Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 3 Leg 2 Firenze -> Nice

[Glüc]

Oh man, this is getting exciting. Imagine if Dead Last ends up in first place while its tribute team, Dead2Last, ends up in dead last place. Could it happen?

It could happen. Dead Last winning would be quite funny and also fitting because of the Abrahamsen pick. But... Nice is still very far. Fiescha and Cyclohexane will certainly be looking to make some big gains when we get to the mountains again. (And you can never quite rule out a GHST or BDC comeback either.)

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

Come on MCB!

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 9 Troyes -> Troyes

Yesterday's stage was billed as a potential banger and it didn't disappoint, as the gravel roads around Troyes played host to lots of attacks. The bulk of the breakaway split away with 150km to go already, and a group of eight riders lasted in front until the end, leading to a reduced bunch sprint which was won by Cyclohexane's Anthony Turgis. This propels the leg 1 runners-up to a daily win, in front of Banqeu de Cézembre, Dead Last and GHST (all sharing third placed Derek Gee, as does Cyclohexane), of the Manilows (whose Ben Healy finished fifth) and of the Cabana Boys, the last team with someone in the front eight - second placed Tom Pidcock.

Two other TCAT riders scored points: Mathieu van der Poel (ARB/MAN) - eleventh and among a group of seven riders that moved too late to catch the breakaway but still finished ahead of the main peloton - and Pascal Ackermann (DED/ARB/CJO), who won the peloton's sprint for sixteenth place. The main GC riders battled among themselves at several points in the stage; notably Tadej Pogacar went full steam on every gravel section, and Remco Evenepoel at one point launched a successful attack that was only regathered with much difficulty by Pogacar and Vingegaard, the latter helped by teammates Jorgenson and Laporte. Ultimately, though, they abandoned all efforts at trying for the stage win and finished among the peloton in non-scoring positions. This could have been a real coup by Fieschă, who at one point looked set for a 1-2-3 finish, and by the three riders on Primoz Roglic, who never looked like he could stay with the others and also lost superdomestique Aleksander Vlasov to a crash (the Russian rider finishing the stage, but officially pulling out today due to a broken ankle.)

We therefore go into our first restday with no changes up top, but with Cyclohexane taking full advantage of Turgis and Gee to vault themselves to third place. The Cabana Boys also give the lanterne rouge back to Dead2Last thanks to Tom Pidcock's second place.

Stage photo: the peloton makes its way through an early gravel section


Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	3076	+297
2nd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2806	+114
3rd	(+4)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2704	+559
4th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2699	+280
5th	(-1)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	2677	+300
6th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2361	+74
7th	(-1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2258	+108
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	2246	+157
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	2244	+285
10th	(+1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1824	+253
11th	(-1)	Dead2Last (VFL)	1722	+61

Today is a restday; tomorrow we begin the second week with a very flat stage that will certainly go to another bunch sprint.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Standings after stage 9:
Pos   ±   Team   Pts Ove   Pts Today
1st   (=)   Dead Last (DED)   3076   +297
11th   (-1)   Dead2Last (VFL)   1722   +61

That's what I like to see.

[Sir Lüc]

A few customary words to mark the first rest day!

Dead Last is certainly not where they expected to be, but I don't think @Tric'hard Lenxheir will mind! The Vuodeans are in the lead thanks to being the only team who selected Jonas Abrahamsen, the current leader of the King of Mountains classification and TCAT's second best rider by value at 80.3 points per credit. They also own two stage winners in Remco Evenepoel, who won Friday's time trial, and Dylan Groenewegen, who outsprinted everyone else the day before. Early days still, but they look solid enough so far; particularly Evenepoel may have looked like a risky pick given nebulous form, subpar support team and relative inexperience over three weeks, but he has only been outscored by Pogacar and Girmay so far, and he's one of just six TCAT riders to be on track to match the fabled 100 points per credit that makes or breaks each rider (843 scored versus 771 expected at this point).

