2023 Talossan Cycling Association Tour - Leg 2: Bilbao -> Paris

[Glüc]

Talossan Cycling Association Tour
2023
Second Leg
Bilbao -> Paris


_{(Logo created by Sir Lüc}

Yes! A record number of thirteen teams, from seven different provinces, are participating in the second leg of the Talossan Cycling Association Tour 2023. Three weeks, 21 stages, 3400 km and only one team will be victorious in the end. Will it be Cyclohexane again, or will a team from another province finally claim an edition?

The following teams are participating:

- Cyclohexane - (CHX, Benito) 2nd participation, first leg: 8658 Vingegaard Bernal Alaphilippe Kuss Van Aert Van der Poel Kirsch Bettiol Majka -----------------------------------------------------	- Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up - (BDC, Cézembre) 4th participation, first leg: 8556 Pogačar Vingegaard Ciccone Van Gils Philipsen Mühlberger Vermeersch Peters Bilbao -----------------------------------------------------	- Velociposse Florencia - (VFL, Florencia) 3rd participation, first leg: 7759 Mas Skjelmose Rodriguez Pinot Pedersen Laporte Pidcock Benoot Gaudu -----------------------------------------------------
- Els Gagnheirs - (GNH, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) 3rd participation, first leg: 7594 Vingegaard Pogačar Hindley Gall Aranburu Arndt Asgreen Abrahamsen Amador -----------------------------------------------------	- Dead Last - (DED, Vuode) 2nd participation, first leg: 6763 Vingegaard Bernal Alaphilippe Ciccone Ewan Pidcock Cort Laporte Cavendish -----------------------------------------------------	- Cézembre Fieschă - (CFA, Cézembre) 2nd participation, first leg: 6632 Vingegaard Pogačar Bardet Pinot Cavendish Boivin Petit Gallopin Bauhaus -----------------------------------------------------
- Port Maxhestic AC - (PTM, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) 2nd participation, first leg: 5832 Pogačar Carapaz Pinot Bardet Pedersen Cort Bettiol Shaw Kuss -----------------------------------------------------	- Kinetic Racing - (KIN, Fiôvâ) 4th participation, first leg: 5709 Vingegaard A. Yates Gaudu Alaphilippe Cavendish Laporte Vermeersch Pichon Mas -----------------------------------------------------	- The Maricopa Cabana Boys - (MCB, Maricopa) 2nd participation, first leg: 5074 Mas Skjelmose Hindley Bardet Girmay Asgreen Wright Cort Ciccone -----------------------------------------------------
- els Averatxeirs - (ATX, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) 2nd participation, first leg: 4456 A. Yates Carapaz Bardet Ciccone Girmay Pidcock Van der Poel Cort Gaudu -----------------------------------------------------	- Gordon Hiatus Support Team - (GHS, Benito) 4th participation, first leg: 4440 Pogačar O'Connor Meintjes Hindley Girmay Cort Neilands Perez Pidcock	- Naziun Cjovani - (CJO, Benito) 3rd participation Vingegaard Pogačar Alaphilippe S. Yates Groenewegen Lafay Asgreen Perez Rickaert
- els cantzelerïă aþletici - (SOS, Maricopa) 1st participation Mas A. Yates S. Yates Ciccone Pedersen Wright Pidcock Cort Gaudu

Links:
Season overview thread
Registration thread
Information about the route and riders

[Glüc]

Have to admit I feel really bad about not picking Pinot this time, but I really appreciate all the teams that did.

(Also sad about not picking Sénéchal)

So we have
3 teams with Vingegaard
2 teams with Pogačar
4 teams with both
4 teams with neither

So pretty balanced, I like that.

[Glüc]

Stage 1 Bilbao -> Bilbao

The first day was a day with ups and downs, both figuratively and literally. The peloton started in Bilbao, not for a time trial, but for a hilly stage with various short but steep climbs. A stage that could suit a variety of different riders and could potentially be won in very different ways. In the end it was the teams of the GC (general classification) favourites that started pulling on the second to last climb, and on the last climb the GC favourites went for it. It was the Yates twins, Adam (KIN/ATX/CAN) and Simon (CJO/CAN) that managed to pull away in the end, with Adam winning not just the stage, but also the yellow jersey for the leader in the GC and the green jersey for the leader in the points classification.

Pogacar (BDC/GNH/CFA/PTM/GHS/CJO) ended up winning the sprint in the group of favourites, which also included Pinot (VFL/CFA/PTM), Lafay (CJO), Hindley (GNH/MCB/GHS), Skjelmose (VFL/MCB), Vingegaard (CHX/BDC/GNH/DED/CFA/KIN/CJO), Gaudu (VFL/KIN/ATX/CAN), and Van Aert (CHX). Lafay being the big surprise there.

