Azul all, two members of the Electoral Commission have voted to certify the rules as amended, with no feedback yet from the third member.

As such, even if it's unlikely at this point that we can open registrations early, I expect I will be able to declare the rules certified and open registrations in two days, Saturday 1st.

ALL-TIME STAGE WINNERS

Big leap by REX, who are one stage away from being just the sixth team to complete a season with 10 or more wins. Alas, their seven wins weren't enough to win the edition.

Winning 7 stages (1 in 3) but not the whole edition sounds pretty unlikely, but it's happened very often: also in TCAT Italy 2025 (to GHST), Spain 2023 (to the Cabana Boys), France 2023 (to MMM/Gagnheirs) and Italy 2023 (to BDC); all teams with 7 wins and no title. In addition, Spain 2025 also did not go to the team who won the most stages (DED, 5) and in Spain 2022 then-Gagnheirs won the same number of stages as the leg winner GHST (5). BDC in France 2022 won even more stages (10) without winning the leg, but there were so few teams that it was very likely to happen anyway.

Conversely, the Mençeis won the edition but only won two stages - the only team to win with fewer was Velocostă in the injury-affected TCAT Italy 2025 (just 1 win). The Mençeis are also only the second winner to be in the lead after the first stage (also happened to GHST in Spain 2022).

	Team	Stage Wins	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
	Banqeu da Cézembre (BDC)	53	11	15	20	5	2
	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	46	6	5	11	13	11
	Cyclohexane (CHX)	22	-	8	2	5	7
	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	21	3	4	4	6	4
	Mençeis/Gagnheirs (MMM)	19	5	11	-	-	3
	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	17	-	3	9	5	-
	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	17	12	2	0	1	2
	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	16	-	2	9	5	0
	Rexhitais/Cantzelerïă (REX)	15	-	1	1	4	9
	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	13	-	7	3	3	-
	Dead Last (DED)	12	-	3	4	5	-
	Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	11	-	-	-	10	1
	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	4	3	0	-	1	-
	Team In The Wind (KIN)	3	-	-	-	-	3
	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2	-	2	-	0	-
	Valcürïăs (VAL)	2	2	0	-	-	-

Two teams, Ardita and Manilows, took part in at least a TCAT leg but did not win a stage.

A few tables to round off this edition:

SEASON STANDINGS

(± ignores non-returning teams)

Pos	±		Team	Pts
1st	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	20982
2nd	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	19113
3rd	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	18918
4th	(+2)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	18668
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	17083
6th	(-4)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	16883
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	14186

Congratulations AD! Nice to see a very close finale between three fundamentally different teams (only two riders shared by each pair of podium finishers).

This is the third-tightest winning margin as well - only bigger than Spain 2025 (98) and Italy 2023 (102). And as Glüc was saying, it's notable how the winning scores were so high. Last year's TCAT France had a similar winning margin but the top 4 teams had scores between 9449 and 9181 and the winner was outside the top 10K in Velogames (out of 30K); this time the top 3 are all above 11K points and comfortably inside the top 2K teams overall (out of 28K).

GROUP 9
3. Annie Lennox - No More I Love You's
2. Depeche Model - Enjoy the Silence
1. Queen - Killer Queen

GROUP 10
3. Derek & the Dominos - Layla
2. Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld - A Quiet Life
1. Peter Gabriel - My Body is a Cage

That answers my questions. Thank you!

Azul all, as a result of feedback from members of the Electoral Commission, I can announce two minor amendments to the rules: in rule A.3, the word "fewer" has been replaced by "less", and in rule D.1, an explicit deadline of August 13th has been added for provinces to transmit details about their provincial electoral procedures to the Chancery (failing which, the Chancery would attempt to determine those itself).

Gaps after adding current End of Tour points* and daily classification points for stage 21 (GC/PC/KOM daily points, and GC/TC assists):

MMM 0, CHX -178, REX -346

As things stand, the Mençeis are in the virtual lead of TCAT, with the only things missing being the points from today's stage (stage finish, intermediate sprint, breakaway points, stage finish assists, and maybe minor changes in the points classification).

Whether they actually do win TCAT or not depends on the stage outcome.