Cézembre Fieschă has, as Glüc already touched upon, chosen a super-Iason strat: spending big on three of the top four GC contenders and skimping on the rest of the riders. It's a strategy that in its base form has always worked at Tour, but it might have looked riskier this year, as each rider in the top 4 had a few lingering doubts behind their form, some more, some less. But they do seem to have judged the situation well enough for now: they skipped on Roglic, the one that so far has done worse in points per credit (though Vingegaard is slightly behind in the road to hitting 100ppc), and are reaping the benefits of both Evenepoel and Pogacar, the two highest scorers of TCAT in absolute terms. As for the tradeoffs, they could certainly have done worse; while Haig and Poels are still pointless so far, Marijn van den Berg is a solid 6 credit sprinter, with two top-10s to his name and only negligibly behind his expected score if he is to hit 100 points per credit. But where Fieschă has caught a real break, if they even needed one, was finding another sprinter in 4 credit unclassed Ryan Gibbons, as the once-Mads Pedersen leadout turned into his team's sprinting choice as the Dane crashed out of Tour. In his first outing, Gibbons immediately placed sixth, with much more presumably to come, sealing Fieschă's status as the team with a definite edge for the final victory.

Cyclohexane may have once more scored a 4 credit jackpot; the 2023 TCAT Italiă winners had only just edged out BDC due to Alex Kirsch, and they appeared to have found a cheap backup sprinter in Anthony Turgis... only for the Frenchman to also go ahead and win yesterday's stage after spending all day in the breakaway! The victory made him easily TCAT's best pick for now at 110.5 points per credit, and brings fresh air to Cyclohexane's bid, the team still waiting for a true exploit to stake their claim to TCAT Françă 2024 until then. CHX is also the first of the teams holding only maillot jaune wearer Tadej Pogacar among the top 4 GC riders; he's predictably the highest scorer of any TCAT riders in absolute terms, but is a bit behind on pace if he is supposed to bring 100 points per credit to be a worthwhile pick - he'd be expected to have scored 1200pts by now. Still, the bulk of the stages where he's expected to score big have yet to come.

[Sir Lüc]

Gordon Hiatus Support Team shares many riders with Cyclohexane and as a result is just five points behind; where Cyclohexane supplanted subpar sprinter Bryan Coquard with Turgis, GHST has Fernando Gaviria to thank for keeping them somewhat relevant despite Jasper Philipsen having a pretty torrid first week. Gaviria instead managed to score two podiums already, and is TCAT's third best rider by value, and also, like Turgis, well ahead of where he needs to be to hit 100 points per credit (expected 171, scored 417). Just like Cyclohexane, GHST will need Carlos Rodriguez, Pello Bilbao and Santiago Buitrago to carry their weight in GC, especially if Evenepoel keeps performing this good. Stephen Williams and Paul Lapeira have also yet to show they're worthy picks, even with Derek Gee finally showing what he's capable of yesterday.

Banqeu de Cézembre has just received horrible news as Aleksander Vlasov dropped out of Tour de France with a broken ankle. This puts a serious damper on the Cézembreans's prospects at a fourth straight TCAT leg win, an unbeaten run that started in France itself a year ago. BDC was otherwise doing fine so far, never getting a stage win but holding one of the best value picks in Arnaud de Lie, yet another of the six TCAT riders who are overachieving in their quest to get to 100 points per credit. Otherwise, they would also be hoping Rodriguez and Bilbao improve their GC position, with Adam Yates (also of CHX) looking shaky in the pecking order of Pogacar domestiques, a clear disappointment considering his price. BDC will also be expecting more of their unclassed riders - they also hold Gee but Matej Mohoric and Oliver Naesen are unique picks that have yet to make their mark.

Port Maxhestic got off to a great start, making the most of first stage winner Romain Bardet and two unique riders: Wout van Aert got a third place in the opening stage, first among the peloton, and Richard Carapaz briefly wore the yellow jersey and managed to be on par with the leading GC contenders for a while. The Belgian, however, only contested one other sprint, and the Ecuadorean lost lots of time in the Galibier stage, plummeting down the order. PTM also holds Evenepoel and Vingegaard, and while the team initial momentum has waned, the GC duo may still bring loads of points to keep them at the business end.