Earlier in the stage, however there was a crash involving Mas (VFL/KIN/MCB/CAN) and Carapaz (PTM/ATX). Mas was forced to abandon immediately. Carapaz amazingly managed to finish the stage, but turned out to have a fractured kneecap. After a first leg that was somewhat marred by several incidents I had really hoped for a slightly more fortunate start this time. Sadly this means six teams already lost a valuable GC contender on the first day, which will hurt those teams chances.

The return of Naziun Cjovani to TCAT is something some other teams may already be starting to regret as they did everything right today and got a pretty big score, due to the results of A. Yates and Pogacar, but also Lafay, who is looking very strong already for a relatively cheap rider. Yet again, that means we have a team from Benito in the lead. A very impressive start.

Els Cantzelerïă Aþletici had a very strong debut due to the scores by the Yates brothers, although they may have mixed feelings about today due to the loss of Mas. Meanwhile, sticking with Pinot paid off for Fieschā. Dead Last, however, was not very well represented in the favourites group. While they did much better than last time, they do take the spot predicted by their name after the first stage of this edition. Last editions winners, Cyclohexane also had a difficult start.

Last edition it took very long before we got some action among the GC favourites. This time we're getting it in the first stage, which was only an intermediate stage. That promises good things to come, although the abandons by Mas and Carapaz did put a damper on the excitement. Either way, this was only stage one so a lot can still happen.

Standings after stage 1:

Pos	Team	Points
1st	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	649
2nd	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	562
3rd	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	466
4th	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	443
5th	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	436
6th	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	387
7th	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	387
8th	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	343
9th	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	325
10th	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	321
11th	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	202
12th	Cyclohexane (CHX)	190
13th	Dead Last (DED)	100

Tomorrow we stay in Basque county for yet another unpredictable  hilly stage to San Sebastian. It seems less likely that GC favourites want to get involved so this might well end up being won by an early breakaway or result in a reduced bunch sprint. Possibly an ideal stage for someone like Van Aert or Van der Poel.

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

It looks like I am already in a position that will require a viral outbreak among my opponents for my team to mount a comeback LOL

[Glüc]

Holy macaroni, Lafay out of nowhere!!! Iason is way too good at this game...

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 2 Vitoria-Gasteiz -> San Sébastián

Another hilly stage in the Basque Country, another emphatic victory for Naziun Cjovani! This time it's Victor Lafay timing a final attack to perfection, pipping a 24-rider group that included all the major contenders. Almost catching him after a late sprint, a very frustrated Cyclohexane's Wout Van Aert, and Tadej Pogačar (BDC/CJO/CFA/GHS/GNH/PTM), who enjoyed another moral victory over direct Tour contender Jonas Vingegaard (BDC/CJO/CFA/CHX/DED/GNH/KIN) by snatching a few bonus seconds on the summit of Jaizkibel, the final summit before the finish. Most of the day had been led by a three-man non-TCAT breakaway, caught on the approach to Jaizkibel itself.

Rounding out the top 5 are Tom Pidcock (ATX/CAN/DED/GHS/VFL) and Pello Bilbao (BDC), with numerous other TCAT riders in the top 20. Adam Yates keeps the yellow jersey, Victor Lafay takes over the point classification's lead (green jersey), and Neilson Powless keeps the polkadot jersey (KOM classification).

Naziun Cjovani opens up an immediate lead on everyone else, powered by their two daily victories. The rest of the current podium remains stable, but there's some big swings behind due to how tight the standings still are and how early it still is. Plenty of time for teams to catch up or fall behind.

Standings after stage 2:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1208	+559
2nd	(=)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	855	+293
3rd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	836	+370
4th	(+1)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	786	+350
5th	(+5)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	772	+451
6th	(+3)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	771	+446
7th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	713	+326
8th	(=)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	699	+356
9th	(-3)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	653	+261
10th	(-6)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	565	+122
11th	(+1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	487	+297
12th	(-1)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	454	+252
13th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	371	+271

Tomorrow, we have the first chance for sprinters to shine as Tour crosses back into France for a finish in Bayonne; however look for numerous uncategorised climbs peppered in the second half of the stage that might spell doom for some out-of-form favourites.

[Sir Lüc]

Tomorrow should be an interesting matchup, TCAT-wise, as teams chose a variety of very strong and interesting sprinters.

The only major sprinter to remain unpicked was, surprisingly, Fabio Jakobsen. He's also the unpicked rider with the largest ownership percentage across all Velogames teams, and one of just three unpicked riders who have an ownership percentage above 1/13≈7.7%, such that they would be expected to have been picked by at least one TCAT team (the other two being Landa and current KOM leader Powless).

TCAT Giro was won by two sprinter-oriented teams, but only two out of thirteen teams in TCAT Tour chose a second sprinter, and neither team has a truly awe inspiring pairing: Fieschă has Cavendish and Bauhaus, and Dead Last has Cavendish and Ewan. Bauhaus is promising but untested, Cavendish is at the end of his career, and Ewan is strong but not quite at the top of the sprinter tier list.

