Wittenberg

And we're off! Eleven teams, from seven different provinces, each consisting of nine riders, have gathered on the Adriatic Sea near Ortona, Italy for the first stage of a grueling three week long cycling race. This is the first of three such races this season and the most succesful edition of TCAT so far.

The following teams are participating:





Links:
Season overview thread (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2337.0)
Registration thread (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2390.0)
Information about the route and riders (https://www.giroditalia.it/en/)

Apologies for the delay in posting. I was a bit distracted because Lüc and I were recording the second episode of Centraseiră, where we have a detailed discussion of all the teams participating!

Currently writing the update with the results of the time trial

So the first stage was an individual time trial in the region of Abruzzo. It started in Fossacesia Marina and ended with a short climbing section to Ortona. Already the first opportunity to make a difference in the general classification, it was won by Remco Evenepoel (MCB/GHS/CHX/DED/BDC), who proved why he is considered the favourite and will be wearing the Maglia Rosa tomorrow. Fastest on the climbing section was Brandon McNulty (MCB/VFL/KIN), who takes the lead in the King of the Mountains classification.

A great start for Els Gagnheirs. Strong performances by Ganna, who came second, Almeida, who finished third, Küng, Thomas, and Vlasov ensured the team from MM honoured their name and start TCAT with an early lead. Newcomers the Maricopa Cabana Boys also had a strong start. Meanwhile Els Averatxheirs were appropriately average. Another team making their debut, Dead Last from Vuode exceeded the expectations set by their name. Cézembre Fieschă had a less fortunate entry in TCAT. However, it is still very early. The first time trial usually is not all that representative of the stages that are to come and a lot can still happen. (Naziun Cjovani for example had a pretty bad start in the first edition and ended up winning.)

Standings after stage 1:

1. Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs - 699
2. The Maricopa Cabana Boys - 674
3. Gordon Hiatus Support Team - 656
4. Cyclohexane - 643
5. Port Maxhestic AC - 621
6. Dead Last - 594
7. els Averatxeirs - 591
8. Banqeu da Cézembre Pterodactyls - 536
9. Velociposse Florencia - 534
10. Kinetic Racing - 345
11. Cézembre Fieschă - 246

Tomorrow we get a pretty flat stage, moving along the coast from Teramo to San Salvo. This should be a good day for the sprint teams (CHX, ATX, BDC, KIN) to score points.

(I created this new thread yesterday, so it could start with the teams overview rather than the registration instructions. Of course everyone is more than welcome to comment on the race here as well)

Noooo Pedersen :(

That was disappointing

Well. My browser decided to freak out when I was typing the report and I lost everything :))))

It's coming tomorrow morning, I'm going to bed

Edit, quick recap: Ely won stage and TCAT lead due to being the only one to pick the stage winner, Jonathan Milan. Strong showing from MCBs and Gagnheirs again. Mass sprint tainted by a crash at about 3.8km to go which broke up the peloton and meant Pedersen couldn't contest for the win. Evenepoel stayed in the front and kept the pink jersey; most other frontrunners were left in the broken up second section and paid upwards of 19" to him.

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 07, 2023, 05:38:20 PMWell. My browser decided to freak out when I was typing the report and I lost everything :))))

It's coming tomorrow morning, I'm going to bed

Are you sure you weren't just upset at getting beaten by Ely ;)

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 08, 2023, 03:41:15 AM

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 07, 2023, 05:38:20 PMWell. My browser decided to freak out when I was typing the report and I lost everything :))))

It's coming tomorrow morning, I'm going to bed

Are you sure you weren't just upset at getting beaten by Ely ;)

Nah, I'm used to it, she handily beat me in F1 prediction challenge thingies both in 2021 and 2022, and I mostly only won this winter's alpine ski world cup prediction challenge because she forgot to lock in her weekend's picks more often than I did. I knew what I was getting into when I asked her to take part 🙃

Anyway: mostly-flat stage, so boring all the way until the last few kilometers.

As mentioned, Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN) was expected to do really well, but he was essentially cut off from the front by the wreck at 3.8km to go. (Still luckier than Daan Hoole (GHS), who was involved in the crash and turned up to the finish line last, over six minutes later.)

Pedersen's woes threw a spanner in the works of, well, the Pedersen TCAT teams that didn't have another sprinter, as he only picked up 7 points from the daily general classification payouts. Bad luck for Fieschă, Kinetic, Dead Last and Port Maxhestic then, with Mark Cavendish (DED/KIN) also out of contention and scoring 0.

Definitely better luck for Cyclohexane, one of just 1.2% of Velogames team to pick stage winner Jonathan Milan; and for MCB and BDC, both relying on P3 Kaden Groves as their lone and second sprinter respectively.

Meanwhile, Averatxeirs, Gagnheirs and Velociposse will be very glad Pascal Ackermann turned up to get a respectable P6; and closing out the lone sprinter teams, Fernando Gaviria (GHS) placed immediately behind on P7. Closing out the six TCAT riders scoring stage points, Gibbons (KIN) on P14 and Ganna (ATX/GNH) on P19.

Quick note on jerseys: Evenepoel stayed in the front pack post-crash and kept the maglia rosa; Milan will wear the maglia ciclamino (points classification leader); and the maglia blu goes to Paul Lapeira, first across both of today's lowly category 4 climbs for a payout of 6 KOM points.

Standings after stage 2:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+3)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	986	+343
2nd	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	962	+288
3rd	(-2)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	954	+255
4th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	857	+201
5th	(+2)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	815	+224
6th	(+2)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	791	+255
7th	(+2)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	751	+217
8th	(-3)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	742	+121
9th	(-3)	Dead Last (DED)	709	+115
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	460	+115
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	283	+37

Very quick "unofficial jersey" recap for TCAT, if we consider only Velogames points scored in the Points Classification and King of Mountains categories respectively.

(Of course calling it a points classification doesn't make much sense since the Velogames general classification is also points based... Let's call it the sprinters' classification instead, and call the other one climbers' classification for consistence.)

This should help highlighting what strategies the teams went for in the long run (ie., we expect three climber teams to lead the climbers' classification, and conversely two sprinter teams to do well in the sprinters' classification)

Sprinters: Of course Cyclohexane also leads this with 34 points, owing to their win today.

1. Cyclohexane (34)
2. Banqeu de Céz (26)
3. MCB & Dead Last (22)
5. GHST (21)
6. Gagnheirs (16)
7. Averatxeirs (10)
8. Port Maxh (8)
9. Velociposse (7)
10. Fieschă (1)
11. Kinetic (0)

Climbers: Velociposse is the leader, benefitting from an error by Giro organisers who erroneously wrote down Brandon McNulty as the fastest in the final intermediate of Saturday's ITT... Alas.

1. Velociposse (22)
2. GHST (14)
3. MCB, Kinetic (12)
5. Cyclohexane, Gagnheirs, Banqeu de Céz, Port Maxh, Dead Last (10)
10. Fieschă, Averatxeirs (0)

Question: if the sponsor of a team were to lose their citizenship, would that mean that the team below them would advance in place? If so, then @Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat hereby renounces his citizenship, and els Gagnheirs will rise.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 08, 2023, 07:17:25 AMQuestion: if the sponsor of a team were to lose their citizenship, would that mean that the team below them would advance in place? If so, then @Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat hereby renounces his citizenship, and els Gagnheirs will rise.

Nice try! You better hope Carlüs isn't rubber and this doesn't bounce back on you! "Breaking News: the Distain Renounces!"

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 08, 2023, 07:17:25 AMQuestion: if the sponsor of a team were to lose their citizenship, would that mean that the team below them would advance in place? If so, then @Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat hereby renounces his citizenship, and els Gagnheirs will rise.

HA! Nice try! You can't get rid of the Cabana Boys that easily!

(https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7btZCEiJhejcGBCE/giphy.gif)

Pedersen and Groves 2nd and 3rd and Pinot in the Maglia Azzurro.

This was a good day

Full update after points are revealed

Stage 3 Vasto -> Melfi

Today the peloton moved further south to the Lucanian town of Melfi. Another day for the sprinters, except this time there was a bit more climbing towards the end with two summits followed by a technical descent to the finish line. Some of the sprint teams used these summits to pull hard wreaking havoc among the peloton, leaving many potential stage winners behind, including Cavendish (DED/KIN), Ackermann(ATX/GNH/VFL), Gaviria (GHS), and yesterday's winner Milan (CHX).

So the stage ended with a sprint in a reduced peloton including only a couple sprinters and most of the GC favourites. Mads Pedersen (ATX,CHX,PTM,CFA,BDC,KIN) was the first of the TCAT riders across the line, followed by Groves (MCB,BDC), with Roglic (VFL,CFA) also doing well.

A lot more happened on the climb. Pinot made a show by attacking to get points on both summits, securing the Maglia Azzurro (jersey for the king of the mountains classification).

Bad news for the Averatxeirs and Els Gagnheirs as Filippo Ganna lost a lot of time and his position in the gc. Of course the upside is that he may now be free to go for stage victories. Another victim of the fast paced climbing was Brandon McNulty (VFL, MCB, KIN) who couldn't keep up and lost his status as GC contender.

All this meant a great day for the Cézembrean teams, especially BdC, who gained the most points due to Pedersen and Groves, jumping to second place overall. Fieschă also had a strong day. Sadly this was not enough to fully bridge the gap with any of the other teams, but at least they are a lot closer in the standings now. Finally, Cyclohexane had another good day, enough to stay in the lead.

On the flip side, GHST and Els Gagnheirs and the increasingly appropriately named Dead Last, whose sprinters did not keep up on the climb, had a pretty bad day.


Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1329	+353
2nd	(+4)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	1299	+518
3rd	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1272	+310
4th	(-1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	1123	+169
5th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1112	+287
6th	(+2)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1044	+312
7th	(-3)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1012	+155
8th	(-1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	973	+222
9th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	832	+133
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	807	+347
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	651	+368

(Not surprisingly after two sprint stages there are two sprint teams in the lead. However, nothing is decided until we get to the mountains.

Tomorrow we move west towards Campania in what should be the most interesting day so far. Remco Evenepoel has already said he wouldn't mind giving away the Maglia Rosa tomorrow (of course his goal is to win it in the end, but strategically it might not be unwise to leave it to someone else who is not a GC contender and then win in back in the mountain stages). That basically counts as a green light for a breakaway to succeed, which means there will be a lot of riders without GC ambitions who will want to be in that breakaway.

Three 2nd category summits promise mean the Maglia Azzurro will also be at play again. Finally an uphill finish will serve first to decide the stage winner but then also as a test for the GC contenders, which will tell us much about which riders are in the race to win and which aren't.

As for TCAT, the wide variety of riders who could potentiall win tomorrow means all teams have the potential to do really well or really poorly.

Just a quick reminder btw: in the first TCAT edition after three stages the lowest place team was on 589 points

nearly 1000 points behind the first placed team

The team that was on 589 ended up winning...

Thanks Glüc ! I therefore remain confident, even if I stay at the 'dead last' position (not all Cézembreans are gifted at sports !)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stage 4, first proper... hills? Not quite mountains, but still our first three category 2 climbs.

Well, Evenepoel wanted to lose the maglia rosa and so he did, to non-TCAT Andreas Leknessund. But it was another cyclist who took the stage win on top of Lago Laceno, Aurélien Paret-Peintre (BDC)! Banqeu de Cézembre pulls a Cyclohexane by taking advantage of picking the stage winner - but does so in a stage where none of the other teams was particularly lucky with picking riders involved in the breakaway.

As a result, they score big and propel themselves to an overall lead. Cyclohexane climbs down to P2; Gagnheirs regain P3 by just two points; MCB continue their slide to P4.

Making the most out of the situation is also Koen Bouwman, his P7 finish in front of the peloton helping  Gagnheirs and Kinetic to a second and fifth place respectively. Gagnheirs also benefits from  Top five is rounded out by Gordon Hiatus Support Team, third thanks to Vlasov (P10) and Geoghegan Hart (P13), and Dead Last in fourth, with Caruso (P8) and Barguil (bringing both intermediate sprint and breakaway points).

All in all though, just 108 points separate GHST in third from Cyclohexane in eleventh, pointing out how this was a day with one winner and ten scoring teams that simply were not lucky enough to have riders out in front.



Standings after stage 4:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	1679	+380
2nd	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1420	+91
3rd	(+1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	1380	+257
4th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1378	+106
5th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1261	+149
6th	(+1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1210	+198
7th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1194	+150
8th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1069	+96
9th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1005	+173
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	970	+163
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	768	+117

And since it's my turn to post tonight and I definitely don't have a podcast to go edit, sprinter & climber catchup!

