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

[Glüc]

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:

_{(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.

[Glüc]

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.

[Glüc]

Oh and I almost forgot:

But 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.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

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

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

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.

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.

[Glüc]

Curses! 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.

[Tric’hard Lenxheir]

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

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

walking on his hands carrying his bike in his teeth

Folks, this should be TCAT 2024.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

Curses! 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.

[Audrada Roibeardet]

I think Cav went down in the finish.

[Sir Lüc]

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


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

[Sir Lüc]

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)

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

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.

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

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

[Glüc]

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.

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...

[Tric’hard Lenxheir]

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

[Sir Lüc]

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

[Glüc]

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.

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

Or not...

[Glüc]

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).

[Glüc]

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.