Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 3 Leg 3 Lisboa -> Madrid

[Glüc]

Talossan Cycling Association Tour
2024
Third leg
Lisboa -> Madrid


_{(Logo created by Sir Lüc)}

And we're back again again. Despite a short deadline we have nine teams participating, eight of which have done every edition this season. We start in Lisbon for another three weeks of climbing, sprinting and racing against the clock await in the coming three weeks while the team captains sit at home and enjoy the show. The goal is to score the most points by winning stages and doing well in three classifications: the King of the Mountains classification (blue polkadot jersey), the points classification (green jersey) and the general classification (red jersey) which determines which individual rider wins this final leg of this years TCAT.  Will Fiescha win again? Will BdC defend its lead to score the most season points? Which teams will have the strongest climbers, the fastest sprinters, the most adventurous attackers?

The following teams are participating:

- Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs - (BDC, Cézembre, season: 20416) Arensman Almeida O'Connor Landa Vacek Le Berre Kron Castrillo Roglič -----------------------------------------------------	- Cyclohexane - (CHX, Benito, season: 18353) Almeida Yates Carapaz Del Toro Affini Campenaerts Lazkano Denz Ciccone -----------------------------------------------------	- Cézembre Fieschā - (CFA, Cézembre, leg 1: 17714) Roglič Almeida Harper Haig Braet Bizkarra Elissonde Gesink Yates -----------------------------------------------------
- Gordon Hiatus Support Team - (GHS, Benito, season: 17704) Roglič Almeida Carapaz Del Toro Vacek Campenaerts Berrade Kepplinger Skjelmose -----------------------------------------------------	- Port Maxhestic AC - (PTM, Maritiimi-Maxhestic, season: 16134) Almeida Skjelmose Mas Carapaz Groves Armirail Küng Asgreen Arensman -----------------------------------------------------	- Dead Last - (DED, Vuode, season: 14455) Roglič Caruso Kuss Gall Coquard Konrad Lafay Aleotti Aberasturi -----------------------------------------------------
- Maricopa Cabana Boys - (MCB, Maricopa, season: 11254) Roglič Martinez Landa Del Toro Schelling Lafay Lazkano Sweeny Armirail	- Velociposse Florencia - (VFL, Florencia, season: 9557) Yates Carlos Rodriguez Mas Ciccone Bittner Bennett Narváez Lazkano Lipowitz	- Naziun Cjovani - (CJO, Benito, leg 2: 8159) Roglič Yates Del Toro Ciccone Canal Bystrøm Bizkarra Bou Arensman

Links:
Registration thread
Information about the route and riders

[Glüc]

Under construction

Standings after stage 1:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	421	+421
2nd	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	389	+389
3rd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	378	+378
4th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	209	+209
5th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	175	+175
6th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	164	+164
7th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	93	+93
8th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	93	+93
9th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	49	+49

[Glüc]

Still planning to update first stage result first because I want to do a small bit of team analysis.

Either way we had a sprint stage yesterday, which was won by Groves (PTM). No other TCAT riders made the top 5, which resulted in a pretty convincing stage win for Port Maxhestic.

Standings after stage 2:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	734	+345
2nd	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	519	+98
3rd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	462	+84
4th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	292	+83
5th	(+2)	Dead Last (DED)	251	+158
6th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	226	+62
7th	(-2)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	212	+37
8th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	188	+139
9th	(-1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	144	+51

It appears we will likely get another sprint today.

[Glüc]

Groves didn't win this time, but stil was the first TCAT rider across the line. Aberasturi (DED) and Bittner (VFL) also made the top 5. PTM extend their lead even further as a result.

Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1045	+311
2nd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	650	+131
3rd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	567	+105
4th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	531	+280
5th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	380	+88
6th	(+2)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	336	+148
7th	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	296	+70
8th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	271	+59
9th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	252	+108

Today's stage may be different though as we are getting some climbing with a pretty difficult uphill finish. We had a break of five riders of which currently only Armirail (MCB/PTM) and Castrillo (BDC) are left. It seems likely they will get caught on the final climb though and the stage will be contested by the GC favourites.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

Well that was fast lol
Come on MCB!

[Sir Lüc]

Sorry for the lack of updates, folks. Quick recap:

Stage 1: Short opening time trial. Main surprise: non-TCAT Tarling outside top 5. GHST wins thanks to Vacek (P2, also of BDC).
Stage 2: Boring sprint stage. PTM (arguably the most sprint dedicated team) wins thanks to Groves.
Stage 3: Another boring sprint stage. Another PTM win, DED also performs quite well thanks to Aberasturi.
Stage 4: First interesting stage, summit finish. Roglic gets the stage and Almeida is third, so good news for GHS, CFA and BDC who have both, but it's BDC who wins out because of Landa (P7).
Stage 5 (in progress): Very likely more boring sprinting, but it could be the last chance for sprinters until either stage 7 or 11.