Reminder: Sprinters' classification is daily points classification points ("PC" on Velogames) + intermediate sprint points ("Spr").
Climbers' classification is daily KOM classification points ("KOM") + summit points ("Sum").

Sprinters after stage 4:

1. Cyclohexane (80)
2. Banqeu de Céz (76)
3. MCB (53)
4. Dead Last (42)
5. GHST (36)
6. Gagnheirs (21)
7. Fieschă (18)
8. Averatxeirs & Velociposse (17)
10. Port Maxh (15)
11. Kinetic (12)

Climbers:

1. Banqeu de Céz (41)
2. Cyclohexane (35)
3. Fieschă (24)
4. Velociposse (23)
5. Gagnheirs (21)
6. GHST (16)
7. MCB & KIN (12)
9. Port Maxh & Dead Last (11)
11. Averatxeirs (0)

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 09, 2023, 03:03:33 PM1. Banqeu de Céz (41)
2. Cyclohexane (35)
3. Fieschă (24)

Pinot gang!

Stage 5 Atripalda -> Salerno

Holy macaroni, what a mess... The day started of poorly for Cézembre Fieschă, as Rémy Rochas was the first TCAT rider to withdraw, due to exhaustion, and did not appear at the start today. Not much happened for most of the stage. The breakaway never had much of a chence. There was an incident involving a dog that caused Evenepoel (CHX/MCB/GHS/BDC/DED) to hit the asphalt. Thankfully both Evenepoel and the dog are fine.

The chaos started in the final kilometers. As the peloton started gearing up for the bunch sprint in pretty bad weather conditions there was crash after crash.

First a big crash involving Roglic (CFA/VFL) and several others, which caused several riders stuck behind to get delayed. Most GC contenders, including Roglic himself, managed to get back to the front in time. However, Jay Vine (ATX/VFL/PTM/MCB/KIN) did not and lost about a minute.

Then there was another crash, this time involving Evenepoel again. This was within the final 3 kilometres, which means it will not affect GC standing. Finally, during the sprint Cavendish (DED/KIN) collided with another rider and crossed the finishline while sliding across the road. Somehow he still managed to end up fourth.

All in all a stage to quickly forget. As for the result:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fvx0bkSWIAA60jp?format=jpg&name=large)
_{(Posted by @AlpecinDCK on twitter. Not sure where they got it.)}


In front we have Groves (MCB/BDC) _{(in blue, centre left)}, who wins his first stage. Second place went to Milan (CHX) _{(in black, centre right)}. The podium was completed by Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN) _{(in red, left)}, who still hasn't won a stage despite high expectations. Just behind them we see Cavendish' bike horizontally crossing the line in what turned out to be fourth place (also due to another rider getting penalised). Behind Pedersen there is also the phone of a member of the public about to land.

All this means another good result for sprint oriented teams BdC and Cyclohexane, with BdC winning the stage and extending their lead. Kinetic Racing and the Maricopa Cabana Boys also did well, with Kinetic moving up to 7th place. Not a great day for GHST, Els Gagnheirs and the Velociposse though, because again their sprinters Gaviria(GHS) and Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL) did not manage to get involved in the sprint.

Other than BdC and Cyclohexane most teams will probably be looking forward to friday, when we finally get the first mountain stage.



Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	2194	+515
2nd	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1846	+426
3rd	(+1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1659	+281
4th	(+1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1476	+215
5th	(-2)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	1455	+75
6th	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1405	+211
7th	(+3)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1327	+357
8th	(-2)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1314	+104
9th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1207	+202
10th	(-2)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1139	+70
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	992	+224

Tomorrow we move further west to Naples, where the riders will cycle around the Vesuvius (Napoli -> Napoli). It's a stage that could go either way, with a finish that looks good for a bunch sprint (with hopefully better weather and fewer riders on the ground), but also a second category climb early on and some more climbing along the way that could favour a breakaway or lead to a reduced sprint.

So far it's not the Averatxheirs but Port Maxhestic that seems to be the most average team (although the teams are quite similar). I noticed they don't really get mentioned in the updates a lot (sorry Ian), but I guess that is because they seem to be pretty consistently around 6th place every stage so far.

Oh and I almost forgot:

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 09, 2023, 02:39:31 PMBut it was another cyclist who took the stage win on top of Lago Laceno, Aurélien Paret-Peintre (BDC)!

Yes, let's go! Finally an unclassed rider in my team who is not a disappointment.

Curses! Declining steadily... this cannot be borne! At this rate, no one's blood will spice my wine at all!

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 10, 2023, 03:56:21 PMSo far it's not the Averatxheirs but Port Maxhestic that seems to be the most average team (although the teams are quite similar). I noticed they don't really get mentioned in the updates a lot (sorry Ian), but I guess that is because they seem to be pretty consistently around 6th place every stage so far.

That's probably because my only strategy when picking the team was to avoid the really high-cost cyclists so I wouldn't be toast if they were injured or performed poorly. That may have resulted in me picking mostly very average team members.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 10, 2023, 05:11:45 PMCurses! Declining steadily... this cannot be borne! At this rate, no one's blood will spice my wine at all!

Well there was plenty of blood to be scraped of the asphalt today. A bit too spicy if you ask me.

Sliding on his back or walking on his hands carrying his bike in his teeth, I will happily take 140 points from a rider who had yet to put up any points for me LOL

Quote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on May 10, 2023, 07:13:43 PMwalking on his hands carrying his bike in his teeth

Folks, this should be TCAT 2024.

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 10, 2023, 05:27:01 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 10, 2023, 05:11:45 PMCurses! Declining steadily... this cannot be borne! At this rate, no one's blood will spice my wine at all!

Well there was plenty of blood to be scraped of the asphalt today. A bit too spicy if you ask me.

No kidding! Even that picture of the finish has someone going down right in the middle. It looks like a split second before disaster.

I think Cav went down in the finish.

Before the stage 6 recap, quick plug for episode 2 of Centraseiră featuring (mostly) me and Glüc presenting each team: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2418 (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2418)


Stage 6 Napoli -> Napoli

Now -- stage 6 featured a very scenic route around Scudetto-crazed Napoli. Lots of riders mending their wounds from yesterday, including Evenepoel (CHX/GHS/MCB/BDC/DED) himself, which some teams tried to take advantage of by making the peloton keep a high pace throughout. Indeed, the breakaway (five men initially, only two eventually) seemed to have a chance at winning, and maybe they could have made it in different circumstances, but was retaken at just 200m from the finish! On the other hand, many riders could not keep pace with the peloton and were dropped, losing significant time in the GC. This includes many TCAT riders, but nobody with real GC ambitions.

The stage win went to eternal mass sprint favourite Mads Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN), pipping several other TCAT riders right on the line - in order, Milan (CHX), Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL), Groves (MCB/BDC) and Gaviria (GHS). Also winning daily stage points, Jay Vine in P12 and Ryan Gibbons in P17.

Holding first and second, logically today's highest scorer is Cyclohexane, closely followed by Averatxeirs and Banqeu de Cézembre. All in all, not a big surprise that the four sprinter teams are top four, and more broadly, the six Pedersen teams are top six.

Well, maybe redemption will come in the first mountain stage of Giro tomorrow for the other teams! Watch out for the first 1st category climb of this edition as Giro arrives on of Italy's tallest mountain outside of the Alps, Gran Sasso.


Standings after Stage 6:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	2671	+477
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2340	+494
3rd	(+1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1953	+477
4th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1904	+245
5th	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1720	+315
6th	(-1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	1690	+235
7th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1650	+323
8th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1524	+210
9th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1401	+262
10th	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	1276	+284
11th	(-2)	Dead Last (DED)	1271	+64

Reminder: Sprinters' classification is daily points classification points ("PC" on Velogames) + intermediate sprint points ("Spr").
Climbers' classification is daily KOM classification points ("KOM") + summit points ("Sum").

Sprinters after stage 6: Much like Jonathan Milan himself, Cyclohexane still leads our own version of the points' classification. A little movement down below but no changes to the top 5.

1. Cyclohexane (116)
2. Banqeu de Céz (106)
3. MCB (69)
4. Dead Last (42)
5. GHST (36)
6. Fieschă (30)
7. Averatxeirs (29)
8. Port Maxh (27)
9. Kinetic (24)
10. Gagnheirs (21)
11. Velociposse (17)

Climbers: Same as above but even more so as there are no moves at all, with the Pinot teams obviously in front as the French rider still holds the maglia azzurra, and no climbing points have been given out by Velogames other than the daily KOM classification.

1. Banqeu de Céz (77)
2. Cyclohexane (59)
3. Fieschă (48)
4. Velociposse & Gagnheirs (21)
6. GHST (16)
7. MCB & Kinetic (12)
9. Port Maxh & Dead Last (11)
11. Averatxeirs (0)

Every year, I try to get people to gamble on this with me. No one ever will, and once again the outcome of the TCAT is proving that a lot of people are losing out on free money.

How the hell is my team on 3rd place? I mean, haha yes, just as planned.

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 11, 2023, 03:28:14 PMWatch out for the first 1st category climb of this edition as Giro arrives on of Italy's tallest mountain outside of the Alps, Gran Sasso.

Looking forward to this! Should be the most revealing day so far.

On the other hand, why can't we just keep doing sprint stages? Things were going so well...

I'm finally where I expected to be all along LOL

Today's stage finish (5 hours and a bit from now):

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 11, 2023, 04:47:34 PM

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 11, 2023, 03:28:14 PMWatch out for the first 1st category climb of this edition as Giro arrives on of Italy's tallest mountain outside of the Alps, Gran Sasso.

Looking forward to this! Should be the most revealing day so far.

Or not...

Stage 7 Capua -> Gran Sasso d'Italia

Right, so it appears my prediction was incorrect. Instead of the first real test for the contenders for the general classification, all the favourites kept their powder dry. Evenepoel, who already has a significant lead over most serious GC contenders due to the ITT, was content to keep the status quo. Apparently the others felt this was not the right moment for a serious challange.

So instead the peloton allowed the breakaway to make it to the finishline, which lost Pinot the Maglia Azzurro. None of the GC favourites lost any time. Only towards the very end of a long day of climbing there was an uphill sprint to determine the first TCAT rider across the finish. This turned out to be Evenepoel (CHX/GHS/MCB/BDC/DED), followed by Roglic (VFL/CFA), Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC), Thomas (GNH/KIN), and Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED).

As a result BdC again received the most points, followed by Cyclohexane. Three of the balanced-strategy teams (Els Averatxheirs, Port Maxhestic, Kinetic Racing) without Evenepoel or Roglic had a pretty bad day. However, Els Gagnheirs showed it's possible to do well without either, getting third most points due to the results of Thomas, Almeida, Vlasov, and Buitrago.

In the end we didn't learn all that much about who is going to win TCAT. However, for the teams not currently in the lead this may well turn out to have been an important missed opportunity.

The scenery was stunningly beautiful either way.

Standings after Stage 7:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	3125	+454
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2756	+416
3rd	(+1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2146	+242
4th	(-1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2080	+127
5th	(+1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2011	+321
6th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1916	+196
7th	(+1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1828	+304
8th	(-1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1787	+137
9th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1670	+269
10th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	1589	+313
11th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1582	+305

Tomorrow TCAT moves north through central Italy to the town of Fossombrone. It's an intermediate stage, which sort of resembles a classic. Not exactly a stage for GC riders. However, a couple of climbs near the end make it somewhat unlikely terrain for a bunch sprint as well, although someone like Pedersen could maybe still have a shot. Instead, the stage seems ideal terrain for either a breakaway or a late attack, which could suit a rider like, for example, Magnus Cort Nielsen (ATX/GNH/VFL/PTM/CFA/DED), or Ben Healy (BDC).

Some pretty disastrous news for Els Gagnheirs and Els Averatxeirs: Filippo Ganna has contracted covid and has withdrawn from TCAT. Ganna came second in the time trial on the first day and would have almost certainly made the podium on sunday, when there is another time trial planned. That's a lot of points to be missing out on.

Nooooooooooooooo

Stage 8 Terni -> Fossombrone

Quite a stunning performance by Ben Healy (BDC) yesterday, winning the stage after soloing on the first climb of the day after being in a breakaway group for most of the stage with several others, including Warren Barguil (DED), who also did well.