[Sir Lüc]

Naziun Cjovani has, much like the past two Tours, gone with Pogacar and Vingegaard, which is a slightly more expensive strategy than usual. They've picked a trio of climbers that has yet to score significant points, though that's to be expected given hiller terrain is yet to come; and indeed there's no single climber that's currently on target to score 100 points per credit except for Romain Bardet, so I wouldn't be overly worried yet as Bernal has still scored the third most points of TCAT climbers. Where Denz and Harper may struggle instead is the relative dearth of mountain stages fit for a breakaway (even if Wednesday may be a first chance already). As for their other riders, Pascal Ackermann has proven to be a very solid pick, second among TCAT sprinters both for points and points per credit. The Bissegger-Armirail duo of unclassed riders was clearly picked with time trials in mind, and that hasn't paid off much on Friday, though Bissegger has also proved a potential source of stage points as a van den Berg leadout in sprints.

Ardita Benito, just a few points behind, holds Vingegaard, Ackermann and de Lie, all solid picks so far. They also hold Joao Almeida, who looks like a good choice as the best value among the Pogacar domestiques (Ayuso has scored more and is a mere second ahead in GC, but also costs more). Unique pick Maxim van Gils is the third best among the bunch of promising 8 credit unclasseds and he may definitely have been expected to score more, but then again the only two such riders to do better - Gee and Healy - have only just put themselves on the map yesterday. Laporte and van der Poel, instead, were always going to be risky picks as they are both little more than domestiques despite their individual abilities, making it hard for them to justify their high cost.

The Maricopan Manilows bookend this trio of closely matched teams and are the first to feature Primoz Roglic; the Slovenian has certainly proved to be the worst among the top 4, which is dogging the Manilows a bit considering they also hold another underperforming expensive rider in Jasper Philipsen. They can still hope for high GC placements with Almeida and Rodriguez, and Romain Bardet was undoubtedly a great pick so far, as already discussed elsewhere; van der Poel and unique pick Ben Healy just got them a solid intake of points yesterday, but they could've certainly hoped for more.

[Sir Lüc]

Last but not least, two teams that struggled so far - they both share Roglic, which we already mentioned, but also Jai Hindley - so far pretty unimpressive pointswise as a Roglic domestique - and Mads Pedersen, who unfortunately was the first TCAT retirement.

The Maricopa Cabana Boys actually got a stage win on stage 3 off Mads Pedersen and Fabio Jakobsen. Jakobsen has struggled for results for a long time but has actually managed two top-10 placements, which so far make him better value than stage winner Cavendish or the mighty Jasper Philipsen. A trio of high profile unclasseds round off this team, and while we've already mentioned Laporte's dubious value, Tom Pidcock is definitely a famous unique pick who just finished second in yesterday's stage and may well get more points later on (just how many, and if enough to justify his high pricetag, is the question). And despite being in good form, Alberto Bettiol hasn't shown much yet, already passing up on some stages that would have been a great fit for him.

Dead2Last are the one Roglic team to also hold some other top4 in Jonas Vingegaard - but they also suffer from Hindley being lackluster and Pedersen's retirement. Their Bettiol-type underperforming unclassed is Magnus Cort - the famous Dane has hardly brought home any points, and he too would have been a great fit for some of the stages that have already passed. A small silver lining is Jonas Rickaert, third best among TCAT 4-credit unclasseds in a field where it would have been very tough to identify worthwile picks.

[Glüc]

Stage 10 Orléans -> Saint-Amand-Montrond

Unsurprisingly, there was a bunch sprint. This time Philipsen (MAN/GHS)  finally won. He might have started to worry it wasn't gonna happen, but there is a reason he has been the favourite for every sprint stage so far and this time it paid off. Ackermann (DED/ARB/CJO), Van Aert (PTM), Gaviria (GHS) and Groenewegen (DED) also made the top 10.

