2
7 Vlominck   2
8Averatalm   1
9 MarnixStar   1
10 HtcHun   1

TOP 8 Chief of Classics Trophy

1 Vos   21
2 ophiuko   15
3 Kalarratas   7
4 Patrick Kok   3
5 WinterIsComing   3
6 Vlominck   2
7Mitte   1
8 pizzaboys   1

TOP 25 Emperor of Stage Wins Trophy 
( including prologue )

1 Vos   48
2 ophiuko   44
3 Patrick Kok   40
4 Kalarratas   24
5 Vlominck   24
6 Animatoca   17
7Mitte   12
8 HtcHun   6
9 PieterJanVB   5
10 Combuijs   5
11 GaoYao   5
12 MarnixStar   4
13 pizzaboys   4
14 ZG   4
15 WinterIsComing   4
16Averatalm   3
17 AJFactoryCycling   3
18 5o&Tapa   3
19 ValeronIdolo   3
20 B.E-L   2
21 BrotasTeam   2
22 edu5   1
23 Sjiz   1
24 Teacher   1
25 Foeke   1

TOP 10 Royal Sprint Trophy

1 ophiuko   11
2 Vos   10
3 Patrick Kok   9
4 Kalarratas   3
5 Animatoca   3
6 HtcHun   2
7 MarnixStar   1
8Mitte   1
9 GaoYao   1
10 Vlominck   1

TOP 12 King of the Mountains Trophy

1 ophiuko   7 
2 Vos   7
3 Kalarratas   6
4 Patrick Kok   4
5 Vlominck   4
6Mitte   2
7 Sjiz   1
8 MarnixStar   1
9 Animatoca   1
10 pizzaboys   1
11 Combuijs   1
12 GaoYao   1

TOP 10 Prince of Youth Trophy

1 ophiuko   17 
2 Vlominck   6
3 Patrick Kok   6
4 Vos   6
5 Kalarratas   3
6 Animatoca   3
7Mitte   2
8 PieterJanVB   1
9 ValeronIdolo   1
10 WinterIsComing   1

[Vos]

  Wiebes wins stage 3.

CFF League stage 3 winner = PieterJanVB 
A hat-trick of GC leader PieterJanVB, who won the first 3 stages.

  Ganna wins the 32,7km time trial in Mons, and he takes back the GC lead.

CFF League stage 4 winner = Vos 
Vos is the new GC leader with 1 more stage to go.

[Vos]

  Solo victory of Kastelijn. The GC leader is still Kopecky.

CFF League stage 4 winner = Mitte 
PieterJanVB is still the GC leader halfway this Tour.


In the picture ; the sprint( ! )-victory of Ganna in stage 1. His final GC victory was mainly caused by his TT-stage 4 victory.
Bagioli wins stage 5, and the final GC =  1st Ganna 0:00" ,  2nd Tarling 0:18" ,  3rd van Moer 0:40"

CFF League stage 5 winner = PieterJanVB 

GC winner = Vos 
Vos wins also the sprint- and youth jerseys.
PieterJanVB wins the mountain jersey.

[Vos]

  Bauernfeind wins solo stage 5.
Wiebes ( picked by 75% and predicted as green jersey winner by 50% ) did not start due to a stomach problem.
Her teammate and GC leader Kopecky could have won this stage ; SD Worx is by far the strongest team, but often bad in tactics, i.m.o.

Their teamcaptain Vollering got a ( i.m.o. unjustified ) time penalty of 20 seconds, and because of that she dropped from 2nd to 7th GC.
If she loses this TdF by 0:20" or less, then it will be a questionable ( i.m.o. unreasonable ) jury decision that determines who wins this TdF.
Imagine this would happen in the men's TdF, if Pogačar or Vingegaard had this exact same situation, i.m.o. then certainly no time penalty.