Behind them in the group of gc favourites a lot happened as well. On the last climb it was Roglic (VFL/CFA) who attacked and Evenepoel did not manage to keep up! Only Thomas (GNH/KIN) and Geoghegan Hart (GHS) managed to follow until the end, with Evenepoel (CHX/GHS/MCB/BDC/DED), Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED), and several others losing 15 seconds or more.

Evenepoel is still leading the main contenders for the Maglia Rosa, and will probably extend that lead today, but is looking a bit shaky.

The luck of BdC doesn't seem to end as they again scored the most points due to Healy's win. Dead Last also did well, coming in second with the points of Barguil and moving away from last place in the standings.

Looking ahead however, this stage also brought good news for the Velociraptors and Cézembre Fieschă, whose main GC man is clearly back in the race for the Maglia Rosa.

Standings after Stage 8:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	3499	+374
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2878	+122
3rd	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2263	+117
4th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2195	+115
5th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2151	+140
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2070	+154
7th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1979	+151
8th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1900	+113
9th	(+2)	Dead Last (DED)	1885	+303
10th	(-1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1849	+179
11th	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	1707	+118

Today, the TCAT riders literally cross the Rubicon, albeit from the wrong side. It's another individual time trial and long enough for there to be significant differences made in the gc. Evenepoel in particular will be looking to strike back after a difficult showing yesterday. Outside of the GC riders, who will all be looking for a good result, Küng (ATX/CHX/GNH/PTM/GHS/MCB/DED) is a potential favourite for the stagewin. Ganna would have been too, had he not contracted covid.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230514/fef87f56fc1486e03345444568beba6d.jpg)
Group photo of the Cézembre Fieschā team


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the Triple Crown (and probably the whole season) is slowly fading away for Kinetic.

Learn from my mistakes, kiddos. Do your research, scout the field, read the previews and you might stand a chance.

Still enjoying every minute of this, though.

Stage 9 Savignano sul Rubicone -> Cesena (ITT)

Very long individual time trial on the menu today. Remco Evenepoel (CHX/GHS/MCB/BDC/DED), winner of the inaugural ITT, was expected to potentially do even better than that in terms of time gained from his direct GC contenders. On the other hand, he had a pretty torrid week after that, crashing on a couple of occasions, most notably in stage 6 after a collision with a dog, and losing time to Primož Roglič in the first real attack among GC contenders yesterday.

Well, Evenepoel did win and snatch the GC lead back, but just barely - just one second quicker than Geraint Thomas (GNH/KIN) and two seconds quicker than Tao Geoghegan Hart (GHS), over 35km/22mi of road. A further two seconds back, ITT specialist Stefan Küng (ATX/CHX/GNH/PTM/GHS/MCB/DED).

Maglia rosa at the start, non-TCAT Andreas Leknessund, was never supposed to do well and was basically guaranteed to lose the jersey, but he still managed a pretty respectable P19, which is enough to stay in the top 5 of the GC. Also not doing well, Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED), who is undoubtedly the biggest loser of the day.

(stopped writing here)



Standings after Stage 9:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	3958	+459
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	3383	+505
3rd	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2971	+708
4th	(+3)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2695	+716
5th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2679	+528
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2585	+515
7th	(-3)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2527	+332
8th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	2440	+555
9th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2199	+350
10th	(-2)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2192	+292
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	1948	+241

Right, "stopped writing here" on the post above is how far I got writing the update before reading on Twitter that Remco Evenepoel has tested positive for Covid-19 and will be leaving Giro.

Rip to all Evenepoel teams :(

Holy Macaroni!

Anyone thinking this was over in any way was speaking too soon.

Five teams just got decapitated.

Including BdC

I was finally gonna win one :(

Quote from: Ian Plätschisch on May 10, 2023, 05:21:48 PM

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 10, 2023, 03:56:21 PMSo far it's not the Averatxheirs but Port Maxhestic that seems to be the most average team (although the teams are quite similar). I noticed they don't really get mentioned in the updates a lot (sorry Ian), but I guess that is because they seem to be pretty consistently around 6th place every stage so far.

That's probably because my only strategy when picking the team was to avoid the really high-cost cyclists so I wouldn't be toast if they were injured or performed poorly. That may have resulted in me picking mostly very average team members.

Well this is suddenly looking like a pretty solid strategy...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

:( :( :(

So Els Gagnheirs are currently the highest ranked team who didn't throw 26 credits away on Evenepoel (the top 4 all had him). I wonder how the wine is tasting...

I am a humble and quiet man, not given to boasting or celebrating a turn of fortune.

So I take it there is no way to replace riders who are no longer participating?

Does anyone know if Stefan Küng also tested positive for Covid? I see he did not start either.

Quote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on May 15, 2023, 07:43:04 AMSo I take it there is no way to replace riders who are no longer participating?

I'm afraid so.

Velogames does run a second competition (stage hunter league), which starts out from the same 9 riders you picked for classic, but where you can make up to 9 transfers. I'm actually thinking of having a go at that now. However this does not count for TCAT, which is just based on the classic ranking.

So yeah, bad luck I'm afraid :(

Thankfully there's always the next leg, where everyone can select a new team again...

Quote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on May 15, 2023, 10:50:55 AMDoes anyone know if Stefan Küng also tested positive for Covid? I see he did not start either.

Oof. Today is a rest day but apparently Küng won't be starting tomorrow either. Not covid. Apparently he just withdrew because he's was only there for the time trials and now wants to rest. No regard for his TCAT teams :(

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 15, 2023, 12:56:35 PM

Quote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on May 15, 2023, 10:50:55 AMDoes anyone know if Stefan Küng also tested positive for Covid? I see he did not start either.

Oof. Today is a rest day but apparently Küng won't be starting tomorrow either. Not covid. Apparently he just withdrew because he's was only there for the time trials and now wants to rest. No regard for his TCAT teams :(

They are out to get me, two of my top three points guys are out LOL

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on May 15, 2023, 12:56:35 PM

Quote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on May 15, 2023, 10:50:55 AMDoes anyone know if Stefan Küng also tested positive for Covid? I see he did not start either.

Oof. Today is a rest day but apparently Küng won't be starting tomorrow either. Not covid. Apparently he just withdrew because he's was only there for the time trials and now wants to rest. No regard for his TCAT teams :(

How inconsiderate!

Today was a rest day. I was going to do a full dive into classifications and virtual standings maybe, but I didn't really got around for you.

I did want to share this:

IF the classification standings remain as they are right now (spoiler: they won't), this is how many extra points each team would get from the final rankings after the final stage:

Gagnheirs - 1400
Velociposse - 1250
BdC - 1180
Port Maxhestic - 1110
Fiescha - 1090
Kinetic - 990
GHST - 980
Averatxeirs - 920
Dead Last - 800
Cyclohexane - 760
Copacabana Boys - 620

Something to keep in mind when interpreting the standings. Of course a lot will change between now and then. I'll try to give a fuller summary of the situation in the various classification standings if I have some more time.

This edition has really been a roller coaster, emotionally.

As for the Evenepoel situation, this will obviously have a big impact. All of this has already been mentioned here or in the discord, but to give a quick summary:

Evenepoel would maybe have scored another ca. 2000 points in the final 1,5 week (including final points). These points will now go elsewhere, especially to other GC contenders.

As a result this is especially good news for non-Evenepoel that spent lots of points on riders like Thomas, Roglic or Geoghegan Hart, and especially bad news for Evenepoel teams that spent many points elsewhere.

Either way it will take a while for the effect of this, whatever it is, to become noticeable as the next three stages aren't necessarily GC territory, because there isn't enough climbing to make a difference. After that, starting on friday, we go into the mountains, and then, well, brace yourselves...

Tomorrow however will likely just be another good day for the sprint teams. The stage begins with a fair amount of climbing, but then the final half is mostly flat as we move into northern Tuscany.

Oof, when it rains it pours I guess. Now Vlasov is out!!!

Current in sixth place in GC, this is a major loss for Gagnheirs, Averatxeirs, Port Maxhestic and Fiescha, but especially terrible for GHST, who now lost both their allrounders (and Küng as well)!

The emotional rollercoaster continues...

Velociraptors and Kinetic the only two teams that are still complete.

Nooooooooooo!

What is happening!? This Giro has been so freaking wild!

Stage 10 Scandiano -> Viareggio

Well, as hinted here and elsewhere, a massive 9 riders did not start today's stage, including TCAT riders Küng and Evenepoel, and a further 4 riders started but did not finish, including Aleksandr Vlasov (ATX/GNH/PTM/GHS/CFA).

This was another rain-plagued, somewhat chaotic stage with several crashes, and a three-man breakaway that seemed to be doomed but ultimately succeeded: Magnus Cort (ATX/GNH/VFL/PTM/CFA/DED) ultimately claimed the top spot, while the peloton sprint for P4 saw Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC) beat out Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL, P5), points classification leader Milan (CHX, P7) and Cavendish (DED/KIN, P8). Also claiming stage points further back in the bunch, Kämna (GHS/BDC/VFL, P14) and Bettiol (CHX, P19).

No GC changes up top, Thomas (GNH/KIN, today P22) still holding the maglia rosa, with one exception: Jay Vine (ATX/VFL/PTM/MCB/KIN) was dropped from the peloton and ended up losing around 10 minutes from the top contenders, all but removing him from the fight for the lead. He could still go for stage wins, of course.

Logically, it's the Cort teams that lead the day, with Averatxeirs claiming the daily points win courtesy of the Cort-Pedersen-Ackermann trio, ahead of a chasing quartet of Velociposse, Port Maxhestic, Fieschă and Gagnheirs.

Standings after Stage 10:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	4211	+253
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	3695	+312
3rd	(+2)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3134	+455
4th	(+3)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3104	+575
5th	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3046	+461
6th	(-3)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3021	+50
7th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	2843	+403
8th	(-4)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2799	+104
9th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2677	+478
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2473	+281
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	2408	+460

Giro is turning into an elimination race.

8 more nonstarters this morning including Tesfatsion (VFL), and now 5 Ineos fell in the same bend, with Tao Geoghegan Hart (GHS) the only one unable to get up, probably injured, brought away on a stretcher, obviously another early retirement. Sivakov (ATX) was also hurt but is still going as far as I can tell.

Shortly after, another crash caused a retirement for non-TCAT Oscar Rodriguez who was clipped between two riders, fell and hit a street post.

What the hell is happening in Italy.

Retirements by TCAT team at the halfway point of Giro (very liable of a further update later depending on what happens to Sivakov and potentially others):
- GHST 4/9: Küng, Vlasov, Evenepoel, Geoghegan Hart
- Averatxeirs 3/9: Küng, Vlasov, Ganna
- Cyclohexane 2/9: Küng, Evenepoel
- Gagnheirs 2/9: Küng, Vlasov
- Port Maxhestic 2/9: Küng, Vlasov
- MCB 2/9: Küng, Evenepoel
- Fieschă 2/9: Vlasov, Rochas
- Dead Last 2/9: Evenepoel, Küng
- Velociposse 1/9: Tetsfatsion
- Banqeu de Céz 1/9: Evenepoel
- Kinetic 0/9

I don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 17, 2023, 11:27:40 AMI don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

She's over in Italy throwing sticks between spokes.

Stage 11 Camaiore -> Tortona

Well it's been a brutal giro so far. A combination of heavy rains, cold temperatures, treacherous roads, and covid still going around caused many riders to get sick, crash, or give up. It's not unusual for some percentage of riders to withdraw, especially in the final week, but usually not this many, and we're only halfway! Also it's unfortunate how many of those withdrawals are high profile riders that most of us really wanted to see perform in the mountain stages.

Today's stage was long, but not particularly interesting, moving north along the Ligurian coast to Tortona, in Piemonte, with only a bit of climbing along the way. As usual there was a breakaway, but they didn't make it, so we got another bunch sprint. Groves (MCB/BDC) was absent again, having yet another off day and arriving 10 minutes behind the peloton. All the other sprinters were there and this time it was Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL) who was the fastest, followed by Milan (CHX), Cavendish (DED/KIN) and Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN).

Another stagewin for the Averatxeirs, who have been performing decidedly above average these last couple stages. Another good score for Cyclohexane as well, shrinking the gap to first place. Kinetic racing, the only team to still be completely intact, got the third most points. The Cabana Boys had another bad day, but not as bad as GHST, who were looking a strong contender a couple of stages ago and then saw basically their entire team collapse in the span of a four days.