Sprinter	Team
Aranburu	GNH
Bauhaus	CFA
Cavendish	CFA, DED, KIN
Ewan	DED
Girmay	ATX, GHS, MCB
Groenewegen	CJO
Pedersen	CAN, PTM, VFL
Philipsen	BDC
Van Aert	CHX

Note how Dead Last is almost a three-sprinter team, as they have Laporte who might sprint for Jumbo-Visma, but will probably mostly be Van Aert's leadout.

Cyclohexane also has two leadouts who can sprint well on their own should their leader abandon: Alex Kirsch (for Pedersen) and Mathieu Van der Poel (for Philipsen). Look for them to rise once again to the spot of leading sprint team of TCAT should something happen to Pedersen and/or Philipsen.

Yet more teams own lesser known leadouts for their main sprinter: Laurent Pichon could also bring sprint points to Kinetic as a leadout for Mozzato; Rickaert might do the same to Cjovani, and Boivin to Fieschă. Again: if a lead sprinter gets injured, you may just find your 4-point pick turn into a goldmine of points...

[þerxh Sant-Enogat]

Fieschă has Cavendish and Bauhaus, and Dead Last has Cavendish and Ewan. Bauhaus is promising but untested

I must admit I chose Bauhaus because I've always been a fan of the band

[Glüc]

TCAT Ortona > Roma was won by two sprinter-oriented teams, but only two out of thirteen teams in TCAT Bilbao > Paris chose a second sprinter, and neither team has a truly awe inspiring pairing: Fieschă has Cavendish and Bauhaus, and Dead Last has Cavendish and Ewan. Bauhaus is promising but untested, Cavendish is at the end of his career, and Ewan is strong but not quite at the top of the sprinter tier list.

Bauhaus second, Ewan third. Fiescha and Dead Last almost certainly scoring the most points today. I'd say this did not age well :p (Sorry Lüc)

[Sir Lüc]

TCAT Giro was won by two sprinter-oriented teams, but only two out of thirteen teams in TCAT Tour chose a second sprinter, and neither team has a truly awe inspiring pairing: Fieschă has Cavendish and Bauhaus, and Dead Last has Cavendish and Ewan. Bauhaus is promising but untested, Cavendish is at the end of his career, and Ewan is strong but not quite at the top of the sprinter tier list.

Bauhaus second, Ewan third. Fiescha and Dead Last almost certainly scoring the most points today. I'd say this did not age well :p (Sorry Lüc)

Thank you for not mentioning Cavendish P6 as well :p

[Glüc]

Stage 3 Amorebieta-Etxano - > Bayonne

Disaster struck today! Jasper "disaster" Philipsen, that is, who won the bunch sprint after an otherwise thankfully uneventful day on what was apparently the longest stage of this edition.

The peloton left Spanish Basque Country today and entered French Basque Country. The Pyrenees loom large to the east, but today that went mostly unnoticed as despite some hills the peloton managed to get to the finish more or less complete. Before that Pichon (KIN) made it to the break and actually spend more than 30 km soloing after dropping his fellow attacker halfway through the stage. This attacking spirit wasn't rewarded though as the sprint teams never gave the break much of a chance.

Philipsen (BDC) won the sprint ahead of Bauhaus (CFA) and Ewan (DED), with Van Aert (CHX), Cavendish (CFA/KIN/DED), Groenewegen (CJO) and Pedersen (CAN/VFL/PTM) also in the top 10.

As a result Fiescha had a very strong day, gaining the most points and making a big jump in the standings. Dead Last also did well, handing the red lantern to the Cabana Boys after a disappointing performance by Girmay (ATX/GHS/MCB). Naziun Cjovani is still comfortably in the lead, followed by the two Cézembrean teams desparate to prevent a fourth Benitian TCAT victory.

Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1437	+229
2nd	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1216	+380
3rd	(+3)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	1095	+324
4th	(-2)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	1017	+162
5th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	894	+122
6th	(-2)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	882	+96
7th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	854	+141
8th	(=)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	821	+122
9th	(+1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	802	+237
10th	(-1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	791	+138
11th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	711	+224
12th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	698	+327
13th	(-1)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	549	+95

Tomorrow we move away from the coast, towards the Occitanian town of Nogaro. Another flat stage that seems to favour a bunch sprint. Some of the sprinters that missed out today will definitely be looking for revanche.