• Pretty sure the #1 candidate for the stage win is REX's Mathieu van der Poel, who last year had to watch this same stage from TV and no doubt has been waiting for this day for the last three weeks.
• However, the other two teams have Tadej Pogacar, who won't pass up any opportunity at having fun and placed fourth last year (last among a three-man sprint for second), which might limit REX's point gain to 100 at most.
• REX and MMM have Mads Pedersen, who also looks good on this type of parcours and may want to celebrate winning the points classification with a win.
• However, CHX has his teammate Mathias Vacek, who could perhaps be allowed to race for the win as a reward for helping Pedersen all Tour.
• REX has other legitimate top10 candidates too: Tom Pidcock and Dorian Godon could do well on this kind of parcours. And if it comes to a bunchsprint, however unlikely, they still are the one team with three sprinters (Pedersen, Godon and Bittner).

CHX and MMM don't seem to hold many other potential stage finish scorers, so most likely REX is the one who's going to score the most stage points. Whether they outscore the Mençeis by 346 is a different question; they'd need a MVDP win, and then (depending on what Pogacar does) 126 to 226 more points from Pidcock and Godon.

So that's REX's path to winning TCAT. As for CHX's path, Pogacar's result is going to be irrelevant because MMM also holds him, so they will really be rooting for Vacek to be given the nod instead of Pedersen. But even Vacek getting third and Pedersen not featuring at all would not be enough to overtake the Mençeis (and MMM can get triple Vacek assists by holding Skjelmose, Pedersen and Verona!), so either he does really well, or someone else comes in to help (Wellens, if he's not sick anymore? Baudin, for the sake of a French win in Paris? Kanter scoring maximum points at the intermediate sprint?). This all seems very unlikely.

TLDR: MMM advantage, REX with a chance if MVDP/Pidcock/Godon do very well, CHX almost hopeless.

*: EoT points per team were calculated by Glüc after stage 19, but the changes after stage 20 are minor

Stage 20  »  Le Bourg d'Oisans  ›  Alpe d'Huez

Couldn't watch as I was driving, so I'm just going to quickly copypaste the ProCyclingStats blurb:

A large breakaway formed on the opening climb while the peloton also maintained a relentless pace, quickly reducing the bunch. Pedersen was initially dropped but fought his way back and even managed to bridge to the break, securing enough points at the intermediate sprint to seal the green jersey. As the race wore on, only Kuss and Carapaz remained at the front. Kuss started the descent with a small advantage, but two crashes allowed Carapaz to pass him before the final uphill kilometres, take the stage victory and secure the mountains classification.

So Carapaz 1st, Evenepoel 2nd, Pogacar 4th, Del Toro 5th, Skjelmose 8th, Ayuso 9th, Seixas 10th, Johannessen 11st, Pidcock 16th. Stagewin goes to Cjovani for a second time, but Cyclohexane's second place is still enough to vault them to a (likely temporary) lead.

No changes in GC top 10, as Glüc hinted to, despite Ayuso's attempt at recovering some time. Johannessen did gain a place to 12th (which will be worth a meagre additional 12 points to GHS and VFL) but only because non-TCAT Van Wilder abandoned after a crash. Therefore, most of the end-of-tour analysis by Glüc should still be valid, but more on that later.

Standings after stage 20:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	9327	+793
2nd	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	9257	+589
3rd	(-1)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	9165	+567
4th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	8762	+499
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	8116	+485
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	7382	+385
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	7266	+540
8th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	7171	+862
9th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	6875	+587

Today, the TCAT decider has been shortened to make sure the race is contained in Paris, and that emergency responders can be free to (sadly) deal with the wildfires nearby. Much like last year & the Olympic road race of 2024, it's not going to be a traditional Champs-Elysees sprint but rather 5 "short" laps of the Champs-Elysees + 3 "long" laps that also include an ascent of the famous Montmartre hill. Very likely hunting ground for classics riders and punchy sprinters. More on what that means for TCAT, again, later.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC on July 25, 2026, 03:40:24 PM

Quote from: Zappa, same sourceConsumption of (beer) leeds to pseudo-military behavior. Think about it - winos don't march. Whiskey guys don't march either (sometimes they write poetry, which is often more horrible, though).

Heh, if Zappa was still alive, he'd be welcome at any Alpini parade to witness how winos don't march, and definitely don't harrass anyone either.