Standings after Stage 11:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	4459	+248
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	4090	+395
3rd	(+1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3525	+423
4th	(-1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3450	+316
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3270	+224
6th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3099	+78
7th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	3088	+245
8th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3017	+340
9th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2866	+67
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2864	+391
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	2609	+201

Tomorrow we move further north, getting closer and closer to the Alps. It should be an interesting day, with a 2nd category climb close enough to the finish that this feels like a stage where an attack could be succesful.

Update on the "expected" final classification points. Obviously the withdrawals of Vlasov and Geoghegan Hart had quite an impact on the standings.

Thomas (GNH/KIN) is still wearing the Maglia Rosa, but Roglic (VFL/CFA) is only 2 seconds behind, followed by Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED) on 22". Caruso (DED) on 1'28" and Kämna (VFL/GHS/BDC) on 1'52" are also still in the race for the podium. The differences are small, but the real test will be in the final week.

In the points classification Milan (CHX) is now on 164 points and extended his lead  today on Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN) and Groves (MCB/BDC), who are on 128 and 100. Milan is now the clear favourite to win the Maglia Ciclamino. As for the King of the Mountains, the vast majority of points will be a scored in the final week, so we may not even know who the contenders are yet, but Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC) is the TCAT rider with the most points so far.

Expected extra final classification points at current standings:

Velociposse - 1410
Gagnheirs - 1365
BdC - 1330
Port Maxhestic - 1040
Dead Last - 1010
Cyclohexane - 975
Fiescha - 975
Kinetic - 955
Copacabana Boys - 660
Averatxeirs - 570
GHST - 375

Based on this, the actual standing, and my impression of the teams (and what's left), I'd say Velociposse, Els Gagnheirs, BdC and Cyclohexane are the main contenders to win this edition, with Kinetic a potential dark horse due their fully complete team. GHST on the other hand should probably hope for better luck in France or Spain later this year.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 17, 2023, 11:27:40 AMI don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

(https://i.imgur.com/iGiUX2Y.png)

Fiován gang rise up.

@Breneir Tzaracomprada , please fire this man. Then exile.

I doubt Kinetic will take the top spot. However, given the insanity that we've seen, it's not completely out of the question.

Quote from: Bråneu Excelsio on May 17, 2023, 04:38:42 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 17, 2023, 11:27:40 AMI don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

(https://i.imgur.com/iGiUX2Y.png)

Fiován gang rise up.

I don't know what all this is about, but YES SIR

fiovastrong.png

Can the race director get the riff raff out of here?

(JK, you can stay as long as you're Kinetic supporters.)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ritirato Groves (MCB/BDC)

That's massively disappointing.

Every day Luc or Gluc will post something like, "Oof, that turn for Miravolicin really hurt him on the Vitallipop stretch.  I can't believe what happened to Kil-Grirgr, either!"  And then I try to look it up on cycling news, get lost, and have to wait for the explanation with great anxiety.

Did Groves quit?

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 18, 2023, 08:56:40 AMEvery day Luc or Gluc will post something like, "Oof, that turn for Miravolicin really hurt him on the Vitallipop stretch.  I can't believe what happened to Kil-Grirgr, either!"  And then I try to look it up on cycling news, get lost, and have to wait for the explanation with great anxiety.

Did Groves quit?

My sentiments exactly lol

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 18, 2023, 08:56:40 AMDid Groves quit?

Yes :(

Looks like Harm is out as well. Both riders seem to have gastric issues and fatigue. Possibly influenza?

I have to express my ignorance. Is this normal for a bunch of riders to drop out in the first few weeks?

I can't remember when there were this many scratches. This Giro really has been strange.

Quote from: Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat on May 18, 2023, 11:02:39 AMI have to express my ignorance. Is this normal for a bunch of riders to drop out in the first few weeks?

Yes and no. There will always be dropouts in a grand tour, for various reasons. When you do a three week, 3000+ km cycling race, there are gonna be incidents.

However, I agree with Audrada that there have been unusually many this year. Especially since we're only in the second week (obviously a crash can happen at any time, but usually the third week is when the exhaustion and the little pains and aches really start to add up and take its toll. Also, some people who know they aren't gonna be winning anything, maybe because their form isn't what they hoped it would be, might just give up at some point). I also think we're unfortunate in that a lot of the dropouts have been high scoring tcat riders.

Clearly the weather hasn't helped, but I'm not sure thats the only explanation.

Ok, I looked up some statistics

In the past 10 Giro editions, on average 19% of riders dropped out
In the past 10 Tour de France editions, on average 17% of riders dropped out
In the past 10 Vuelta editions, on average 20% of riders dropped out

The worst GT in the past 10 year was the Vuelta in 2013, where 54 out of 198 riders (27%) dropped out.

The best was the Vuelta in 2018, when 18 out of 176 (10%) dropped out.

However, this is over three weeks, and as mentioned, most dropouts are in the final week and at least some part of that will be demoralised riders who are not in form who give up after a while, or riders who simply can't keep up and come in after the time limit for a stage, which is also unfortunate, but doesnt have as big an impact as someone who is still in for the win getting sick or crashing out.

Currently we are at 40 dropouts out of 176  (23%) and we're only in week 2!

Stage 12 Bra -> Rivoli

A stage that could somewhat have gone one of several ways going in: some hills to begin, a mostly flat middle section, and a category 2 summit 20km before the finish. Plenty of space for a breakaway, but still a chance that the peloton might keep close enough to absorb it after the last mountain and lead to another mass sprint.

As it turned out, no, no chance for any of our very tired sprinters to keep up, and indeed poor Kaden Groves (MCB/BDC) is our latest retirement. Luckily the toll from this stage is just four DNS/DNFs, which compared to a combined 23 retirements from the last two stages is a relief.

No, this was a day for a breakaway. And what a breakaway it was: a massive 26 riders escaped early on and took control of the stage, later fracturing further into a leading trio including TCAT rider Berwick (VFL), a gaggle of riders in pursuit including Bettiol (CHX), Hessmann (KIN) and Kuss (CHX/GHS/CFA), and various other riders inbetween. The stage win ultimately went to Bora's Nico Denz; Berwick finished P3, Bettiol P7, Hessmann P9 and Kuss P15. No other TCAT rider got stage points, as the peloton arrived P26 onwards, but Mads Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN) did win the intermediate sprint early on, giving him 12 much needed points towards his pursuit of Jonathan Milan (CHX) in the points' classification (the maglia ciclamino).

As for ourselves, we have a rare shared victory between Velociposse and Cyclohexane, but overall it was a very low scoring affair, with a majority of team not getting into the triple digits.

Standings after Stage 12:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	4579	+120
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	4364	+274
3rd	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3607	+82
4th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3536	+86
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3365	+95
6th	(+2)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3291	+274
7th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3150	+51
8th	(-1)	Dead Last (DED)	3148	+64
9th	(+1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	3077	+213
10th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2963	+97
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	2785	+176

Tomorrow, finally, we get to the Alps! Three first category climbs, so Velogames points on offer for each, and big chances of shakeups in the King of Mountains classification. Tell your climbers to get ready!

No St. Bernard pass, due to the risk of snow and avalanches, so the highest summit will instead be the finish of stage 19 next Friday. We still get a long but reduced climb there, but passing through the tunnel instead of the actual summit of the pass; the Croix de Coeur later; and the uphill finish at Crans-Montana.

Definitely a stage to get excited for; the action is getting real. Sadly, without Evenepoel, Gegoghegan Hart, Vlasov and many other retirements.

(https://www.procyclingstats.com/images/profiles/ap/ce/giro-d-italia-2023-stage-13-profile-n4-4d95f956bd.jpg)

Lastly, very overdue look at our unofficial sprinters' and climbers' classifications. Usual reminders:

• Sprinters' classification is daily points classification points ("PC" on Velogames) + intermediate sprint points ("Spr").
• Climbers' classification is daily KOM classification points ("KOM") + summit points ("Sum").

Sprinters after stage 12:

• Cyclohexane still in control thanks to Jonathan Milan; BDC's assault to the leadership is definitely called off now that Groves is out.
• Further behind, Averatxeirs reaps Ackermann's rewards, and Fieschă is surprisingly strong thanks to a TCAT-best 50 points from intermediate sprints.
• MCB could also have hoped in Groves to help clinch a strong finish in this classification at least, but his retirement will sadly preclude that.

1. Cyclohexane (247)
2. Banqeu de Céz (205)
3. Averatxeirs (118)
4. Fieschă (109)
5. MCB (107)
6. Port Maxh (106)
7. Kinetic (81)
8. Dead Last (66)
9. Gagnheirs (53)
10. Velociposse (49)
11. GHST (38)

Climbers:

• Again, not much has happened yet. All but 24 of these points are from the daily KOM standings, so the Pinot teams obviously reap the rewards of his early days in the maglia azzurra.
• BDC also has both Almeida and Paret-Peintre, and Cyclohexane has Almeida.
• This will obviously change greatly (assuming TCAT riders do get those Velogames summit points!) from tomorrow onwards, as Giro tackles the Alps and the many first category summits to come.

1. Banqeu de Céz (139)
2. Cyclohexane (111)
3. Fieschă (98)
4. Velociposse (25)
5. Gagnheirs (23)
6. GHST (20)
7. MCB (16)
8. Dead Last (15)
9. Kinetic (12)
10. Port Maxh (11)
11. Averatxeirs (0)

noooooooooooo
Ritirato Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN)

:(

Fuck! Now Mads is out?!

This Giro is turning into an elimination race. Last man standing wins.

Stage 13 Borgofranco d'Ivrea -> Crans Montana

Well six teams got some pretty bad news again as Pedersen woke up sick and withdrew.

After that the stage was actually quite interesting. The bad weather conditions caused the organisers to shrink the stage down to 75 kilometers, transporting all riders by bus into Switzerland and starting at the bottom of what was supposed to be the second climb. As a result of that the racing was on as soon as the stage started and the peloton was torn apart in the first few kilometers. One group managed to get away, including Thibault Pinot (CHX/BDC/DED), who was arrived first on the Croix de Coeur to score a lot of KOM points.

After that there was a pretty dangerous descent over wet, small, bendy roads in poor condition, surrounded by snow. Thankfully riders were sensible enough to ride carefully and no further accidents happened.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwfue79WcAMAXTm?format=jpg&name=large)
_{Pinot leading the descent from Croix de Coeur (credit:Eurosport/GCN)}

The group managed to stay away for the remainder of the race, with Pinot being the first TCAT rider across the line and regaining the Maglia Azzurra (KoM classification jersey). In the favourites group, Carthy (PTM/DED) attacked on the final climb and managed to gain a couple seconds. Caruso (DED) also tried, but failed to get away. Thomas (GNH/KIN) and his teammates managed stay in complete control, losing no time to any serious contenders and limiting the time lost to the attackers. He will keep the Maglia Rosa. Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED) won the sprint in the favourites group but also didn't gain any time.

A good day for the Pinot gang, with BdC scoring the most points, followed by Cyclohexane and Cézembre Fieschă, although all three teams will also be hurting from the loss of Pedersen. At the same time, Velociposse and Els Gagnheirs, who should have better teams left for the mountain stages may be slightly disappointed as they didn't get closer to first place in the standings. Two good days for Els Averatxeirs were followed by a pretty bad day as they scored barely any points and drop back to fourth place. GHST, as expected due to being hit the hardest by the withdrawals so far, are now dead last.

Standings after Stage 13:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	5036	+457
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	4800	+436
3rd	(+1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3809	+273
4th	(-1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3643	+36
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3622	+257
6th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3585	+294
7th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	3456	+308
8th	(+1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	3235	+158
9th	(-2)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3228	+78
10th	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	3198	+413
11th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3103	+140

Tomorrow we have another intermediate stage, which will probably end in a bunch sprint (which would be bad news for BDC, MCB, PTM, and CFA who now suddenly have no sprinters left). However, the peloton will have to get out of Switzerland first, which involves going over a first category climb and may help give an early attack a sizeable headstart.

The fight for the general classification (Maglia Rosa) is still wide open. Not much changed since last update. Thomas (GNH/KIN) continues to hold the lead, but Roglic (VFL/CFA) is close behind, and several others are still in with a chance.

A lot did change in the points classification (Maglia Ciclamino), as both the second (Pedersen, ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC), and third (Groves, MCB/BDC) placed rider dropped out, which means Milan (CHX) is now pretty much ensured to win, if he finishes the race.

In the king of the mountains classification (Maglia Azzurra) Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC) took back the lead and is now looking like the main contender. There are still many points remaining in the final stages however, so pretty much every good climber still has a chance to win.