Standings after stage 4:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1510	+465
2nd	(+1)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	1229	+662
3rd	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1184	+534
4th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1027	+496
5th	(+2)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	832	+536
6th	(+2)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	745	+474
7th	(-2)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	642	+262
8th	(-2)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	617	+281
9th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	589	+337

So, so far:
- PTM doing good as expected due to 3/4 stages being either ITT or sprints; PTM has Groves (strongest TCAT sprinter considering nobody picked Van Aert) and several time trial specialists such as Küng and Armirail, but also Almeida himself - could have gone even better considering Arensman, both a good climber and a strong TT rider, has bombed these first few stages much like in Giro
- BDC and GHS have Vacek, Almeida and Roglic; GHS unclassed no-show is being dampened by Arensman and O'Connor having slow starts;
- DED has had riders perform well in all stages so far (Roglic and Gall for S1/S4, Aberasturi and Coquard for the sprints) - must hope for more success in the few sprint stages there are to keep this up;
- CFA is boosted by Roglic/Almeida but not much has happened elsewhere - Adam Yates being nowhere yesterday is a definite letdown considering his price;
- MCB also has Roglic but the rest of the points are a bit more spread out; Landa showed good signs he can hang on with the best and there's some stage hunting potential for later;
- CHX is also feeling the Yates sting and will certainly be annoyed about Affini leading the ITT for a long time before being knocked down to P5 in quick succession. Also has stagehunting opportunities with eg. Lazkano and Campenaerts, but must also hope Carapaz and Ciccone come alive in the mountains eventually;
- VFL has a potentially deadly combination of five unique riders, and of these Bittner and Bennett have shown their worth already; Lipowitz too, but he's perhaps limited by being a Roglic domestique; and lastly Carlos Rodriguez and Narvaez haven't featured yet (more chances later maybe?). Also a team disappointed by Yates.
- Lastly, CJO has the double whammy of Yates/Arensman's muted start (and Ciccone as well perhaps)

[Glüc]

Another sprint today in the scorching heat of Sevilla. A surprising winner however: Bittner (VFL) won the stage with Groves (PTM), Coquard (DED), Küng (PTM) and Narvaez (VFL) also making the top 7. The results of Bittner and Narvaez resulted in a lot of points for the Velociposse. However PTM scored the most points again due to Groves and Küng and expand their lead, especially as the nominal sprint pick for GHST and BDC (Vacek) isn't really participating in the sprints.

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1891	+381
2nd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	1319	+90
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1287	+103
4th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1282	+255
5th	(+3)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	995	+378
6th	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	979	+147
7th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	833	+88
8th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	730	+88
9th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	694	+105

Tomorrow won't be a sprint however, as we get a typical vuelta stage with lots of going up and down all day and an uphill finish. Finally a good chance for a succesful break perhaps?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

What's this weird feeling...?
The posse is doing rather well.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 6 Jerez de la Frontera -> Yunquera

Definitely this edition's first inflection point.

A successful break it was, and what a break - Ben O'Connor (BDC) was somehow allowed to join in and to win the stage by a huge margin, which means he takes the lead of the general classification by almost 5 minutes over Primoz Roglic (DED/GHS/CFA/BDC/CJO/MCB) and Joao Almeida (GHS/CFA/BDC/CHX/PTM).

Huge strategic blunder by Roglic and Almeida (and other major GC contenders), unless they think they will be able to claw back time later - but this is very good news TCAT-wise for the Tavulairs, as O'Connor might stay on top of the GC standings for many many stages, worth 30 points each stage he's able to stay there.

Could have been worse for the rest of the TCAT field short-term, as BDC didn't get a single other rider in the daily top20: small-ish "battle" win, with implications for the long-term "war". GHST and Velociposse can be partially happy to salvage some scraps, with the former placing Berrade in eighth and del Toro (also of CJO/MCB/CHX) winning the peloton sprint for ninth place; meanwhile the Florencians get a daily stage podium with Roglic lieutenant Florian Lipowitz in third.

Meanwhile, bad news for Dead Last and Fieschă, as Jon Aberasturi and Kenny Elissonde did not finish stage 6 and are TCAT's first abandons. Later on, Andreas Kron's (BDC) team announced he will not start the next stage.