Again, I'm not concerned about the military governor bit; nearly everyone, including me, agrees about repealing that. I'm concerned about the other two provisions you're seeking to repeal. You mentioned one:

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on July 24, 2026, 03:13:07 PMEvery province already has a constitution, so any potential to [...] try to bring in a new one from the outside with a local midterm referenda should be eliminated

I don't see how you'd interpret the provision you're trying to repeal that way:

QuoteThe King or Cunstavál shall not proclaim any provincial constitution which has not been approved by a referendum in which at least either a majority of all citizens of the province or a two-thirds majority of votes actually cast is in favor of the constitution.

To me that reads like a safeguard, not an exploitable loophole - an Organic guarantee that any new provincial constitution must go through a provincial referendum. If that was repealed, unless some other bit of the OrgLaw says otherwise, it'd be fair game for provincial governments, assemblies, Cunstaváis, or any combination of the above, to pass a replacement constitution sua sponte without any requirement for a referendum.

Lastly, just noting, as a footnote, that you didn't address why repealing the other provision, "no provincial laws may contradict OrgLaw/national statute", was desirable or necessary.

GROUP 7
3. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
2. Rush - Subdivisions
1. The Who - Baba O'Riley

GROUP 8
3. Het Goede Doel - België (Is er leven op Pluto ...)
2. Fool's Garden - Lemon Tree
1. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on July 23, 2026, 03:33:13 PMNope, you're not misunderstanding.  I wanted to also change the last thing, but His Majesty requested that we leave that prohibition in place.  I probably should have deleted that whereas clause, in retrospect.  But it passed overwhelmingly, so I guess it wasn't a fatal flaw.

The changes will eliminate any loophole allowing an extralegal change in a provincial constitution and will eliminate the prospect of a military governor.

Right, to be clear, I understand the double job and "military governor" bits you mentioned. But the amendment also repeals two provisions that I thought made sense, namely, that provincial constitutions may not contravene national statutory/Organic law, and that provincial constitutions may only enter into effect through a referendum with a majority of voters taking part, or failing that, a supermajority in favour.

Am I misreading that those provisions sound desirable to me? You speak of a loophole, but I don't quite get what that would be.

Stage 18  »  Voiron  ›  Orcières-Merlette

We already got today's results! The first of three mountain stages goes to the breakaway, and specifically to Richard Carapaz (BDC/CHX/CJO), who battled for summit points with Valentin Paret-Peintre (CHX/GHS) for most of the stage, but unlike the Frenchman, who had to settle for fourth, he still had plenty of energy on the final climb to distance him and four other fellow attackers.

These included EVC's Matteo Jorgenson, ultimately third, and Tobias Halland Johannessen (GHS/VFL), who finished fifth. The GC contenders had to settle for eighth onwards, with Evenepoel (CFA/CJO/REX/VFL) 9th and Pidcock (REX/EVC) 10th being the other two top 10 TCAT riders. It was indeed Evenepoel's team who paced for much of the finish, unlike the usual Pogacar-UAE show; but it was not the day for Pogacar's team to attack, with teammate McNulty abandoning due to a potential illness, and other teammate Yates (MMM) struggling as well; rival Evenepoel will no doubt try to exploit these manpower issues in the next two stages.

TCAT-wise, the win goes to Cyclohexane, who retakes third place in the standings, ahead of Cjovani and GHST.

Standings after stage 18:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	8284	+352
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	7917	+316
3rd	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	7806	+683
4th	(-1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	7657	+502
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	7191	+324
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	6761	+446
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	6164	+426
8th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	5767	+396
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	5589	+516

Azul, I was preparing the database for the election and I noticed that 62RZ15 essentially repeals two arguably desirable provisions (no provincial constitution without a referendum, no provincial laws contradicting OrgLaw/national statute) while leaving untouched the one that I assume its final WHEREAS purported to fix (no same person can be Cunstavál in one province and premier in another).

Am I misunderstanding this?

Azul all, with His Majesty signifying Royal Assent to the Data Protection Act, I have now proceeded to present the Electoral Commission with a proposed set of rules to govern the upcoming General Election.

You can find the proposed rules at this link. The (nontrivial) changes with respect to the former rules are commented, marked in blue and underlined, and mostly stem from the passage of 62RZ28.

The Commission will now review the rules for compliance, suggest amendments (if any) and proceed to certification by July 31st.