Expected extra final classification points at current standings:

Gagnheirs - 1460
Velociposse - 1440
BdC - 1115
Fiescha - 1050
Dead Last - 1020
Cyclohexane - 980
Kinetic - 945
Port Maxhestic - 805
Copacabana Boys - 495
GHST - 420
Averatxeirs - 375

BdC are still ahead if you add these to the current standings, although obviously the loss of both Pedersen and Groves since last update has been quite a blow. As a result, looking at the stages to come, I think Cyclohexane may now be the favourites due to the expected results of Milan. Els Gagnheirs and Velociposse are also still in a very good position, but will need to get a big result in one of the mountain stages. That didn't happen today, but could still happen in stages 15,16,18,19 or 20.

Behind those four teams, Dead Last, Cézembre Fiescha, Kinetic and maybe Port Maxhestic can all still hope for a top 5 spot, or even higher in case there are more surprises or one of these team gets a really good result in a stage. Of course, Fiescha is only 10th still, so this is still very speculative and there is no guarantee these points will actually come.

Els Averatxeirs are currently in fourth, but will likely drop more places in the mountain stages as they are badly affected by some of the dropouts.

The same goes for the Cabana Boys and GHST, who are probably the most likely contenders for last place.

Of course, there are still eight stages to come and there is a lot that can happen. Best to take this analysis with a grain of salt

I'd be happy with a top 5 finish.

At this point I wouldn't mind finishing last if Cyclohexane wins, so at least we keep the pattern of teams from B-word province being first and last in all editions :p

(http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0953/8632/products/Where_is_My_Cabana_Boy_sticker_800x.jpg?v=1550777036)

Stage 14 Sierre -> Cassano Magnago

Today's stage was mostly flat except for the Sempione Pass, a category 1 climb straddling the Swiss-Italian border.

Pretty low scoring affair, due to a large breakaway that initially involved several TCAT riders: Bettiol (CHX), Armirail (PTM/MCB), Gaviria (GHS), Barta (BDC) and Barguil (DED). Ultimately, only Bettiol, third, Barguil, eleventh, and Armirail, fifteenth, stayed in it enough to get stage points, though all five won breakaway points. Logically then, it's Cyclohexane who wins the day, and the only other teams to break 100 points are Port Maxhestic, MCB and Dead Last.

The peloton definitely took it easy today, finishing a whopping 21 minutes later... too much for Geraint Thomas (GNH/KIN) to hold on to maglia rosa, which goes to Bruno Armirail (PTM/MCB) by about a minute and a half! We had just witnessed evergreen Thibaut Pinot (BDC/CHX/CFA) stake his claim to yesterday's stage, the KOM classification and perhaps even the general classification, and now it turns out Groupama-FDJ has another GC contender in Armirail.
Will he be able to carry momentum into tomorrow and last week, and stay in the battle for a would-be first Grand Tour win against so-far favourites Thomas and Roglic?

Standings after Stage 14:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	5132	+96
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	5050	+250
3rd	(+1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3880	+71
4th	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3751	+129
5th	(-1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3668	+25
6th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3665	+80
7th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	3587	+131
8th	(+1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3348	+120
9th	(-1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	3275	+40
10th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	3268	+70
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3155	+52

Seeing how crappy the Gordon Hiatus Support Team is doing, I'm regretting not having a Cjovani team this time around...! (Probably wouldn't do much better, tho. The Cjovani Team Advisor, whose suggestions led us to victory in the first ever match, has lost interest in cycling. And his advice was vital to our success.)

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 20, 2023, 04:49:06 PMtoo much for Geraint Thomas (GNH/KIN) to hold on to maglia rosa, which goes to Bruno Armirail (PTM/MCB) by about a minute and a half!

Wow, Armirail! I did not see that coming. Does that mean Port Maxhestic is back in the race for the podium now? Maybe...

McNulty gets the win!

Stage 15 Seregno -> Bergamo

Today we got a stage that is somewhat reminiscent of Il Lombardia, a classic that is anually held in the same region and is considered one of the five cycling monuments.

With various climbs along the way and a restday tomorrow there was enough opportunity for gc contenders to attack. However, for most of the race they seemed content letting Armirail (MCB/PTM) keep the maglia rosa. Instead we got an succesful early breakaway with several riders including Healy (BDC), McNulty (VFL/MCB/KIN), and Berwick (VFL). Berwick couldn't keep up with the rest and was caught back by the peloton. Healy and McNulty however made it to the finish together after several attempts to attack failed. In the end it was McNulty who won the stage in the sprint.

Behind them Armirail did end up losing 33" after an attack by Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED) and Roglic (VFL/CFA), but this was not enough to lose the pink jersey. Almeida ended up winning the sprint in the group of favourites, which also included most other GC contenders except for Armirail.

A big win for the Velociposse, scoring the most points and climbing to the third place in the standings, but also an important second place for BdC, extending their lead over Cyclohexane. The other McNulty teams, Kinetic, and the Copacabana Boys, also did well.


Standings after Stage 15:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	5462	+330
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	5166	+116
3rd	(+3)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4078	+413
4th	(-1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	4030	+150
5th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3887	+136
6th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	3736	+149
7th	(-2)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3714	+46
8th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3662	+314
9th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	3594	+319
10th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	3339	+71
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3176	+21

Tomorrow the riders will have a very well deserved rest day after a harsh second week, but on tuesday we continue with the most challenging stage so far, moving northeast from Lombardy to Trentino. A stage with 5 summits ending on the first category Monte Bondone. Only very strong climbers can win here. Maybe we'll finally see Roglic, Thomas or Almeida win a stage.

Our time has come.
(https://i.ibb.co/64Cbx66/velociposse.png) (https://ibb.co/zSvbYKK)

I shall fill the rest day with more side classification updates. Usual reminders:

• Sprinters' classification is daily points classification points ("PC" on Velogames) + intermediate sprint points ("Spr").
• Climbers' classification is daily KOM classification points ("KOM") + summit points ("Sum").

Both classifications are largely unchanged, but as you might notice from the length of my writeups, one has largely played out and the other has lots of opportunities for shakeups.

Sprinters' classification after stage 15

• Increasingly few chances to shoot for a high placement: of six stages, just 17 and 21 are sprinter oriented, where a sprinter would be expected to get a high stage finish and move the board on the maglia ciclamino standings (which yields daily points classification points).
• Even the intermediate sprints by now might be quite unfeasible for true sprinters, especially when there's one or more climbs to get there.
• I think Cyclohexane has this in the bag, and BdC can also reasonably expect to defend P2.

1. Cyclohexane (283)
2. Banqeu de Céz (205)
3. Averatxeirs (140)
4. Fieschă (111)
5. Port Maxh (108)
6. MCB (107)
7. Kinetic (81)
8. Gagnheirs (75)
9. Velociposse (71)
10. Dead Last (68)
11. GHST (38)

Climbers' classification

• We have three proper mountain stages coming up + a climbing ITT, with a whopping 7 category 1 climbs, each yielding Velogames points to the first five riders to cross (first gets 15).
• Also coming up is stage 19's finish, which is the highest summit of this year's Giro: the first eight riders will get a sizable amount of points (30-25-20-15-10-6-4-2).
• The KOM classification (maglia azzurra) is looking like a four-way fight between Davide Bais, Einer Rubio, Thibaut Pinot and Ben Healy.
• Due to holding both Pinot and Healy, BdC looks like the favourite to retain their current lead to the finish.
• Healy's sudden appearance in particular is an obvious death blow to Cyclohexane, who basically need to pin all their hopes on Bettiol (not exactly a climber) or Kuss (who is probably needed to help Roglic).
• Fieschă may be in a better position because of holding Roglic: if he is to contest the overall Giro win, he surely must be scoring at least some KOM points in the coming stages. Cyclohexane will need Almeida to do well to at least keep their current standing.
• Not only that, BDC also holds Aurelien Paret-Peintre, who's tenth in the KOM classification (daily KOM points are paid out to the top 6). To be fair though, Armirail, Berwick and McNulty are right behind him, so there's a fair chance to get some precious extra points for Velociposse, MCB, Port Maxhestic and Kinetic.

1. Banqeu de Céz (209)
2. Cyclohexane (162)
3. Fieschă (146)
4. Velociposse (35)
5. MCB (30)
6. Gagnheirs (23)
7. Port Maxh (21)
8. GHST (20)
9. Kinetic (16)
10. Dead Last (15)
11. Averatxeirs (0)

So two weeks down, one week to go. Time to have another look at the classifications
EDIT: I didn't know Lüc was also doing the TCAT sprinters and climbers classification today, so I guess you all are lucky because you get double the usual amount of analysis today!

Here I will look at the current individual classification standings and what that means the likely final extra classification points, and say a bit about which team is currently favourite to win overall (spoiler: it's me again :p)

General classification (Maglia Rosa):
_{Top 30 score final classification points, final winner scores 600}
1. Armirail  (PTM/MCB)
2. Thomas (GNH/KIN) +1'08"
3. Roglic (VFL/CFA) +1'10"
4. Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED) +1'30"
6. Caruso (DED) +2'36"
7. Kämna (VFL/GHS/BDC) +3'02"
9. Arensman (MCB) +3'55"
11. Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC) +4'23"
12. Carthy (PTM/DED) +4'26"
13. A. Paret-Peintre (BDC) +4'30"
15. Buitrago (GNH) +6'22"
17. Haig (ATX/PTM/MCB) +7'48"
20. Kuss (CHX/GHS/CFA) +10'53"
21. Barguil (DED) +12'10"

Points classification (Maglia Ciclamino):
_{Top 10 score final classification points, final winner scores 120}
1. Milan (CHX) 164 pts
3. Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL) 88 pts
7. Cort (ATX/GNH/VFL/PTM/CFA/DED) 56 pts
9. Cavendish (DED/KIN) 51 pts

Mountain classification (Maglia Azzurra):
_{Top 10 score final classification points, final winner scores 120}
3. Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC) 114 pts
4. Healy (BDC) 108 pts
10. A. Paret-Peintre (BDC) 22 pts

We haven't really gotten any stage where the GC has exploded yet. Instead Armirail out of nowhere scored 21 minutes in a breakaway and jumped to first place. The question is how long will he last in that position before one of the favourites attacks and wins enough time to take the Maglia Rosa (Roglic or Thomas are probably the best placed to do so). Few seem to think he will wear the Maglia Rosa in Rome, but we'll see. Stranger things have happened. In the mountain classification a lot can still happen. The winner of the points classification has pretty much been decided, unless Milan drops out.

As a result of the events in the gc, Port Maxhestic is now the team that would score the most final points with these standings. That would be enough to put them in third place overall. However, a lot of that depends on the points scored by Armirail, who is likely to drop back several spots.

Velociposse and Port Maxhestic are still in a good place to score many final classification points, but with many potential GC stages going to the breakaway rather than Roglic or Thomas they haven't done much to close the big gap in the standings between them and CHX/BDC. That could still happen of course, but these teams cannot afford any more missed opportunities if they want to stay in the race for the first spot.

As for the fight between BDC and CHX, after stage 14 I thought Cyclohexane would likely overtake BdC next wednesday with another good Milan score, but then stage 15 happened and BdC solidified it's lead, so now that seems unlikely. Of course there will be another Milan opportunity in the final stage, which could turn out to be decisive, but any good BdC result in the meantime or any missed Milan opportunity could make the gap too big to overcome, especially since BdC is currently on course to score more final classification points as well. Basically the stage 15 result means BdC are now back to being the favourites, although CHX/VFl/GNH and maybe PTM could still win.


Expected extra final classification points at current standings:

Port Maxhestic - 1310
Gagnheirs - 1170
Velociposse - 1160
BdC - 1015
Dead Last - 970
Copacabana Boys - 940
Cyclohexane - 855
Fiescha - 795
Kinetic - 580
GHST - 305
Averatxeirs - 280

Profile of tomorrow's stage:

(https://static2.giroditalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/hblPzoWMb6woBtC2PasO_190423-071235.jpg?v=20230419091235)

Stage 16 Sabbio Chiese -> Monte Bondone

Well, the final week is on, and so is the fight for the maglia rosa. Today's stage went up Lake Garda and around no fewer than four summits south of Trento, finishing on a category 1 climb on Monte Bondone. Will it be a day for GC contenders, or will the breakaway have a chance at a long range stage win?

As it turned out, no luck for the breakaway, which featured Healy (BDC), Paret-Peintre (BDC) and Haig (ATX/PTM/MCB). They weren't really allowed to stray that far by a combined Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma team effort, and were easily reeled in before the final climb.
The climb to Monte Bondone was - finally - pure hand-to-hand combat between the three leading GC contenders, Roglic (VFL/CFA), Thomas (GNH/KIN) and Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/BDC/DED).