The Manilows did well due to the Philipsen win, but GHST also has Gaviria and therefore took the most points. Dead Last also did well and remain Dead First. With Pedersen out of the race both Dead2Last and the Cabana Boys had yet another rough day.

Standings after stage 10:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	3405	+329
2nd	(+2)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3159	+460
3rd	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3002	+196
4th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2866	+162
5th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	2842	+165
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2612	+251
7th	(+2)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	2600	+356
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	2515	+269
9th	(-2)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2501	+243
10th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1869	+45
11th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	1797	+75

Tomorrow's stage may bring a bit more excitment as we head into the Massif Central for a stage with no fewer 7 categorised climbs (although none of them of the highest category. A lot of people will be looking at the GC riders tomorrow, but there are certainly chances for a breakaway as well, with people like Carapaz, Gee, Ciccone, Healy among the many options that might go on the attack tomorrow. It's certainly also a stage for people who might be eyeing the KoM classification. I would not be surprised to see the polkadot jersey in the break again.

[Glüc]

Just the standings today unfortunately, because no time for a full update. Yesterdays score (Fiescha got the most points) and the events surrounding several dropouts will be discussed at a later moment.

Standings after stage 12:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	4362	+366
2nd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3950	+237
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3910	+263
4th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	3728	+265
5th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	3586	+231
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3383	+256
7th	(+2)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	3317	+353
8th	(-1)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	3311	+242
9th	(-1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3294	+250
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	2301	+57
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2183	+45

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

My strategy of picking cyclers at random has not been working out for me XD

[Sir Lüc]

Quick note to report there's been some sort of illness going around all week - that and/or crashes have recently caused the retirements of the following TCAT riders (in addition to Vlasov and Pedersen earlier on):

- Tim Declercq (PTM)
- Soren Kragh Andersen and Jonas Rickaert (VFL)
- Fabio Jakobsen (MCB)
- Pello Bilbao (BDC/GHS/CHX)
- And sadly, Primož Roglič himself (MCB/VFL/MAN).

Dead2Last is the most impacted team, with 5 riders left; the Cabana Boys have six and BDC has seven. The only teams with all nine riders standing are Ardita, Fieschă, Cjovani and Dead Last.

My strategy of picking cyclers at random has not been working out for me XD

It did go pretty well in the last two legs considering you got 5th place this spring in Giro and 4th place last Vuelta (when you also swept all three side classifications, incidentally!), not as much this time around unfortunately :(

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

My strategy of picking cyclers at random has not been working out for me XD

It did go pretty well in the last two legs considering you got 5th place this spring in Giro and 4th place last Vuelta (when you also swept all three side classifications, incidentally!), not as much this time around unfortunately :(

Haha touché

RIP Fabio!

[Glüc]

Update to be posted here soon/later

Standings after stage 13:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	4664	+302
2nd	(+1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4302	+392
3rd	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	4149	+199
4th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	4008	+280
5th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	3787	+201
6th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3681	+298
7th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	3624	+307
8th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	3623	+312
9th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3616	+322
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	2379	+78
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2234	+51

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

Apparently I need to change our name from MCB to MCBB: Maricopa Cabana Bottom Boys.... wait.

[Glüc]

First Pyrenees stage yesterday. Pogacar won. Cyclohexane scored the most points.

Standings after stage 14:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	5314	+650
2nd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	4980	+678
3rd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	4909	+760
4th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	4842	+834
5th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	4488	+701
6th	(+3)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	4217	+601
7th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4212	+531
8th	(-1)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	4041	+417
9th	(-1)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	3997	+374
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	2660	+281
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2416	+182

Today we get the second Pyrenees stage with a lot of climbing and opportunities for big timegaps.

