Small trivia moment.

Team In The Wind has already gotten three stage wins, so that puts it in quite a good place to break the record of five stage wins in a team's maiden edition*, jointly held by Gagnheirs/Mençeis (Spain 2022) and Cyclohexane (Italy 2023, but with added value due to more participants).

Cyclohexane also went on to win that edition, being again one of two teams to win its debut edition, together with Esqipă Velocostă (Italy 2025). Surprisingly (or not, if you recall how that edition went...), EVC only took a single stage victory in that winning maiden edition.

Also perhaps surprisingly, Averatxeirs and Valcürïas got two stage wins in their respective debuts, while other teams who went on to win and, in general, to take part in TCAT much more often, actually got no wins in their debut and it took a while to get their first stage win: it took Fieschă 24, Dead Last 25, Port Maxhestic 29, ex-SOS/REX 33 and the Cabana Boys 44 stages before they could finally triumph.

Today's Mençeis wins also ensures ex-GNH/MMM confirms their perfect record of getting at least one stage win in every edition they took part in (5 editions, 17 wins), which they share with GHST (12 editions, 37 wins), EVC (3 editions, 10 wins) and obviously ITW (1 edition, 3 wins).

(*: I am obviously ignoring the very first edition as all teams were new, and the low turnout would skew stuff even more)

Stage 11 Porcari -> Chiavari

A day tailor made for the breakaway was bound to see quite some action, since lots of riders wanted to get into the winning attack, so it took quite a while to get a 12 man front group that included Jhonathan Narvaez (MMM/REX/VFL), Chris Harper (GHS), Mattia Bais (CHX) and Christian Scaroni (MMM/REX). In the hilly finale, Narvaez and Harper were among the last standing, with the former outsprinting non-TCAT Enric Mas for a third stage win and the Australian settling for fourth. Scaroni unfortunately tangled up on the last descent and finished sixth, with a painful right wrist to cope with. GHST's Simone Gualdi took  8th place after a late attack from the peloton, and Bais got 11th and last of the remaining break. Rounding off the daily points in the GC group were Garofoli (GHS, 14th), Piganzoli (MMM/GHS, 17th) and Bernal (BDC/ITW, 19th).

Congratulations to the Mençeis for the first stage win since their comeback; GHST barely edged out REX for second place of the day, but not nearly by enough to take over the lead. Lots of position changes in the standings regardless due to the small gaps throughout. We sadly also have to register another dropout, with stage 6 winner Davide Ballerini (ITW) withdrawing as a result of an early crash. This leaves GHST and Cyclohexane as the sole two intact teams.

Standings after stage 11:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	3479	+423
2nd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3424	+424
3rd	(+2)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	3312	+455
4th	(-2)		Team In The Wind (ITW)	3114	+88
5th	(+2)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3039	+330
6th	(-2)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3033	+175
7th	(-1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2954	+119
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1737	+76

Tomorrow's stage starts from western Liguria, crosses the very end of the Appennines and ends in Novi Ligure (confusingly not in Liguria). Seems like a stage with a potentially similar outcome to today, but the Appennine crossing might be survived by some of the more versatile sprinters, which in TCAT essentially means Aular (REX/VFL) and Andresen (ITW/REX).

As the initiator of this process in my request for an advisory opinion, I would like, if allowed, to publicly state that at no time did I as Sovereign wish to or intend to fail to fulfill my Organic responsibilities. Rather, when presented with a conflict in statutory law, I felt it was my obligation to seek out advice before exposing the kingdom to potential litigation. I'm sure many are frustrated by this process, but as with all other matters that come before me, I take this responsibility quite seriously and I hope it is resolved quickly.

-Txec R

I suspect I am going to need to start preparing recipes. No way VFL catches ITW.

Let's gooooooooo, MMM!

Stage 10 (ITT)  Viareggio  -> Massa
This editions only time trial was won by Filippo Ganna. Not entirely surprising, but the big time gap to the number two was impressive. Cavagna (ITW) came in third, but was beaten by Arensman (ITW/BDC/GHS/VFL), who had the best day out of all the GC contenders, improving to third place overall, only 1,5 minute behind Vingegaard, who disappointingly only had the 13th fastest time today and did not manage to take the pink jersey.