Initially it seemed like Almeida was in a really strong position, making effective use of his teammates McNulty (VFL/MCB/KIN) and Vine (ATX/VFL/PTM/MCB/KIN) to drop many of the outside contenders such as maglia rosa Armirail (PTM/MCB), Caruso (DED), Kämna (GHS/BDC/VFL) and Carthy (PTM/DED).
After that, though, it was Roglic who was the only one who still had a teammate to help him, Kuss (CHX/GHS/CFA), and might therefore be better placed to outlast them all - not to mention, he was generally tipped to be the best climber of the three.
It was not to be, though: after the last breakaway rider finished pulling for teammate Eddie Dunbar, the last other outside GC contender to hang in, Almeida decisively attacked and Thomas was the one still fresh enough to keep up with him until the end, although losing the stage victory to the Portuguese rider. Roglic got dropped and it was only thanks to Kuss that he did not end up losing more time; he still managed to finish third, narrowly defeating Dunbar.

It is not Almeida, however, who will wear pink tomorrow: Thomas regains maglia rosa by virtue of a 18" lead in the GC, with Roglic third, 29" behind the Welshman. Armirail loses the jersey (no realistic chance of keeping it anyway) and drops to P7.

Also scoring stage points, Kuss (P5), Caruso (P7), Arensman (MCB, P10), Kämna (P11), Carthy (P12), Buitrago (GNH, P13), Pinot (BDC/CHX/CFA, P16), Haig (P17) and Armirail (P19). Many riders, so thankfully a nice high scoring stage today. Gagnheirs, the only team holding both Almeida and Thomas, are on top today by just one point over Velociposse.

Unfortunately, Pavel Sivakov abandoned mid-stage, leaving Averatxeirs down to four active riders.


Standings after Stage 16:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	5894	+432
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	5648	+482
3rd	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4638	+560
4th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	4591	+561
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4296	+409
6th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	4177	+441
7th	(+2)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	3872	+278
8th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3864	+202
9th	(-2)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3822	+108
10th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	3699	+360
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3409	+233

Tomorrow's stage can't even be defined as pancake flat, as it's actually downhill. (Though it's still obviously important because it's the first of four stages taking place in my two home regions.)

Watch for the penultimate bunch sprint of this edition, and one of Cyclohexane's last chances to meaningfully contest Banqeu de Cézembre's leadership, pending the flood of end-of-Giro points that will likely favour the latter unless, say, Kämna were to drop out or lose substantial time.

The level of emotion I feel rooting for a team I picked completely randomly is embarrassing to admit

Cyclohexane has a second sprinter now!

That makes them the clear favourites to win TCAT at this point...

Stage 17 Pergine Valsulgana -> Caorle

As expected most of today's stage was fairly uneventful. The action was all in the sprint to the finish. As expected, Milan (CHX) did well, being the first TCAT rider across the line. Gaviria (GHS) came in fifth. The real surprise however came in the form of Kirsch (CHX) who replaced Pedersen as the second sprinter for Cyclohexane and managed to score a top 10 position. Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL) and Cavendish (DED/KIN) disappointed.

The result is a big win for Cyclohexane. They are now only 10 points behind BdC, with the stage in Rome still to come! GHST did well due to Gaviria, but not enough to climb from the last spot. Velociposse and Els Gagnheirs also posted decent results, but again not good enough to meet their targets if they want to stay in the race for first place. The rest of the teams barely competed at all.



Standings after Stage 17:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	5986	+92
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	5976	+328
3rd	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4803	+165
4th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	4746	+155
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4367	+71
6th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	4258	+81
7th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	3938	+66
8th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3929	+65
9th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3911	+89
10th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	3747	+48
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3574	+165

Tomorrow we go back north through Veneto towards the mountains. (Also the stage Lüc was supposed to do live commentary on.) Not quite as many vertical meters as Tuesday or Friday, but still a pretty serious mountain stage with 5 summits and an uphill finish, which could be good for the gc favourites, or maybe a break. Either way only a pretty strong climber can win tomorrow.

Expected extra final classification points at current standings:


Gagnheirs - 1520
Velociposse - 1420
BdC - 1225
Dead Last - 1215
Port Maxhestic - 1080
Cyclohexane - 1020
Kinetic - 810
Fiescha - 780
Copacabana Boys - 630
GHST - 420
Averatxeirs - 260

Analysis

* BdC still has an edge in the classifications due to Kämna, but Cyclohexane will score big points on the final stage where they now have two sprinters competing while BdC has zero. The classification gap is also likely to shrink if Kuss gains a couple spots or Paret-Peintre loses a few, both of which seem likely. As a result Cyclohexane is now again the favourite to win, although it is very close and will likely come down to the final stage! A lot will depend on the performance of Kämna vs Kuss in the mountains. Advantage CHX, but this isn't over yet.

*Surprisingly Thomas outperformed Roglic on tuesday, which puts Els Gagnheirs in a better position for the podium than Velociposse. The gap with the leading pair increasingly looks like it's too big to overcome. Then again, there are three stages coming up where both Roglic and Thomas will score big points and both teams are also still contesting the sprints with Ackermann, so the final result will likely be closer than the current standing.

*As expected Armirail dropped back in the general classification on tuesday and this also affected Port Maxhestics chances of reaching the podium. Instead they are in a fight to stay in fifth place, where Dead Last may have the edge due to the strong performance of Caruso so far.

*Kinetic Racing are currently heading for 7th place, but are dependent on the performance of Thomas. Positive projections for Fiescha so far haven't really played out, but they could still make some sort of comeback if Roglic does the same. The Copacabana Boys are also still in the mix for 7th, especially since Arensman, Affini and Vine could all do well in the final mountain stages and ITT.

*GHST and Els Averatxeirs are the teams hit hardest by the various dropouts. GHST had a bit of a headstart in the race for the bottom, but Els Averatxeirs barely have anyone left so if anyone could challenge GHST for the lantern rouge, it's them

Stage 18 Oderzo -> Val di Zoldo (Rifugio Palafavera)

The trio of stages that will decide Giro has begun! Today's stage made its way from Oderzo, historic town in the south of the province of Treviso, to the Zoldo valley in the Bellunese Dolomites.

All of the first part of the stage featured numerous attempts at a breakaway, which didn't succeed because of the peloton keeping an insane pace (resulting in only about 30 riders staying in front, so huge numbers were dropped early on never to be seen again). Only in the long climb towards the first summit, passo della Crosetta, did Pinot (CHX/BDC/CFA), Paret-Peintre (BDC) and three more non-TCAT riders (Zana, Gee and Frigo) manage to pull away. Some other attempts at joining the breakaway were thwarted again by the Ineos-led peloton, which also attempted to pull Roglic (VFL/CFA) away from his teammates. Later, Warren Barguil (DED) also managed to join the breakaway.

Most of the central part of the stage was less eventful, as the riders made their way down Cansiglio plateau and up the Piave valley. Forcella Cibiana, the second serious climb of the day, was where the action picked up again, as the top teams in the peloton started shedding their spent team members, and Frigo and Gee were dropped from the lead.

It was the fourth climb, an extremely tough series of steep ramps towards Coi, which singled out today's top two finishers, Zana and Pinot - the other four breakaway riders being dropped sooner or later. Behind that, it was Roglic who attempted revenge for Tuesday's time deficit by attacking with teammate Kuss (CHX/GHS/CFA). But while maglia rosa Geraint Thomas (GNH/KIN) handily managed to keep up despite his remaining teammate Arensman (MCB) struggling, it was Joao Almeida's (CHX/GNH/VFL/BDC/DED) turn to get dropped and lose time from the other two GC contenders.

Ultimately, Zana pipped Pinot to the line after a short sprint up the fifth and final summit; Barguil completed the daily podium. Roglic and Thomas arrived together, while Almeida lost a further 21" and swaps places with Roglic in the general classification. Pinot ended up winning all of the summits except the finish, and so handily retakes the lead of the KOM classification (maglia azzurra) from Ben Healy (BDC).

Banqeu de Cézembre, Fieschă and Cyclohexane cash in from that Pinot P2 to finish in front of everyone else today, BdC ultimately winning out because of Paret-Peintre's P5 and Kämna's P14. Both Fieschă and Cyclohexane hold Kuss, P11, but it's Roglic's better result compared to Almeida that boosts Fieschă to second (and an impressive gain of three places overall). A strong result from Caruso and especially Barguil gets Dead Last a fourth place, and a good shot at locking in fifth place in the overall standings.

Standings after Stage 18:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	6569	+583
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	6425	+449
3rd	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	5075	+272
4th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	4978	+232
5th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	4630	+372
6th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4497	+130
7th	(+3)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	4213	+466
8th	(-1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	4076	+138
9th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	4032	+103
10th	(-1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3932	+21
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3692	+118

Inconclusive but exciting day, GC-wise. All to play for tomorrow, in this Giro's queen stage, Longarone - Tre Cime di Lavaredo. If only a strong climber could win today, then only the strongest can win tomorrow. Tune in if you can, you don't want to miss it.

Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 25, 2023, 05:36:40 PMBdC ultimately winning out because of Paret-Peintre's P5

Yes!, I was so happy APP made it this time, after tuesdays break failed.

Does this give BdC the edge again? Probably, but this is coming down to the wire. Every stage counts now...

I also like how close the gc still is because that means today and tomorrow will be extra exciting

Carthy did not start today due to stomach issues. Bad news for Port Maxhestic and Dead Last.

Buitrago wins and Thomas keeps his lead! Should be a massive score for Els Gagnheirs

_{(Also I now think Cyclohexane is the favourite again)}

Actually, it's all time TCAT stage score record for Els Gagnheirs today. 817 points. Holy macaroni

Stage 19 Longarone -> Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Today was the queen stage towards the Tre Cime di Lavaredo/Drei Zinnen peaks on the border of Veneto and Südtirol. The breakaway consisted of a large group including Buitrago (GNH) and Cort (ATX/GNH/VFL/PTM/CFA/DED) and was given a lot of time by the group of favourites, which waited long to increase the pace. On the final climb it was Buitrago who was the fastest, with Cort coming in third.

Behind them once the favourites started going it didn't take long for most riders to get dropped and once they got to the finish there were only Thomasv (GNH/KIN) and Roglic (VFL/CFA) left. Thomas never got into trouble and for a while it even seemed he was going to gain time on Roglic, but Roglic recovered and outsprinted Thomas to get 4th place, with Thomas ending 5th. Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/BDC/DED) did not manage to keep up and lost 20 seconds on the pair, which puts him almost a minute behind Thomas with only the Time trial to go. Caruso (DED), Arensman (MCB), Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC) also got a good result. Kuss finished 12th a bit later. Kämna (VFL/GHS/BDC) did not have a great day and lost two spots in GC

The results by Buitrago, Cort, Thomas, and Almeida resulted in a monsterscore for Els Gagnheirs, scoring a TCAT record and overtaking the Velociposse in the race for third. Behind Velociposse, Cézembre Fieschă also had a strong and may now be well positioned to overtake Port Maxhestic in the final standing.

Standings after Stage 19:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	6844	+275
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	6742	+317
3rd	(+1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	5795	+817
4th	(-1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	5644	+569
5th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	5118	+488
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4867	+370
7th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	4758	+545
8th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	4264	+188
9th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	4173	+141
10th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	4167	+235
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3781	+89

Tomorrow the winner of the general classification will be decided. It's an individual time trial, but unlikely the last two, this one is uphill. Starting in Tarvisio, in the eastern tip of Lüc's other home region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, it's a short course of only 18,6 km. However in that short distance the riders will ascend more than 1000 meters, with steep sections up to 22% and the riders will be on their own with no teams or strategy to hide behind. Thomas will need to defend 26 seconds on Roglic and 59 seconds on Almeida to win and enter Rome wearing the maglia rosa.
(https://static2.giroditalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/sZ8xXpiQyPhMyGKEA3Qb_190423-101057.jpg?v=20230419121057)
_{Final 7,5 kms of tomorrows ITT, from giroditalia.it}
Oh, and we will be organising a watchalong starting 8:30 am TST (CDT) (15:30 CEST). Don't miss it.

Expected extra final classification points at current standings:


Gagnheirs - 1465
Velociposse - 1335
BdC - 1225
Dead Last - 970
Port Maxhestic - 675
Cyclohexane - 1115
Kinetic - 825
Fiescha - 1100
Copacabana Boys - 530
GHST - 380
Averatxeirs - 250

Big gain by Fiescha (Kuss, Roglic) and big drops by Port Maxhestic (Carty, Armirail) and Dead Last (Carthy) compared to last time. Cyclohexane (Kuss, Pinot) also shriking gaining.

