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

[þerxh Sant-Enogat]

4:

Cézembre Fieschā (CFA, Cézembre)
7650 points
Team leader: @þerxh Sant-Enogat
Season: 14948 (#4)
 The result is a very decent fourth place and a strong position in the season standings.

[Glüc]

_{Sorry again. I should really hurry up, as the third leg (Spain) is almost about to start already.}

In third place:

Naziun Cjovani (CJO, Benito)
9687 points
Team leader: @Iason Taiwos

Daily winner: 2 times

Stage Wins: 5 (Pogačar 2x, Lafay, Vingegaard, Asgreen)
Best General Classification (Yellow): 1st (Vingegaard)
Best Points Classification (Green): 4th (Pogačar)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Polkadot): 3rd (Vingegaard)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Pogačar)
Final classification points: 1825 (#3)

Team:
Pogačar 2979
Vingegaard 2946
S. Yates 1704
Groenewegen 777
Asgreen 531
Lafay 465 [ab: stage 20]
Alaphilippe 222
Rickaert 40
Perez 23 [ab: stage 18]

Last year, Naziun Cjovani were the winners of the first TCAT edition which was also TCAT France. Since then only teams from Benito have won editions. Early on it looked like Naziun Cjovani would continue the Benitian streak as they started out amazing, with Simon Yates doing well in stage 1 and Lafay unexpectedly winning stage 2. After that they kept doing well with Vingegaard and Pogacar dominating in the mountains and Asgreen being another unexpected stagewinner. However, Lafay's success remained limited to the Basque country stages and Groenewegen disappointed somewhat in the sprints. In the end the team scored better than their winning result last year, but somehow it just wasn't enough to win again, although it did secure a spot on the podium.

[Glüc]

In second place:

Els Gagnheirs (GNH, Maritiimi-Maxhestic)
10053 points
Team leader: @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu
Season: 17647 (#2)

Daily winner: 7 times

Stage Wins: 6 (Pogačar 2x, Hindley, Vingegaard, Gall, Asgreen)
Best General Classification (Yellow): 1st (Vingegaard)
Best Points Classification (Green): 4th (Pogačar)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Polkadot): 2nd (Gall)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Pogačar)
Final classification points: 1995 (#1)

Team:
Pogačar 2979
Vingegaard 2946
Hindley 1483
Gall 1390
Asgreen 531
Abrahamsen 300
Aranburu 224
Arndt 132
Amador 68

Els Gagnheirs have consistently done well in TCAT, never finishing outside the top 4. And this time was their strongest performance yet as they clearly brought their A-team. Apart from Vingegaard and Pogacar, Hindley and Gall, who both won a stage, also ended up in the top 10 GC, resulting in the team from Maritiimi-Maxhestic getting the most classification points. Additionally Els Gagnheirs also were the daily winner on 7 stages (mostly mountain stages), the most of any team. For a while it even looked like they would get the complete GC podium, which would also have ensured the overall win but unfortunately Hindley was not as strong in the final week and dropped to 7th. Even so, every previous edition this performance would have been more than enough to win, as no team had scored more than 10000 points before. The only way GNH might have done better was by including a competitive sprinter, which Aranburu did not turn out to be. Unfortunately the result was not enough to win, although it was another impressive result for Els Gagnheirs, who might only be a good performance in Spain away from being the strongest team of the season.

[Glüc]

And the winner is

Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC, Cézembre)
10404 points
Team leader: @Glüc da Dhi S.H.
Season: 18960 (#1)

Daily winner: 4 times

Stage Wins: 8 (Philipsen 4x, Pogačar 2x, Bilbao, Vingegaard)
Best General Classification (Yellow): 1st (Vingegaard)
Best Points Classification (Green): 1st (Philipsen)
Best King of the Mountains Classification (Polkadot): 1st (Ciccone)
Best Young Rider Classification (White): 1st (Pogačar)
Final classification points: 1940 (#2)

Team:
Pogačar 2979
Vingegaard 2946
Philipsen 1935
Bibao 1434
Ciccone 697
Van Gils 371
Peters 18
Vermeersch 14
Mühlberger 10

After just losing out on first place in Italy due to not having the strongest sprinter, Banqeu da Cézembre got their first edition win by picking the strongest sprinter this time. Just like the other teams in the top 4, Pogacar and Vingegaard formed the basis, but it was the performance by Philipsen, who won four stages, that made the difference, along with a strong performance by Bilbao, who ended up 6th in GC and won a stage, and Ciccone who completed the set of jerseys by winning the King of the Mountains classification. BdC did get lucky as well by being one of two teams not to have any riders drop out. The result is a new TCAT record of 10404 points and the first team outside Benito to win an edition.

[þerxh Sant-Enogat]

And the winner is

Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC, Cézembre)

Congrats ! Well deserved victory, our province is so proud !