Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 3 Leg 2 Firenze -> Nice

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 18 Gap -> Barcellonette

Another one for the breakaway, but a low scoring one for TCAT, as only five TCAT riders were included in the very large group of over 30 cyclists that was ultimately successful in getting ahead of the peloton.

Best placed among them is Jai Hindley (DED/VFL/MCB), seventh, while Wout van Aert (PTM) came in eighth. No other TCAT rider scored stage finish points and neither did anyone score breakaway points, since the attacking group was so large. So all in all, barely anything changed.

Standings after stage 18:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	6574	+172
2nd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	6199	+118
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	6163	+100
4th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	6095	+136
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	5602	+163
6th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	5450	+121
7th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	5239	+96
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	5165	+96
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	4890	+79
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	3310	+133
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2952	+110

The exciting finale to TCAT França 2024 beckons: two proper back-to-back mountain stages with tough summit finishes, with (essentially) a climbing time trial to close it all off on Sunday. Be sure to check back to find out who comes out on top!

[Glüc]

Stage 19 Embrun -> Isola 2000


_{Profile of the second climb of the day}

Today (well yesterday at this point for me) we got  a relatively short but very tough alpine stage with two hors categorie climbs and an uphill finish to the ski resort of Isola 2000. A break was formed which included Simon Yates (ARB), Hindley (DED/VFL/MCB)  and Carapaz (PTM). Carapaz was the first to arrive at both HC summits and somewhat surprisingly takes the lead in the KOM classification and the polkadot jersey, which he will now likely keep in Nice.

The break got a considerable gap, but when Pogacar fired up on the final ascent there was nothing anyone could do about it. He caught up to the last remaining attacker 2 kms before the finish to win the stage (CHX/CFA/BDC/CJO/GHS). Yates and Carapaz finished 3rd and 4th. Not for the first time this edition Evenepoel (DED/CFA/PTM) and Vingegaard (DED/ARB/VFL/CFA/CJO/PTM) were strong but just not strong enough to keep up with the force of nature that is Pogacar, finishing 5th and 6th at 1'42". Pogacar now has a 5 minute lead on Vingegaard, meaning that he is almost certain to dethrone Vingegaard and take the yellow jersey home.


_{Richard Carapaz (PTM)}

Not for the first time on a mountain stage Fiescha scored the most points. Cyclohexane also did well, following close behind CFA and taking the lead in the sibling team rivalry. Dead Last however keeps the lead.

It now seems very plausible Dead Last will still be first after the final stage points are awarded. However, that is not enough for the victory yet as there will be also be points awarded for the final classification standings. Will Dead Last have enough of a lead to remain Dead First? My instinct says probably not, as Cézembre Fiescha will score loads of points from having the entire podium in their team, but I haven't actually done the math on virtual classification points yet, so I might be wrong.

Standings after stage 19:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	7028	+454
2nd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	6783	+584
3rd	(+1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	6674	+579
4th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	6616	+453
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	6158	+556
6th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	5945	+495
7th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	5671	+432
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	5669	+504
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	5113	+223
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	3526	+216
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3119	+167

Tomorrow (or today depending on perspective): an even shorter stage with even more climbing. Pogacar has said that he doesn't intend to chase a potential breakaway group down on the final climb again (provided his gc position isn't threatened of course) so we may actually see early attackers succeed this time.

[Glüc]

Well so much for giving the chance to the break. Pogacar just won again yesterday.

Port Maxhestic had a very strong day, partly due to Carapaz who came third. They are in the process of making a comeback and may still end up on the podium if they do well in the ITT today. Meanwhile the lead for Dead Last has shrunk to the point where they probably won't be able to hold anymore. Caught just before the finishline.

Standings after stage 20:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	7485	+457
2nd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	7468	+685
3rd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	7209	+535
4th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	7040	+424
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	6894	+736
6th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	6431	+486
7th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	6225	+554
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	6069	+400
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	5428	+315
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	3757	+231
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3331	+212

Today: the final stage. We arrive in nice with another ITT. It is clear Pogacar wins the tour, Carapaz takes the polkadot and Girmay takes the green jersey. But who will win TCAT??

Edit: Ok I just checked the math and I don't think PTM can podium. It's very close race for 4th place though. Meanwhile it's not certain yet but it seems very likely the title will remain in Cézembre

[Glüc]

And across the line!

Pogacar won again. Six stage for him this year. But what does it mean for TCAT?

Will Dead Last hang on? Did Cézembre Fiescha pull of the perfect strategy? Or does Cyclohexane get their second TCAT win?

[Glüc]

NOT THE FINAL STANDING (includes final stage point but not the end-of-tour classification points.

Standings after stage 21:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	8126	+658
2nd	(-1)	Dead Last (DED)	8013	+528
3rd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	7787	+578
4th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	7543	+503
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	7306	+412
6th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	6921	+490
7th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	6699	+474
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	6519	+450
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	5604	+176
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	3972	+215
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3366	+35

Cézembre Fieschā takes the lead just before the finish

[Glüc]

Cézembre Fieschā wins Talossan Cycling Association Tour
3rd season, 2nd leg

@þerxh Sant-Enogat saw Iasons strategy of always picking the top 2 and said I shall pick the top 3 instead. And it worked. Correctly identifying Roglic as the only bad pick of the big 4 delivered the win to Cézembre Fiescha.

Unfortunate for Dead Last as they were leading right to the very end. They do end up on the podium, far away from their desired last place.

Three teams were remarkably similar. Of those three Cyclohexane made some very good value sprinter choices in Turgis and Coquard which got them a very strong second place. GHST may have spent too much on Philipsen and ended in fourth. BDC got unlucky with Vlasov dropping out early and also picked the wrong sprinter and ended up in 6th place, breaking a streak of three wins in a row. They will be glad to know the title remains on Cézembre, as it should.

Port Maxhestic started out strong, but struggled in the sprint stages. A comeback in the mountains resulted in a respectable 5th place. Carapaz turned out to be a very good pick.

Naziun Cjovani did indeed pick the top 2 but was unfortunate to lose Harper early and also went for a risky 4 unclassed strategy. They get 7th place.

Newcomers Ardita Benito and Maricopa Manilows had a fairly unremarkable debut, but Im very excited they have joined. Hopefully we will see some more results from then in the future. Both were unlucky in picking MvdP who somehow always seems to do better in races that arent grand tours.

Dead2Last got close but failed in their aim to become last despite being unlucky with Roglic and Pedersen and picking 4 unclassed. They did a lot worse than the real Dead Last however. They just couldnt match the absurd amount of bad luck the Cabana Boys got, with no less than 5 dropouts!

Final standings

Pos	Team	Points
1st	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	10066
2nd	Cyclohexane (CHX)	9607
3rd	Dead Last (DED)	9463
4th	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	9033
5th	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	8671
6th	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	8491
7th	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	8159
8th	Ardita Benito (ARB)	7739
9th	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	6419
10th	Dead2Last (VFL)	4692
11th	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3776

[þerxh Sant-Enogat]

A bit sorry that my nag technique proved to be successful, but happy to keep the trophy for Cézembre, land of so many cycling lovers and experts.
A great thanks to the organisers of this unmissable event !

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

I definitely did not intend to thwart Brenier's race to the bottom lol

[Sir Lüc]

Belated congratulations, Þerxh!

Registrations for leg 3 out of 3 are open: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3457.0