[Sir Lüc]

Situation as of yesterday's stage 15, another Pyrenees summit finish that went to Pogacar, once again unreachable by Vingegaard, Evenepoel and all other GC outsiders:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	5948	+634
2nd	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	5669	+760
3rd	(+1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	5564	+722
4th	(-2)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	5548	+568
5th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	5096	+608
6th	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4790	+578
7th	(-1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	4766	+549
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	4531	+490
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	4344	+347
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	2958	+298
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2625	+209

Also a few usual words on the situation as we reach the third and last week.

I've chosen to focus a bit on the individual riders and specifically on identifying the "good picks", which I would describe as the riders who score 100 points or more per credit (so that would mean Pogacar scoring at least 2800 points, for instance).

I have already touched upon this metric, but I have refined my estimations by taking into account End of Tour Points, which are not scored during stages but rather at the end, as large bonuses to the top 30 riders in GC, top 10 riders in the Points Classification (typically sprinters), top 10 riders in the King of Mountains Classification (typically climbers) and all riders in the top 5 teams in the Teams's Classification.

TCAT Riders who have already scored 100 points per credit
Just two in TCAT: Anthony Turgis (CHX), overperforming by 37%, and Pascal Ackermann (DED/ARB/CJO), though not a stage winner, ammassed 3 third places and 3 other top 10s to currently overperform by 41%. (Non-TCAT, obviously, Biniam Girmay has overperformed by a massive 92%)

TCAT Riders who have already scored 100 points per credit considering expected End of Tour Points
(This basically means we're considering these riders to have already scored the EoT points computed on the classifications as they stand today. So they could do better, but they could also do worse if they lose positions in any of the classifications.)
These are:
- Tadej Pogačar (CHX/CFA/BDC/CJO/GHS)
- Remco Evenepoel (DED/CFA/PTM)
- João Almeida (ARB/MAN)
- Jonas Abrahamsen (DED)

TCAT Riders that have NOT already scored 100 points per credit, even considering expected EoT points, but can be reasonably expected to do so
(Meaning they will reach 100ppc with the six remaining stages and EoT points. This sounds worse somehow but they still are good picks because it might simply mean the schedule was not favouring them earlier on. This is particularly relevant below where I remark on the last two stages, which were both summit finishes for GC contenders, of which we have three left)
These are:
- Jonas Vingegaard (DED/ARB/VFL/CFA/CJO/PTM) needs to score 63 points per stage, has scored 92 per stage so far;
- Carlos Rodriguez (CHX/BDC/MAN/MCB/GHS) needs 68 per stage, has scored 46 per stage (but 172 and 97 in the last two);
- Adam Yates (CHX/BDC) needs 72 per stage, has scored 46 per stage (but 137 and 154 in the last two);
- Santiago Buitrago (CHX/GHS) needs 36 per stage, has scored 27 per stage (but 125 and 110 in the last two);
- Ben Healy (MAN) needs 49 per stage, has scored 25 per stage (but 62 and 40 in the last two - bit shakier this but he also has a good TT in him for stage 21);
- Derek Gee (CHX/DED/BDC/GHS) needs 22 per stage, has scored 32 per stage (but 72 and 52 in the last two).

Addendum: sprinters (and unclassed sprinters)
I've chosen to treat these separately as there's just one sprint finish left, plus five variously contestable intermediate sprints worth at most 20pts each (so a bit, but not much). This still considers EoT points as they would stand today.
- Fernando Gaviria (GHS) needs just 33 points across all six stages. Seems very doable.
- Ryan Gibbons (CFA) needs 143 - he scored 112 in his best stage so he needs to do that + contest intermediate sprints. Still a good pick even if he doesn't considering how cheap he is.
- Arnaud De Lie (ARB/BDC) needs 177 - a top five is worth 120 and he has five of those so far. He also has a passive income of 4 points per stage off his PC standing. Also doable, also a good pick.

All other sprinters, starting with Marijn van den Berg (CFA) and Bryan Coquard (CHX), need upwards of 280 points and are therefore probably not going to get the good pick badge.