Adding these to the current standings gives:

BdC - 8069
Cyclohexane - 7857
Gagnheirs - 7260
Velociposse - 6979
Dead Last - 6088
Fiescha - 5858
Port Maxhestic - 5542
Kinetic - 5089
Copacabana Boys - 4805
Averatxeirs - 4417
GHST - 4161

Analysis:

Banqeu de Cézembre v Cyclohexane
BdC holds roughly a 200 pt lead, but Cyclohexane will likely gain more than 200 in the final sprint due to Milan and Kirsch and be the third Benitan team to win an edition. BdC needs to extend their lead today, but while they have many options to score, Chx's Kuss may outperform all of them while APP could lose valuable GC spots.

Riders to watch today: Kuss (CHX), Kämna (BDC), Healy (BDC), Barta (BDC), A. Paret-Peintre (BDC)

Els Gagnheirs v Velociposse
The monsterscore by the M-M team yesterday and the lead by Thomas in the GC puts them in the best position to reach the podium. The fight for third place effectively mirrors the race for the Maglia Rosa as the Florencians will need Roglic to win overall to have a chance. This will likely be decided today as neither team will have an edge in the Rome stage.

Riders to watch today: Thomas (GNH), Roglic (VFL), Vine (VFL), Kämna (VFL), Bouwman (GNH), McNulty (VFL), Buitrago (GNH)

Dead Last v Cézembre Fieschâ
The Cézembreans had a massive comeback in the last couple of days and are looking to go even further. The loss of Carthy was a big loss for the incorrectly named Dead Last. However, the Vuodeans still have Cavendish on the final day and hold a considerable lead as well so are clear favourites to hold on to fifth place. Then again, Fiescha were only 10th a couple days ago, so perhaps they will score another upset.

Riders to watch today: Roglic (CFA), Almeida (DED), Caruso (DED), Kuss (CFA), Dennis (CFA), Pinot (CFA), Jungels (CFA), Barguil (DED), Affini (DED)

Port Maxhestic v Cézembre Fieschâ
A difficult couple of days for Port Maxhestic, with Armirail losing further ground and then Carthy dropping out. They are still ahead of Fiescha in the current standings, but will need to boost their standings in the classifications to hold on to that. Armirail did very well in the flat time trials of course, so perhaps he could pull off one final stunt for Port Maxhestic.

Riders to watch today: Roglic (CFA), Almeida (PTM), Vine (PTM), Kuss (CFA), Haig (PTM), Dennis (CFA), Pinot (CFA), Armirail (PTM), Jungels (CFA)

Kinetic Racing v Copacabana Boys
Neither team has really delivered in the last few stages. The Fiovans are likely to secure the 8th spot based on their current lead and the Maricopans not having a sprinter for the final stage (and of course, Kinetic having the actual likely winner of giro in their team). The best hope the Cabana boys have for an upset is Arensman, who has proven to be at his best during the final week and should have a strong time trial.

Riders to watch today: Thomas (KIN), Arensman (MCB), Haig (MCB), Bouwman (KIN), Armirail (MCB)

Els Averatxeirs v Gordon Hiatus Support Team
The effort from Cort yesterday probably secured the red lantern will go to GHST, the winners of the previous edition. GHST still has Gaviria for the final stage, but the third M-M team has Ackermann, so GHST will need a lot of luck to still overtake them.

Riders to watch today:
Vine (ATX), Kuss (GHS), Kämna (GHS), Haig (ATX)

Stage 20 Tarvisio -> Monte Lussari (ITT)

The three-day that was to decide Giro is over, and what a way to finish it. A climbing time trial up Monte Lussari, the first half on a very nice and relatively flat cycle path, the second up the steepest gradients we've seen in this edition (sustained averages of 15%, and up to 22%!). So narrow and steep, in fact, that they've had to bring support motorbikes instead of cars, and to perform a mid-stage bike change from a time trial bike to a regular road bike with climbing gearing. (Some riders even chose to change helmets!)

Geraint Thomas (GNH/KIN) entered the stage with a 26" lead over Primoz Roglic (VFL/CFA). Joao Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/BDC/DED) stood as the classic 1% outsider at 59". Logically enough, these were expected to be the top contenders for the daily win as well, with Roglic perhaps having an edge over Thomas as arguably both the better time trialist and (marginally) better climber. Could Roglic not crack under pressure and deliver the sort of performance that's expected of him? Could Thomas, even if losing today, keep the margin under those crucial 26 seconds he needs to hold the GC lead?

As it turns out, yes, Roglic did deliver, and no, Thomas's resistance was futile. Roglic even had a brief mechanical problem, in which he rode over a covered drainage channel which made his bike go out of gear; despite losing 19 seconds in that incident, he still won the day by 40" over Thomas and 42" over Almeida, taking the lead of the GC by 14 seconds. Since tomorrow is guaranteed to end in a bunch sprint, that effectively means there's no net time gains to be conceivably won anymore, and Primoz Roglic is the winner of the 2023 Giro d'Italia.

Velociposse cashes in on the Roglic win and retakes third from Gagnheirs; Cyclohexane gets into striking range of Banqeu de Cézembre thanks to Sepp Kuss, and sets up a decisive head to head in the final stage - which they enter with the definite advantage of having at least one sprinter (Milan) and another reserve sprinter which might do well again (Kirsch), while BdC has none.

Standings after Stage 20:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	7253	+409
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	7201	+459
3rd	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	6280	+636
4th	(-1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	6217	+422
5th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	5462	+344
6th	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	5274	+516
7th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	5128	+261
8th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	4629	+365
9th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	4442	+269
10th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	4235	+68
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3940	+159

Tomorrow Giro has its grand finale in Rome, with what is pretty much a show stage for the riders, but a very important stage for us still, as all teams who have a sprinter left have a chance at a last hurrah before the end-of-Giro points are given out: CHX with Milan and maybe Kirsch, the Ackermann teams (ATX, GNH and VFL), the Cavendish teams (DED and KIN), and GHS with Gaviria.

Brief gallery from an amazing cycling day:

1) Mark Cavendish (DED/KIN) greets the Giro fans for the last time. Definitely an occasion for a last old-style Cav mass sprint stage win tomorrow.

(https://imgresizer.eurosport.com/unsafe/2560x0/filters:format(jpeg)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2023/05/27/3712844-75546808-2560-1440.jpg)

2) Intermarché-Circus-Wanty's Laurenz Rex pops a wheelie on the finish line. For the vast majority of riders, today was mostly about just surviving the insane gradients and putting up a good show.

(https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mmLGQHEjNTSCBr8n2RT3mJ.jpg)

3) Primoz Roglic being helped to restart after his mechanical by his mechanic and... an old ski jumping teammate who just so happened to be standing nearby. You can see the unnecessary spare bike to the right.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxJWqCVWAAEGTqL.jpg:large)

4) The final metres of Primoz Roglic's time trial. Lots of Slovenian fans turned out due to Lussari being a stone's throw from the border.

(https://static.sky.it/editorialimages/87bb63da8b0db6a5098858d70f3d8895d858c44e/skysport/it/ciclismo/2023/05/27/giro-italia-2023-tappa-20-oggi-classifica-live/roglic_giro_getty.jpeg)

5) Roglic teammates and TCAT riders Sepp Kuss, Michel Hessmann, Koen Bouwman and Sam Oomen, reacting to Geraint Thomas going over the target time he needed to keep the maglia rosa with still a long way to go before the finish.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxJkD8eWAAEW1b4?format=jpg&name=large)

6) Roglic fans clapping at Thomas, on his way to the mandatory post race testing.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxJiisFXoAAv7GP?format=jpg&name=large)

For anyone who is interested in watching the conclusion of TCAT (and has the means to do say), the peloton is expected to cross the final finish line in Rome between 18:33 and 18:53 CEST (11:33-11:53 TST).

Most classifications have been decided, but here's what still at stake:

- Cyclohexane needs Milan or Kirsch to end up 6th or higher (or some combination like Milan 10th and Kirsch 11th) to overtake BdC.*

- Dead Last needs Cavendish to be first or second (third will likely also be enough) to stop Cézembre Fiescha from getting fifth based on final points.*

- GHST needs Gaviria to outperform Ackermann (for example Gaviria 1st, Ackermann 11th or Gaviria 2nd, Ackermann 19th) to lose the red lantern.*

*Provided no surprise dropouts, non-sprinters in the stage top 20, major classification changes, breakaway/intsprint/assist points scored, etc

CYCLOHEXANE WINS TCAT!

And Cavendish wins the final stage!

Cav got a lead out from Thomas. :)

Quote from: Audrada Roibeardet on May 28, 2023, 03:36:43 PMCav got a lead out from Thomas. :)

Proof that they are actually in the same team (Kinetic Racing)!

Won't be on the same team in France. I heard Thomas is racing.

Stage 21 Roma -> Roma

Well here it is, the final mid-evening update of the first TCAT 2023. Now that the general classification has been decided we finally have the triumphant arrival of the peloton in Rome. But while Roglic and his Velociposse/Fiescha teammates were celebrating his victory in GC, a couple of teams still had unfinished business in the final sprint for the final stage win, most notably Cyclohexane, who needed a good result by Milan or Kirsch to take the first place overall.

In the end it was Cavendish (DED/KIN), helped by his Kinetic teammate Thomas (GNH/KIN) as leadout who took the stage, followed by Kirsch (CHX). Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL) crashed and was therefore unable to score points. Gaviria got 7th place.

This was the 54th!!! grand tour stage win by Cavendish, who earlier this week announced his that he will retire after the upcoming tour (TCAT 2023 leg 2). That means this was his last ever giro, so he will be happy to end on another win. It also means that every sprint stage this edition was won by someone else.

Most points in the final stage go to Cyclohexane, due to the results of Kirsch and Milan. It really came down to the final meters of this edition, but that result is enough to overtake BdC, who held the lead since stage 4.

Standings after Stage 21:
NOT the final result, as this is still without end-of-tour classification points!

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	7498	+297
2nd	(-1)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	7331	+78
3rd	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	6359	+79
4th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	6299	+82
5th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	5748	+286
6th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	5362	+88
7th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	5167	+39
8th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	4919	+290
9th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	4494	+52
10th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	4251	+16
11th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4080	+140

It's really a rather late midevening today as velogames took a while to update points. I planned on posting the final results now, but I don't know how far I will get as it's really quite late already. That probably means most of the results will be posted tomorrow.

RESULTS OF THE TALOSSAN CYCLING ASSOCIATION TOUR 2023 LEG 1: ORTONA -> ROMA

11:


Team:
Evekoel 910 [rit: stage 10]
Kämna 767
Geoghegan Hart 688 [rit: stage 11]
Kuss 675
Gaviria 449
Vlasov 360 [rit: stage 10]
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Puccio 238
Hoole 39


Bad luck for the winners of the previous edition. The disappointing results of Gaviria is something a non-sprint team can get away with, but losing 64 credits worth of riders, including both allrounders and the strongest climber, before we even got to the serious mountain stages is not something a team can recover from.

10:


Team:
Pedersen 1009 [rit: stage 13]
Ackermann 850
Cort 520
Vine 459
Haig 423
Vlasov 360 [rit:stage 10]
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Ganna 288 [rit: stage 8]
Sivakov 233 [rit: stage 16]

The debutants from M-M had a pretty unlucky first edition, being the only team not have a majority of riders finish the race. Even so some good sprint results and a very nice stagewin by Cort resulted them being on the podium halfway through the competition. However, in the second half the lack of Vlasov really began to hurt, especially since the team didn't have many other gc favourites. To make things worse, Pedersen dropped out, Vine got sick and underperformed, the break involving Haig was one of the few that got caught by the peloton and then Sivakov dropped out as well. In the end the Averatxeirs managed to avoid being last by only 56 points.

9:


Team:
Arensman 1035
Evenepoel 910 [rit: stage 10]
Groves 754 [rit: stage 12]
McNulty 566
Armirail 489
Vine 459
Haig 423
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Affini 124

The hottest team north of Havana had a dreamstart to their first edition, getting second in the first ITT and being on the podium after the first week due to Groves being the best scoring sprinter. After that it all went downhill sadly. Evenepoel, Küng and Groves dropped out and second allrounder Haig did not live up to expectations in the mountains. Arensman was a very strong third week pick and Armirail unexpectedly got to wear pink for a bit, but that moment of glory faded away as well. I suspect the heavy raining didnt go down well with a team that clearly prefers sunny conditions. Hopefully the weather conditions in Tour and Vuelta will be more to their liking.