CFF League stage 5 winner = ophiuko 
PieterJanVB is still the GC leader with 3 more stages to go.


next ;
  26½ hours left to join.
previous winners ; WinterIsComing ( 22 ), Vos ( 21 ), Tarod ( 19 ), Cosminelul ( 18 ), Thorin ( 17 ).
  28 hours left to join.
previous winners ; Vos ( 22 ), Cosminelul ( 21 ), Kalarratas ( 20 ), pizzaboys ( 19 ), PieterJanVB ( 18 ), 5o&Tapa (17 ), BrotasTeam ( 16 ).

[ophiuko]

What was the reason for the penalty? I'm on holidays and a bit disconnected this past week.

[Vos]

Vollering had a flat tire or mechanical breakdown on a moment that there was no action in the peleton.
She returned behind the team car, and the team manager who was driving the team car, decided to overtake other cars.
What was a risky move, as you can see in the link, and justified to give the team car driver a penalty for that risky move.
Despite it was rightenous to try to take the nr 1 spot again of all following team cars ( SD Worx has the yellow jersey = nr 1 spot ).

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi-6_6Wp7GAAxVv77sIHX0UBRUQuAJ6BAgGEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnos.nl%2Fcollectie%2F13936%2Fvideo%2F2484473-vollering-kleeft-aan-bumper-ploegleiderswagen-20-seconden-tijdstraf&usg=AOvVaw2ZVrXK0N_pXG_KHPJKoMYc&opi=89978449

I makes no sense to me that the cyclist is punished.
She had no advantage of this risky situation, what was caused by a mechanical breakdown.
It is not that she was far behind, and got a time penalty for following the team car too long, till they returned to the other cars.
The time penalty was given for the risky move of the team car driver.

More importantly = enjoy your holiday, ophiuko ! 

[Vos]

Even when there was no team car,
Vollering was not far behind and could have easily returned on her own in this situation of a low pace peleton.
Dropping team mates to help her, was not even needed, but also an option and then even more easy to return.
Vollering had no advantage because of this incident, it would not have changed anything in the outcome of this TdF.
And normally a time penalty is given because of unjustified advantages.
In fact, now the jury decision of giving a time penalty, i.m.o. thát is thé competition falsification in this matter.

[Vos]

There is also a lot of criticism that a jury car too often drove too close in front of the solo escaped stage winner in the last 15 kilometers.

[Vos]

  Out of the break-away, a surprising victory of Norsgaard, just 0:01" before the miscalculating peleton.

CFF League stage 6 winner = Vos 
Mitte is the new GC leader with 2 more stages to go.


next ;
  14 hours and 23 minutes left to join.
previous winners ; WinterIsComing ( 22 ), Vos ( 21 ), Tarod ( 19 ), Cosminelul ( 18 ), Thorin ( 17 ).
  15 hours and 45 minutes left to join.
previous winners ; Vos ( 22 ), Cosminelul ( 21 ), Kalarratas ( 20 ), pizzaboys ( 19 ), PieterJanVB ( 18 ), 5o&Tapa (17 ), BrotasTeam ( 16 ).

[Aurora Australis]

When have the men had the team car go through the convoy as a pacer?  Answer is never.
They use the other team cars and are reminded not to spend too long behind a single car.
They made it that obvious a penalty had to be made.  Penalising the team car is pointless, the only penalty that matters is any against a rider.  And if they let it go, it would have green-lighted this type of activity.

I recall men cyclists being kicked off tours (not TdF) for much less significant offences a few years ago.  The only thing is the double standards of which male competitor.  One example was an Aussie cyclist who got kicked out of a tour after spectators blocked half the road & he went on the footpath for several hundred meters.  It was a straight road and he lost 50 places in the peloton, but they claimed he got an advantage.
That same week, the favoured Sagan on live broadcast took a deliberate shortcut through a town square because he was at the back of the peloton and needed to get to the front, and they ignored it.  That was actually the point in which I stopped watching the sport.