Sir Lüc da Schir, UrB
Secretary of State

Stage 16 (ITT)  »  Évian-les-Bains  ›  Thonon-les-Bains

Well, scratch most of what I said! Fuller update later but:

- Evenepoel wins ITT as predicted, over Pogacar and a surprisingly strong Skjelmose
- Cjovani gets stagewin due to Evenepoel, Pogacar, Arensman (7th) and Armirail (8th)
- Lipowitz crashed halfway through and broke his collarbone, much like Vingegaard just did on Sunday
- Lipowitz was the one rider held by REX, CHX and GHS but not by MMM: first impression is that this swings TCAT back open for sure (in the Mençeis's favour)
- If positive surprise is Skjelmose, negative surprise is Ayuso, who probably is out of contention for the final podium (Del Toro vs Seixas is gonna be the fight for 3rd now)


Standings after stage 16:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	7630	+499
2nd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	7304	+595
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	6970	+393
4th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	6876	+381
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	6475	+406
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	6123	+279
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	5607	+641
8th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	5131	+240
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	4823	+663

The time allotted for voting on the Clark has expired.

The Cosă and Senäts have passed the following bills, which are sent to His Majesty @King Txec for Royal Assent:

62RZ26 – Democracy Act and Amendment
Agreed to by the Cosă 174-0 (28 abstained), by the Senäts 8-0

62RZ27 – We Have a New-ish King Amendment
Agreed to by the Cosă 181-1 (20 abstained), by the Senäts 8-0

62RZ28 – Data Protection Act
Agreed to by the Cosă 202-0, by the Senäts 8-0

62RZ30 – Citizen Oath Redux Act
Agreed to by the Cosă 158-29 (15 abstained), by the Senäts 7-0 (1 abstained)

62RZ31 – Citizenship Oath Deadline and E.7 Untangling Act
Agreed to by the Cosă 202-0, by the Senäts 8-0


The Cosă and Senäts both rejected the following bills and resolutions:

62RZ29 – Citizenship Oath Reform Act
Rejected by the Cosă 33-149 (20 abstained), by the Senäts 0-7 (1 abstained)

62RZ32 – Sense of the Ziu: Contributing to Me Too
Rejected by the Cosă 33-129 (40 abstained), by the Senäts 0-6 (2 abstained)


The Cosă and Senäts have disagreed on the following bill:

62RZ33 – The Caretaker Clarification Act
Agreed to by the Cosă 107-95, rejected by the Senäts 4-4


The Cosă passed a Vote of Confidence in the incumbent Government 106-95 (1 abstained).

All Senators and Members of the Cosă voted.




Sir Lüc da Schir, UrB
Secretary of State

GROUP 5
3. Falco - Der Kommissar
2. Blur - The Universal
1. Cocteau Twins - Fifty-fifty Clown

GROUP 6
3. Alan Parsons Project - Sirius/Eye In The Sky
2. Muse - Knights of Cydonia
1. Blue Öyster Cult - Burnin' For You

Lightning quick restday 2 analysis: Els Talossaes Rexhitais seem like the far and away favourites at this point, especially with Vingegaard retiring, not necessarily for BDC/EVC/VFL being definitely out of the running, but rather because it will make all their GC riders skip up a place: REX now hold the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th highest ranked riders, in addition to Pidcock in 9th, which would bring an insurmountable amount of End of Tour points - and the 4th placed rider is CFA's Seixas at the moment, who is not held by any of REX's direct competitors.

By comparison, the Mençeis hold 1st, 3rd, 7th and 14th, Cyclohexane holds 1st, 3rd, 5th and 12th, and GHST holds 1st, 3rd, 5th and 18th. I think these three teams will contest the final podium positions, but the contest for second is between CHX and MMM, with GHST the underdog.

Today we resume with the only individual time trial, which unlike the one in Giro will not be pancake flat. The smell test says this goes to either REX, who once again looks like it has high chances with Evenepoel/Ayuso/Lipowitz, or Fieschă, who holds Evenepoel/Pogacar/Seixas. If Team Visma lets Vingegaard's former teammates loose, Affini (BDC/GHS) and Armirail  (CJO) could make their teams competitive, with Cjovani also holding Arensman to boot. Not many more time trial specialists among TCAT teams, to be fair, with good hilly-TT riders such as Vauquelin and McNulty left out of all rosters.