8:


Team:
Thomas 2187
Pedersen 1009 [rit: stage 13]
Cavendish 672
McNulty 566
Vine 459
Bouwman 304
Hessmann 238
Gibbons 150
Affini 124

It was a bold move for last season's overall strongest team to not use the entire budget. This put them at an early disadvantage. However, a strong team spirit (I think this is the team scoring the most assist points) and a good performance by Thomas saved Kinetic from the bottom-3 and at some point it even looked like more might be possible. Some disappointing results in the mountains (along with Pedersen) dropping out prevented that from happening. Cavendish may not have gotten a great score overall, but did provide for a very nice finish to this first edition of 2023.

7:

Team:
Almeida 1971
Pedersen 1009 [rit: stage 13]
Cort 520
Armirail 489
Vine 459
Haig 423
Vlasov 360 [rit:stage 10]
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Carthy 287 [rit: stage 19]

Port Maxhestic went in with the same strategy as the Averatxeirs, avoiding the most expensive riders but going with a solid team overall. This resulted in Port Maxhestic hanging around the middle for most of the tournament, at some point looking to even get a top 4/5 spot, with Almeida, and surprisingly Armirail for a short while, doing well in gc. In the final stages missing Vlasov, really started to hurt though. Missing Pedersen and Küng also didn't help and Carthy and Haig underperformed. Carthy would have at least scored some decent final gc points though if he hadn't dropped out. An interesting strategy that didn't fully work out in the end.

6:


Team:

Roglic 2380
Pinot 1554
Pedersen 1009 [rit: stage 13]
Kuss 675
Cort 520
Vlasov 360 [rit: stage 10]
Dennis 118
Jungels 16
Rochas 0 [rit: stage 5]


The true Cézembrean home team was one of only two teams to pick the actual winner of the Maglia Rosa, and one of only three to pick the legendary winner of the Maglia Azzurra. Still TCAT did not start out well for this team, with Dennis and Jungels not in good shape and Rochas dropping out before scoring a single point. To make things worse Vlasov and Pedersen dropped out as well. Still CFA managed to turn things around when we finally got some gc action in the mountains. The final victory of Roglic on mt Lussari completed the comeback for CFA. The final classification points of Roglic and Pinot almost resulted in Fiescha jumping to 5th, but Cavendish prevented this so they ended up a solid 6th.

5:


Team:

Almeida 1971
Caruso 1382
Evenepoel 910 [rit: stage 10]
Cavendish 672
Barguil 583
Cort 520
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Carthy 287 [rit: stage 19]
Affini 124

Dead Last did not live up to expectations at all, ending far removed from the predicted last place. A slow start due to not spending many credits on sprinters, and Cavendish not really finding his way in the first couple of sprints was followed by bad news when Evenepoel dropped out. However, in the final week spending on climbers and allrounders really paid off, especially Caruso who turned in a very solid 4th in GC. Of course Almeida was a great pick as well. Barguil and Cort meanwhile were often present in breaks. In the end Cavendish finally delivered, securing fifth place for his team.

4:


Team:

Thomas 2187
Almeida 1971
Ackermann 850
Buitrago 800
Cort 520
Vlasov 360 [rit: stage 10]
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Bouwman 304
Ganna 288 [rit: stage 8]

The self proclaimed winners started out ambitious, probably hoping to improve on their third place last edition. And a lot of things did go well including four stage wins and an all time daily points record in the queenstage due to the efforts of Buitrago and Cort. After Evenepoel it seemed like Els Gagnheirs could even win this edition, although this was quickly followed by Küng and Vlasov evening the score in addition to the disappointing departure of Ganna that happened earlier. In the end what prevented Els Gagnheirs from fighting for first was the lack of stage wins by gc contenders, who often allowed a breakaway to succeed. This means allrounders and climbers, weren't quite as dominant in the standings as in some previous editions. Thomas and Almeida still scored loads of points however. In the end the battle for third place mirrored the individual battle between Thomas and Roglic. Roglic won, so Els Gagnheirs ended up fourth. Still an impressive result.

3:


Team:

Roglic 2380
Almeida 1971
Ackermann 850
Kämna 767
McNulty 566
Cort 520
Vine 459
Berwick 230
Tesfatsion 16 [rit: stage 11]


The Velociposse did not have a spectacular start, not really performing well in the sprints and flat time trials, but the Florencians definitely showed up once we got to the mountains, scoring several stage wins and having two riders on the GC podium. Like Els Gagnheirs the Velociraptors would probably also have preferred some more stages going to the group of favourites, having spent many points on allrounders and climbers with gc ambitions. However they did benefit from relatively few dropouts. Roglic secured the podium for Velociposse with a spectacular win. With Almeida scoring 3rd as well this means the Velociposse scored the most final gc points. A considerable improvement over the previous edition and a very strong result overall.

2:


Team:

Almeida 1971
Pinot 1554
Pedersen 1009 [rit: stage 13]
Evenepoel 910 [rit: stage 10]
A. Paret-Peintre 822
Kämna 767
Groves 754 [rit: stage 12]
Healy 663
Barta 106

BdC took the lead in stage four with a nice stage win by Paret-Peintre and then kept it until the very end, doing well in sprints and breakaways involving APP, Healy, and of course Pinot. The loss of Evenepoel was a major setback but did not turn out decisive as other teams had riders drop out as well and both Almeida and Pinot did well in GC. However, both sprinters also dropped out, meaning BdC could no longer compete in the last couple of sprint stages. The Pterodactyls lost their lead on the finishline in Rome. Obviously being second in a field of 11 is a great result and better than I expected, and of course the win by Cyclohexane was well deserved. Still, after being the lead since stage 4 it's difficult to not also be slightly disappointed. So close...

And the winner of the first leg of the Talossan Cycling Association Tour 2023 Ortona -> Roma is:


Team:

Almeida 1971
Milan 1600
Pinot 1554
Pedersen 1009 [rit: stage 13]
Evenepoel 910 [rit: stage 10]
Kuss 675
Bettiol 345
Küng 314 [rit: stage 10]
Kirsch 280

Milan turned out to be a genius pick that nobody else saw coming, winning a stage and the Maglia Ciclamino and turning Cyclohexane into the strongest sprint team of this edition. Cyclohexane lost the lead in stage 4, but always stayed close enough behind to have a shot at winning, winning several stages along the way. Pinot ensured the Maglia Azzurra was won as well, while Almeida did well in GC. Importantly Kuss outperformed Kämna in the final week after a slow start which allowed Cyclohexane to shrink the gap with number one. There were setbacks too, including the loss of Küng and Evenepoel. Had Evenepoel not contracted Covid CHX would likely have beaten the TCAT overall record. However, what looked like another setback, Pedersen dropping out, was turned into an opportunity as it allowed Kirsch a chance to shine and clinch the victory in the final stage. Cyclohexane are now the third team from Benito to win TCAT, in as many editions. A well deserved victory

Great first leg for TCAT. So much excitement and drama. Chapeau to CHX. Hope to see you in France.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some scouting to do.

Amazing fun, just like last time! And so many people enthused about Talossan cultural activities is just great -- I can't wait until the next event!  That is when our secret plan will come together and crush our opponents.  We've been lulling you all into a false sense of security, see?  Now it's time to strike.

Thank you so much to @Sir Lüc and @Glüc da Dhi S.H. !

And here's my final update on our semi-official side classifications!

Sprinters's classification
(Points classification daily points + Intermediate sprint points)

Cyclohexane also wins this classification, with a mind-boggingly strong sprint team -- PC winner Jonathan Milan alone scored 360 PC points thanks to taking the PC lead on day 2 and never leaving it. On top of that, they also held Mads Pedersen, the second best sprinter by points earned; and Alex Kirsch, who scored the second most points of anyone else in the two stages he was Trek's designated sprinter in, after Pedersen's withdrawal, handing the TCAT win to Cyclohexane. (However, those were stage points, so they don't count here.)

Very nice second place for Averatxeirs to somewhat avenge their tenth place in the overall standings, powered by the Ackermann-Pedersen duo, respectively the second and third best TCAT sprinters by points earned.

Special mention to Fieschă, which despite only finishing 7th in the Sprinters's Classification manages to win the most intermediate sprint points of everyone else. (Giro does have a little-known intermediate sprint classification, so maybe so should we??)

Pos	Team	Pts	(PC)	(IS)
1st	Cyclohexane (CHX)	510	440	70
2nd	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	247	187	60
3rd	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	230	160	70
4th	Dead Last (DED)	172	107	65
5th	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	168	133	35
6th	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	167	137	30
7th	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	156	81	75
8th	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	145	120	25
9th	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	143	83	60
10th	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	122	92	30
11th	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	38	23	15

---

Climbers's classification
(King of Mountains classification daily points + Summit points)

We come to Banqeu de Cézembre's consolation prize, which is their emphatic victory in the Climbers's Classification -- aside from KOM winner Thibaut Pinot, Ben Healy also wore maglia azzurra bringing home a bounty of points, and Aurelién Paret-Peintre was also a solid unique pick.

A recurring theme of my updates was how the Pinot teams were a lock for the Climbers's Classification podium, and this of course repeats in the final update. It is however Fieschă who overtakes CHX for second place, Cort and Roglic making the difference in the final stages.

Pos	Team	Pts	(PC)	(IS)
1st	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	611	491	120
2nd	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	432	330	102
3rd	Cyclohexane (CHX)	405	323	82
4th	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	157	58	99
5th	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	145	69	76
6th	Dead Last (DED)	82	25	57
7th	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	78	25	53
8th	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	36	12	24
9th	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	32	12	20
10th	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	22	0	22
=	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	22	16	6

---

Combativity classification
Breakaway points (number of breakaways by team riders, times 20)

Usually the real combativity award is given out by a jury, but we have an objective measurement, which is breakaway points, that we can use to build an actual classification. How neat!

Banqeu de Cézembre wins this classification too, thanks again to Pinot, Paret-Peintre and Healy. This time the consolation podium is for Dead Last, who ride high on Warren Barguil's coattails, the Frenchman scoring a surprisingly high 80 breakaway points all by himself.

Pos	Team	Pts
1st	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	200
2nd	Cyclohexane (CHX)	140
3rd	Dead Last (DED)	120
=	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	120
5th	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	100
=	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	100
7th	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	80
8th	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	60
=	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	60
=	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	60
=	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	60

Congratulations to Ely/Cyclohexane!

I enjoyed this, but even more so because so many were participating, commenting on the thread, joining the watchalong etc, so many thanks to everyone who submitted a team!

Also many thanks to my co-host Lüc of course, who made doing this not just less work, but also a lot more fun. I greatly enjoyed doing Centraseira with him too. Looking forward to the episode where we review this edition and look ahead to the next edition.

That's it for now, but of course this is only a temporary goodbye, because the week before July 1st registrations will open for the second leg of the season! A chance for the teams who were unlucky this time to get their revanche. I hope all teams (and maybe some addition teams) will be participating again. See you all in Bilbao!

I have no further commentary on GHST's woes except for

Updated the wiki page a bit: https://wiki.talossa.com/Talossan_Cycling_Association_Tour

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 04, 2023, 12:27:53 PMUpdated the wiki page a bit: https://wiki.talossa.com/Talossan_Cycling_Association_Tour

Awesome, thanks!

(Ely is https://wiki.talossa.com/Ersch%C3%A9ve%C3%BE_da_Schir btw)

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on June 04, 2023, 02:12:14 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 04, 2023, 12:27:53 PMUpdated the wiki page a bit: https://wiki.talossa.com/Talossan_Cycling_Association_Tour

Awesome, thanks!

(Ely is https://wiki.talossa.com/Ersch%C3%A9ve%C3%BE_da_Schir btw)

Updated!

Quote from: Iason Taiwos on May 20, 2023, 10:28:52 PMSeeing how crappy the Gordon Hiatus Support Team is doing, I'm regretting not having a Cjovani team this time around...!

Well it's not too late to participate in the latest edition: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2539.0

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on June 29, 2023, 12:00:06 PM

Quote from: Iason Taiwos on May 20, 2023, 10:28:52 PMSeeing how crappy the Gordon Hiatus Support Team is doing, I'm regretting not having a Cjovani team this time around...!

Well it's not too late to participate in the latest edition: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2539.0

Done! Team Cjovani is in!