[Sir Lüc]

So what does this mean for the current podium contenders?
- DED has five good picks - 62 credits's worth of them, no retirements, and an additional stage winner in Groenewegen;
- CFA has four, but worth 74 credits, and also no retirements - which is why I still think they're poised to win;
- CHX has six! good picks, worth 76 credits, but is dogged by two retirements and Coquard being decent but not good enough;
- GHS has five good picks (worth 64c), one retirement, and a definite disappointment in Philipsen (needs 407 points to reach 100ppc, so that disqualification really hurt);

The other teams actually have their fair share of good picks (5 for BDC, 4 for ARD for instance), but have mostly either dealt with retirements, or perhaps the good picks were worth too few credits, or they made bad picks which dragged them backwards.

I haven't analysed bad picks in particular depth but the riders that are placed the worst at the moment are Simon Yates (595 points behind where he'd need to be at this point to be worth it), Enric Mas (566), Mathieu van der Poel (550), Lenny Martinez (549), Egan Bernal (532), Jai Hindley (514) and Magnus Cort (498).

(Yup, leader DED has two "worst picks"! But they're no worse than retirements, and CFA's Haig and Poels are no much better.)

[Tric’hard Lenxheir]

So what does this mean for the current podium contenders?
- DED has five good picks - 62 credits's worth of them, no retirements, and an additional stage winner in Groenewegen;
- CFA has four, but worth 74 credits, and also no retirements - which is why I still think they're poised to win;
- CHX has six! good picks, worth 76 credits, but is dogged by two retirements and Coquard being decent but not good enough;
- GHS has five good picks (worth 64c), one retirement, and a definite disappointment in Philipsen (needs 407 points to reach 100ppc, so that disqualification really hurt);

The other teams actually have their fair share of good picks (5 for BDC, 4 for ARD for instance), but have mostly either dealt with retirements, or perhaps the good picks were worth too few credits, or they made bad picks which dragged them backwards.

I haven't analysed bad picks in particular depth but the riders that are placed the worst at the moment are Simon Yates (595 points behind where he'd need to be at this point to be worth it), Enric Mas (566), Mathieu van der Poel (550), Lenny Martinez (549), Egan Bernal (532), Jai Hindley (514) and Magnus Cort (498).

(Yup, leader DED has two "worst picks"! But they're no worse than retirements, and CFA's Haig and Poels are no much better.)

I am still confident that everyone can catch me!

[Glüc]

Stage 16 Gruissan -> Nîmes

Unusually, because the finish is not in Paris, today was already the final sprint stage. There was a crash near the finish that took some riders out of contention for the stage win. Philipsen (MAN/GHS) won his second stage, with Van Aert (PTM), Ackermann (DED/ARB/CJO), Coquard (CHX), Gibbons (CFA), Bissegger (CJO), Van der Poel (ARB/MAN), Gaviria (GHS) and Groenewegen (DED) also making the top 20 in that order. Groenewegen and De Lie didn't really compete for the top spots which is bad news for BdC, Dead Last and Ardita.

GHST got the most points today and gained two places. However, they will not be happy with this being the last sprint. It will be difficult for them to defend their second place against Cyclohexane and Fiescha, who are looking well positioned to challenge Dead Last for the overall victory.

Unfortunately the count of dropouts (especially due to sickness) also continues to rise with Van Gils (ARB) and Harper (CJO) not starting today.


Standings after stage 16:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	6167	+219
2nd	(+2)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	5919	+371
3rd	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	5870	+201
4th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	5824	+260
5th	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	5216	+120
6th	(+1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	5016	+250
7th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4989	+199
8th	(=)	Ardita Benito (ARB)	4786	+255
9th	(=)	Maricopan Manilows (MAN)	4713	+369
10th	(=)	Dead2Last (VFL)	3002	+44
11th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	2651	+26

Tomorrow we arrive at the outskirts of the Alps for a sort of intermediate climbing stage with an uphill finish at something called Superdevoluy (which isn't quite as exciting as the Super Plance des Belles Filles, or as we call it, the Supergaaf, but nice name nonetheless). This could be one for the GC contenders, but an early break could definitely also be succesful.