Other winners in GC included Gee-West (REX) and Storer (REX/GHS/VFL), while Scaroni (REX/MMM) and Gall (REX/VFL) lost time.
Team ITW had another good day and scored the most points. GHST also saw their overall winning chances increase as Harper, Piganzoli and Storer all improved their position in GC, allowing GHST to expand their virtual lead in end of tour points. Cyclohexane did not have a good day, dropping two places in the standing and seeing their competitors do well due to the strong Arensman result. The fun isn't over yet for Els Talossaes Rexhital as they hang on to the lead.

Standings after stage 10:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	3056	+209
2nd	(+3)		Team In The Wind (ITW)	3026	+478
3rd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3000	+348
4th	(-2)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2858	+105
5th	(-2)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	2857	+119
6th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2835	+298
7th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2709	+297
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1661	+261

Tomorrow a hilly stage that seems well suited for an attack by some of the riders we've seen at the front before (some more succesfully than others), like Scaroni, Narvaez, Ciccone and Christen. Of course we may see some new faces attacking as well. Could be another good day for Els Talossaes Rexhital.

We are getting close to the halfway point, so while we are all watching the ongoing time trial, here are some thoughts on the outlook of the various teams (in ascending order of how much I expect them to win).

The gaps between the first seven teams are unsually small so far, so a lot will depend on the final two weeks.

Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)
Doing a þerxh by picking the three most expensive gc contenders has proven a succesful strategy in the past, but this time it's really not looking like it will work out, especially with the early dropout of Adam Yates. CFA already is falling behind the other teams. If Vingegaard and Pellizzari both do well they might still get out of last place, but several other teams have these too, so I can't see CFA contesting the win this time.
Status: mission impossible

Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)
It's been a great start for the royal team. Using a balanced strategy usually makes for fun teams and this is no exception with the three 8c unclassed Narvaez, Scaroni and Christen being frequently seen at the front of the race and Gee doing well in GC so far. Unfortunately here too the withdrawal of Yates is going to hurt and without enough of the big GC favourites on board it appears very likely the fun is going to end at some point.
Status: long shot

Velociposse Florencia (VFL)
No Vingegaard likely means they will lose out on a lot of points, but this also creates a lot chances if Vingegaard starts underperforming.
Status: outsider

Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)
Like REX profited from Narvaez and Scaroni doing really well, but with Vingegaard and Pellizzari to take points in the end. However I don't think they have quite enough gc contenders on board. At the very least the Menceis need Pellizzari to start performing a lot better than he has in the first couple of mountain stages.
Status: outsider

Cyclohexane (CHX)
Another fun team, with uc picks that have been in a lot of breaks so far, and they've done well so far with good results for Ciccone and an amazing stagewin for Arrieta. On the other hand Milan hasnt scored as many points as he probably should have so far and Pellizzari is looking ok, but not second most expensive rider level ok. The other teams that I put as title contenders all have a couple gc riders instead of one Pellizzari. Still Cyclohexane could absolutely still win this if they keep getting good stage results and Pellizzari lives up to pre-race expectations.
Status: title contender

Team In The Wind (ITW)
They are having a strong debut so far, with a very surprising stage win for Ballerini. Vingegaard, Arensman and Ciccone are all looking pretty good so far. Only Bernal has slightly disappointed. They do need him to get some results to challenge for the win. A problem for ITW is that even if he does there is another team with Vingegaard, Arensman, Ciccone and Bernal. Results in todays ITT by Cavagna and in the remaining sprints by Andresen could put ITW ahead of them in the end.
Status: title contender

Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)
A somewhat disappointing start for BDC due to the crash involving Vendrame and Morgado, limiting the points scored in the intermediate stages, but looking ahead to the mountain stages this should be a very strong team, again with Vingegaard, Arensman and Ciccone looking good and Bernal hopefully being able to launch a bit of a comeback in the final week. This team is very similar to ITW, who have a better team for the ITT and the remaining sprint stages. I give a very slight edge to BDC because of how well Hindley is performing in at the moment. An actual result by Christen would also be very helpful. Really its 50/50 which of ITW and BDC has better odds.
Status: title contender

Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)
Some disappointment for GHST as Milan did not score as well as expected in the sprints so far. On the other hand they are one of only three teams to not lose a rider so far and they did score the most points in the mountain stages so far. Harper and Piganzoli are both still in top 20 gc, giving GHST the most riders still in the top 20.  This also includes Storer who is currently in 10th and who hasn't been picked by GHST's main rivals. This puts them in a great position for the remaining stages and the end of tour points. Milan will get more chances in the future. Garofoli has gotten stage results as well. Arensman, Vingegaard and Hindley are shared with BDC, so if BDC or ITW will want to challenge for the win they need to depend on Ciccone and Bernal. So far, GHST is outperforming the competition in the mountains, which should make them the current favourite if that continues to be the case.
Status: favourite

I have just now realised that I have made a post about it already...

Stage 9 Cervia -> Corno alle Scale

Long flat stretch, with a small breakaway featuring Giulio Ciccone (BDC/CHX/ITW) and Einer Rubio (CFA), got whittled away on the final climb. Ciccone almost looked like he could solo to victory, but behind in the group of main GC contenders Felix Gall (REX/VFL) attempted to exploit certain rivals having a bad day by putting seconds on them ahead of the rest day. The Austrian's attack was followed by Jonas Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/CHX/GHS/ITW/MMM), ever this edition's strongest climber, who mostly only had to wait for the right moment to attack himself and get a second stage win ahead of his so-far closest rival.

Vingegaard teammate Davide Piganzoli (GHS/MMM) got a surprise third place ahead of Thymen Arensman (BDC/GHS/ITW/VFL) - these two are the biggest winners of the day looking at the general classification. Conversely, definitely a bad day for Giulio Pellizzari (CFA/CHX/MMM/VFL) who slips three places in GC and is now 45" behind his teammate Jai Hindley, which doesn't bide well for his team leadership ambitions. Three more TCAT riders placed top 10 (Gee 6th, Hindley 9th and Storer 10th), with a sorry Ciccone only finishing 11th.

Much like stage 7, the other stage where GC riders shone, most teams got a nice enough point haul, but it is GHST again topping the stage ranking. REX keeps the overall lead ahead of today's restday.

Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	2847	+478
2nd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2753	+411
3rd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	2738	+557
4th	(+3)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2652	+806
5th	(-1)		Team In The Wind (ITW)	2548	+572
6th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2537	+616
7th	(-2)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2412	+474
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1400	+344

Today is a rest day; we'll resume tomorrow with this edition's only individual time trial, a 42km dash along the coast of northern Tuscany. Not many ITT specialists present - Remi Cavagna (CFA/ITW) is I think the only specialist in any TCAT roster, but he is definitely not as strong as Jonas Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/CHX/GHS/ITW/MMM), who is again the favourite here, even if he might not win the time trial outright because of Filippo Ganna (who however isn't in anyone's TCAT lineup). Among the other GC riders the only competent team trialist should be Thymen Arensman (BDC/GHS/ITW/VFL), so there might be hefty time drops among the others. So, immediate bottom line, ITW has all three, BDC, GHST and CFA have two.

 Other than that I wouldn't be sure about any other potential TCAT high-scorers, although Gee (REX) should have a decent time trial, Pellizzari (CFA/CHX/MMM/VFL) and Christen (BDC/REX/VFL) didn't do a bad ITT in this March's Tirreno-Adriatico (similar to tomorrow's course but shorter), and Jonathan Milan (CHX/GHS) is a relatively good time trialist, but he may save energies for the sprints.

Huh, wittenberg wont allow me to send you a pm apparently. Weird.

my email is [first letter of first non Talossan name].[non Talossan surname written together with no spaces]@hotmail.com