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

[Glüc]

Oof, when it rains it pours I guess. Now Vlasov is out!!!

Current in sixth place in GC, this is a major loss for Gagnheirs, Averatxeirs, Port Maxhestic and Fiescha, but especially terrible for GHST, who now lost both their allrounders (and Küng as well)!

The emotional rollercoaster continues...

[Glüc]

Velociraptors and Kinetic the only two teams that are still complete.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Nooooooooooo!

[Audrada Roibeardet]

What is happening!? This Giro has been so freaking wild!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 10 Scandiano -> Viareggio

Well, as hinted here and elsewhere, a massive 9 riders did not start today's stage, including TCAT riders Küng and Evenepoel, and a further 4 riders started but did not finish, including Aleksandr Vlasov (ATX/GNH/PTM/GHS/CFA).

This was another rain-plagued, somewhat chaotic stage with several crashes, and a three-man breakaway that seemed to be doomed but ultimately succeeded: Magnus Cort (ATX/GNH/VFL/PTM/CFA/DED) ultimately claimed the top spot, while the peloton sprint for P4 saw Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC) beat out Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL, P5), points classification leader Milan (CHX, P7) and Cavendish (DED/KIN, P8). Also claiming stage points further back in the bunch, Kämna (GHS/BDC/VFL, P14) and Bettiol (CHX, P19).

No GC changes up top, Thomas (GNH/KIN, today P22) still holding the maglia rosa, with one exception: Jay Vine (ATX/VFL/PTM/MCB/KIN) was dropped from the peloton and ended up losing around 10 minutes from the top contenders, all but removing him from the fight for the lead. He could still go for stage wins, of course.

Logically, it's the Cort teams that lead the day, with Averatxeirs claiming the daily points win courtesy of the Cort-Pedersen-Ackermann trio, ahead of a chasing quartet of Velociposse, Port Maxhestic, Fieschă and Gagnheirs.

Standings after Stage 10:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	4211	+253
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	3695	+312
3rd	(+2)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3134	+455
4th	(+3)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3104	+575
5th	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3046	+461
6th	(-3)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3021	+50
7th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	2843	+403
8th	(-4)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2799	+104
9th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2677	+478
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2473	+281
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	2408	+460

[Sir Lüc]

Giro is turning into an elimination race.

8 more nonstarters this morning including Tesfatsion (VFL), and now 5 Ineos fell in the same bend, with Tao Geoghegan Hart (GHS) the only one unable to get up, probably injured, brought away on a stretcher, obviously another early retirement. Sivakov (ATX) was also hurt but is still going as far as I can tell.

Shortly after, another crash caused a retirement for non-TCAT Oscar Rodriguez who was clipped between two riders, fell and hit a street post.

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

What the hell is happening in Italy.

[Sir Lüc]

Retirements by TCAT team at the halfway point of Giro (very liable of a further update later depending on what happens to Sivakov and potentially others):
- GHST 4/9: Küng, Vlasov, Evenepoel, Geoghegan Hart
- Averatxeirs 3/9: Küng, Vlasov, Ganna
- Cyclohexane 2/9: Küng, Evenepoel
- Gagnheirs 2/9: Küng, Vlasov
- Port Maxhestic 2/9: Küng, Vlasov
- MCB 2/9: Küng, Evenepoel
- Fieschă 2/9: Vlasov, Rochas
- Dead Last 2/9: Evenepoel, Küng
- Velociposse 1/9: Tetsfatsion
- Banqeu de Céz 1/9: Evenepoel
- Kinetic 0/9

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

I don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

She's over in Italy throwing sticks between spokes.

[Glüc]

Stage 11 Camaiore -> Tortona

Well it's been a brutal giro so far. A combination of heavy rains, cold temperatures, treacherous roads, and covid still going around caused many riders to get sick, crash, or give up. It's not unusual for some percentage of riders to withdraw, especially in the final week, but usually not this many, and we're only halfway! Also it's unfortunate how many of those withdrawals are high profile riders that most of us really wanted to see perform in the mountain stages.

Today's stage was long, but not particularly interesting, moving north along the Ligurian coast to Tortona, in Piemonte, with only a bit of climbing along the way. As usual there was a breakaway, but they didn't make it, so we got another bunch sprint. Groves (MCB/BDC) was absent again, having yet another off day and arriving 10 minutes behind the peloton. All the other sprinters were there and this time it was Ackermann (ATX/GNH/VFL) who was the fastest, followed by Milan (CHX), Cavendish (DED/KIN) and Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN).

Another stagewin for the Averatxeirs, who have been performing decidedly above average these last couple stages. Another good score for Cyclohexane as well, shrinking the gap to first place. Kinetic racing, the only team to still be completely intact, got the third most points. The Cabana Boys had another bad day, but not as bad as GHST, who were looking a strong contender a couple of stages ago and then saw basically their entire team collapse in the span of a four days.

Standings after Stage 11:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu de Cézembre Pterodactyls (BDC)	4459	+248
2nd	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	4090	+395
3rd	(+1)	Els Averatxeirs (ATX)	3525	+423
4th	(-1)	Maritiimi-Maxhestic Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	3450	+316
5th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3270	+224
6th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	3099	+78
7th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	3088	+245
8th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3017	+340
9th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2866	+67
10th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2864	+391
11th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschă (CFA)	2609	+201

Tomorrow we move further north, getting closer and closer to the Alps. It should be an interesting day, with a 2nd category climb close enough to the finish that this feels like a stage where an attack could be succesful.

[Glüc]

Update on the "expected" final classification points. Obviously the withdrawals of Vlasov and Geoghegan Hart had quite an impact on the standings.

Thomas (GNH/KIN) is still wearing the Maglia Rosa, but Roglic (VFL/CFA) is only 2 seconds behind, followed by Almeida (CHX/GNH/VFL/PTM/BDC/DED) on 22". Caruso (DED) on 1'28" and Kämna (VFL/GHS/BDC) on 1'52" are also still in the race for the podium. The differences are small, but the real test will be in the final week.

In the points classification Milan (CHX) is now on 164 points and extended his lead  today on Pedersen (ATX/CHX/PTM/CFA/BDC/KIN) and Groves (MCB/BDC), who are on 128 and 100. Milan is now the clear favourite to win the Maglia Ciclamino. As for the King of the Mountains, the vast majority of points will be a scored in the final week, so we may not even know who the contenders are yet, but Pinot (CHX/CFA/BDC) is the TCAT rider with the most points so far.

Expected extra final classification points at current standings:

Velociposse - 1410
Gagnheirs - 1365
BdC - 1330
Port Maxhestic - 1040
Dead Last - 1010
Cyclohexane - 975
Fiescha - 975
Kinetic - 955
Copacabana Boys - 660
Averatxeirs - 570
GHST - 375

Based on this, the actual standing, and my impression of the teams (and what's left), I'd say Velociposse, Els Gagnheirs, BdC and Cyclohexane are the main contenders to win this edition, with Kinetic a potential dark horse due their fully complete team. GHST on the other hand should probably hope for better luck in France or Spain later this year.

[Bråneu Excelsio, UrN]

I don't know how @Audrada Roibeardet managed this, but she has to be stopped.

Fiován gang rise up.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

@Breneir Tzaracomprada , please fire this man. Then exile.

[Audrada Roibeardet]

I doubt Kinetic will take the top spot. However, given the insanity that we've seen, it's not completely out of the question.