2023 Talossan Cycling Association Tour - Leg 1: Ortona -> Roma

[Glüc]

4:

Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH, Maritiimi-Maxhestic)
7594 points
Team leader: @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu

Daily winner: 3 times

Stage Wins: 4 (Cort, Ackermann, Almeida, Buitrago)
Best General Classification (Pink): 2nd (Thomas)
Best Points Classification (Mauve): 5th (Ackermann)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Blue): 7th (Buitrago)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Almeida)
Final classification points: 1295 (#2)

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.

[Glüc]

3:

Velociposse Florencia (VFL, Florencia)
7759 points
Team leader: @Breneir Tzaracomprada

Daily winner: 3 times

Stage Wins: 5 (Cort, Ackermann, McNulty, Almeida, Roglic)
Best General Classification (Pink): 1st (Roglic)
Best Points Classification (Mauve): 5th (Ackermann)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Blue): 6th (Roglic)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Almeida)
Final classification points: 1400 (#1)

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.

[Glüc]

2:

Banqeu da Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC, Cézembre)
8556 points
Team leader: @Glüc da Dhi S.H.

Daily winner: 7 times

Stage Wins: 7 (Evenepoel 2x, A. Paret-Peintre, Groves, Pedersen, Healy, Almeida)
Best General Classification (Pink): 3rd (Almeida)
Best Points Classification (Mauve): 15th (Almeida)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Blue): 1st (Pinot)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Almeida)
Final classification points: 1225 (#4)

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...

[Glüc]

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

Cyclohexane (CHX, Benito)
8658 points
Team leader: @Erschéveþ da Schir 

Daily winner: 6 times

Stage Wins: 5 (Evenepoel 2x, Milan, Pedersen, Almeida)
Best General Classification (Pink): 3rd (Almeida)
Best Points Classification (Mauve): 1st (Milan)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Blue): 1st (Pinot)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Almeida)
Final classification points: 1160 (#5)

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

[Audrada Roibeardet]

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.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

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. !

[Sir Lüc]

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

[Glüc]

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!

[Sir Lüc]

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

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

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

[Glüc]

Updated 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)

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Updated 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!

[Glüc]

Seeing 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

[Iason Taiwos]

Seeing 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!