[Glüc]

Stage 4 Dax - > Nogaro

Absolutely nothing happened for most of today. The peloton took it easy and it took a long while before anyone even bothered to attack, knowing the inevitable result of the attempt. There was no chance the sprint teams were letting this opportunity get away. So we did get a sprint again and the result looked very similar to yesterday. Philipsen (BDC) won again, helped a lot by Van der Poel (CHX) who acted as a leadout again and guided Philipsen to the perfect position. (The team leadership of Banqeu da Cézembre is most grateful to Cyclohexane for their assistance). Van der Poel did hinder Girmay (ATX/GHS/MCB) during the sprint however and was relegated by several places as punishment.

Behind Philipsen, Ewan (DED), Bauhaus (CFA) and Cavendish (DED/CFA) proved their performance yesterday was not a fluke, by ending 2nd, 3rd and 5th, respectively. Van Aert (CHX), Pedersen (CAN/VFL/PTM), Groenewegen (CJO), and Girmay (ATX/GHS/MCB) disappointed again. As a result of his win Philipsen will be taking over the green jersey from Lafay (CJO) tomorrow.

As a result, the sprint teams won again, but this time it was Dead Last who came Dead First, jumping to fifth place in the standings with Fiescha and BdC further closing the gap between them and Naziun Cjovani, although Cjovani does stay in the lead.

Standings after stage 4:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1612	+175
2nd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1585	+369
3rd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	1439	+344
4th	(=)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	1169	+152
5th	(+7)	Dead Last (DED)	1102	+404
6th	(+3)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1043	+241
7th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	979	+125
8th	(-2)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	973	+91
9th	(-4)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	967	+73
10th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	930	+139
11th	(-3)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	901	+80
12th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	881	+170
13th	(=)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	601	+52

No more sprinting tomorrow, as we head into the Pyrenees for the first mountain stage. We've already almost had more GC action in the first two stages than in the first two weeks of the giro. Still, the real test starts tomorrow, and involves three climbs, including the Col de Soudet. However, as most of the climbing happens halfway through the stage, it is likely we will see the stage winner come from a breakaway while the real GC battle happens on the Tourmalet on thursday.

Stage 5 profile

Col de Soudet

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

It's alright Boys, there's still a long way to go before it's over!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 5 Pau -> Laruns

In the first true mountain stage of TCAT France 2023, today was always going to be consequential for the general classification. And so it was, in two major ways.

The first was Jai Hindley (GNH/GHS/MCB) being allowed to join a very large breakaway -- remember, the larger the breakaway, the more chance it has to be successful. And successful it was! Hindley was the lone rider to survive until the end, taking his first stage win at Tour *and* the yellow jersey to boot. He stayed put on today's toughest climb, Col de Soudet, but attacked together with a comparatively more spent Felix Gall (GNH) on the last summit, Col de Marie Blanque, dropping him easily and riding solo for the last 20kms. Gall can console himself by taking third place today, together with the lead of the KOM classification.

The second major way in which the GC fight changed is the more consequential. Alarm bells are sounding in the UAE/Pogacar camp: the Slovenian rider (CJO/CFA/GNH/BDC/PTM/GHS) was rather easily dropped by his direct rival, Jonas Vingegaard (CJO/CFA/KIN/GNH/BDC/CHX/DED), when the Dane and teammate Sepp Kuss (CHX/PTM) upped the tempo of the chasing peloton, culminating in an attack on Marie Blanque. Vingegaard went on to furiously catch by himself the remnants of the breakaway, a three-man group including Gall and Giulio Ciccone (CAN/ATX/BDC/MCB/DED); the latter winning a reduced sprint for second place, 32" behind Hindley.

GC-wise: Hindley gets yellow from Adam Yates, who was never going to be keeping the jersey for much longer anyway, seeing as he's working for team leader Tadej Pogacar. Vingegaard is 47" behind, which is not as important as the fact he's now almost a minute in front of direct rival Pogacar. The Slovenian and his team will have much to prove tomorrow, or the hope of contesting Tour at level pegging with Vingegaard might be over before it's even begun.

Coming to TCAT: Gagnheirs makes the most of holding Hindley, Gall, Vingegaard and Pogacar for a daily haul of almost 750 points. MCB will be very pleased about a definite reversal in their luck so far, also benefitting from Hindley and Ciccone to bring home second place. Rounds off the podium Banqeu de Cézembre -- they do just enough to pip Cjovani at the top of the standings, for the first lead change of TCAT France 2023.

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	1945	+506
2nd	(-1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1922	+310
3rd	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1869	+284
4th	(+4)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	1722	+749
5th	(-1)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	1634	+465
6th	(-1)	Dead Last (DED)	1542	+440
7th	(+2)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1403	+436
8th	(-2)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1333	+290
9th	(+2)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1310	+409
10th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1304	+374
11th	(+2)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1276	+675
12th	(-5)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1184	+205
13th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1153	+272

More mountains to come in stage 6, with the famous Tourmalet, preceded by Col d'Aspin and this year's first summit finish at Cauterets-Cambasque. More GC excitement - and daring breakaways - in store.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]