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

[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.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Nooooooooooooooo

[Glüc]

Stage 8 Terni -> Fossombrone

Quite a stunning performance by Ben Healy (BDC) yesterday, winning the stage after soloing on the first climb of the day after being in a breakaway group for most of the stage with several others, including Warren Barguil (DED), who also did well.

Behind them in the group of gc favourites a lot happened as well. On the last climb it was Roglic (VFL/CFA) who attacked and Evenepoel did not manage to keep up! Only Thomas (GNH/KIN) and Geoghegan Hart (GHS) managed to follow until the end, with Evenepoel (CHX/GHS/MCB/BDC/DED), Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED), and several others losing 15 seconds or more.

Evenepoel is still leading the main contenders for the Maglia Rosa, and will probably extend that lead today, but is looking a bit shaky.

The luck of BdC doesn't seem to end as they again scored the most points due to Healy's win. Dead Last also did well, coming in second with the points of Barguil and moving away from last place in the standings.

Looking ahead however, this stage also brought good news for the Velociraptors and Cézembre Fieschă, whose main GC man is clearly back in the race for the Maglia Rosa.

Standings after Stage 8:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	3499	+374
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2878	+122
3rd	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2263	+117
4th	(=)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2195	+115
5th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2151	+140
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2070	+154
7th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1979	+151
8th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1900	+113
9th	(+2)	Dead Last (DED)	1885	+303
10th	(-1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1849	+179
11th	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	1707	+118

Today, the TCAT riders literally cross the Rubicon, albeit from the wrong side. It's another individual time trial and long enough for there to be significant differences made in the gc. Evenepoel in particular will be looking to strike back after a difficult showing yesterday. Outside of the GC riders, who will all be looking for a good result, Küng (ATX/CHX/GNH/PTM/GHS/MCB/DED) is a potential favourite for the stagewin. Ganna would have been too, had he not contracted covid.

[þerxh Sant-Enogat]

Group photo of the Cézembre Fieschā team


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Audrada Roibeardet]

I think the Triple Crown (and probably the whole season) is slowly fading away for Kinetic.

Learn from my mistakes, kiddos. Do your research, scout the field, read the previews and you might stand a chance.

Still enjoying every minute of this, though.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 9 Savignano sul Rubicone -> Cesena (ITT)

Very long individual time trial on the menu today. Remco Evenepoel (CHX/GHS/MCB/BDC/DED), winner of the inaugural ITT, was expected to potentially do even better than that in terms of time gained from his direct GC contenders. On the other hand, he had a pretty torrid week after that, crashing on a couple of occasions, most notably in stage 6 after a collision with a dog, and losing time to Primož Roglič in the first real attack among GC contenders yesterday.

Well, Evenepoel did win and snatch the GC lead back, but just barely - just one second quicker than Geraint Thomas (GNH/KIN) and two seconds quicker than Tao Geoghegan Hart (GHS), over 35km/22mi of road. A further two seconds back, ITT specialist Stefan Küng (ATX/CHX/GNH/PTM/GHS/MCB/DED).

Maglia rosa at the start, non-TCAT Andreas Leknessund, was never supposed to do well and was basically guaranteed to lose the jersey, but he still managed a pretty respectable P19, which is enough to stay in the top 5 of the GC. Also not doing well, Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED), who is undoubtedly the biggest loser of the day.

(stopped writing here)



Standings after Stage 9:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	3958	+459
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	3383	+505
3rd	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2971	+708
4th	(+3)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2695	+716
5th	(=)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2679	+528
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2585	+515
7th	(-3)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2527	+332
8th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	2440	+555
9th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2199	+350
10th	(-2)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2192	+292
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	1948	+241