Standings after stage 6:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1992	+101
2nd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	1713	+394
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1554	+267
4th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1442	+160
5th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1235	+240
6th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1076	+97
7th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1012	+179
8th	(+1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	864	+170
9th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	864	+134

Today, a hilly stage with flat-ish last kilometres, but a substantial climb to clear 20km before that, is an opening for either another breakaway or a chance for sprinters who don't mind hills, especially if their teams can manage the stage well.

[þerxh Sant-Enogat]

My brute strategy to choose the 3 most expensive riders and then 6 random cheap ones is not a success this time

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

Two of my riders are out...so begins the free fall to last place LOL

[Sir Lüc]

Brief scoring update after stage 7 (yesterday) which was won by BDC for just 3 points over GHST. Both hold Mathias Vacek who finished second in a reduced bunch sprint. PTM scored the third most points thanks to Küng (4th) despite Kaden Groves crashing over the summit of the lone categorised climb 20km from the finish - harmless but put him out of contention for the win.

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2284	+292
2nd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	2036	+325
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1876	+322
4th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1558	+116
5th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1360	+125
6th	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1189	+113
7th	(=)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1119	+107
8th	(+1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	965	+101
9th	(-1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	930	+66

[Glüc]

Stage 8 Úbeda -> Cazorla

A break including Lazkano (VFL/MCB/CHX) and Le Berre (BDC) was caught not too far from the finish. With only a category 3 climb to go, you might think there wouldnt be an opportunity for big time differences in gc, but that would be wrong.

The final climb made quite an impact even after a relatively short (but again, very hot) day. Roglic proved once again to be the strongest, winning the stage and gaining 56 seconds back on O'Connor (BDC), who came in 19th, but keeps the red jersey and now has a lead of 3'49" remaining over Roglic. Mas (VFL/PTM) and Landa (BDC/MCB) were better able to keep up with Roglic, finishing second and third. Skjelmose (GHS/PTM) and Carlos Rodriguez (VFL) also did well.

Biggest loser of the day was Almeida (GHS/CFA/BDC/CHX/PTM), who has been reported to have a covid infection and lost nearly 5 minutes, dropping from 3rd to 26th in GC, which puts him out of contention for the podium, if he is even able to continue.

There was also even more bad news for Dead Last as Coquard did not finish the stage. Meanwhile Arensman (BDC/CJO/PTM) who suffered from heatstroke yesterday also had another bad day, losing 14 minutes ending any remaining hope for a comeback in gc. Finally Ciccone (VFL/CJO/CHX) crashed in an incident involving several deer(!). Thankfully he was able to continue.

BdC scored the most points today, but Port Maxhestic does keep the lead for now. Cyclohexane unfortunately didn't score very well again and drop to last place. Results from Roglic, Landa and Del Toro also  resulted in many points for the Maricopa Cabana Boys, who fall just short of the most points today, but do gain a spot in the standing.


Standings after stage 8:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2681	+397
2nd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	2571	+533
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2326	+450
4th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	1940	+382
5th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1810	+450
6th	(+1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1649	+530
7th	(-1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1533	+344
8th	(+1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1222	+292
9th	(-1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1062	+97

Tomorrow we get the most serious mountain stage yet, with three cat 1 climbs. Likely another day for GC, where Roglic will likely again try to take some time of O'Connors lead before we go into the rest day.

[Glüc]

My brute strategy to choose the 3 most expensive riders and then 6 random cheap ones is not a success this time

Well it made sense to try it again after it worked so well last time. Of course last time it only got you the lead at the very end, so normally I'd say maybe there is still time as we head into some more difficult terrain. Unfortunately, while Roglic is doing really well, both Yates and Almeida are pretty much out of the GC race now, so I don't think a comeback is happening this time.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 9 Motril -> Granada

Adam Yates's resurgence, João Almeida's retirement. Primoz Roglic struggles but hangs on, Ben O'Connor conversely keeps all of his lead quite convincingly.

Yates (VFL/CFA/CJO/CHX) won after a long solo performance; his GC ambitions are wide open again. Second, Richard Carapaz (GHS/CHX/PTM), who also launched himself on a longshot pursuit of the break, and despite not being able to catch Yates, still gained enough time to propel himself to third in the general classification. Every other breakaway rider being caught by the favourites's group, it's Ben O'Connor (BDC) who sprinted for third, pipping Mikel Landa (BDC/MCB) and Florian Lipowitz (VFL); also in this group, Carlos Rodriguez (VFL, 7th), Primoz Roglic (DED/GHS/CFA/BDC/CJO/MCB, 8th), Enric Mas (VFL/PTM, 10th) and Felix Gall (DED, 11th).

Velociposse wins the day, at times looking like it could score even higher thanks to Enric Mas attacking but being caught due to an error descending from the last climb, and also to George Bennett, who ended 20th but also was quite active attacking in earlier stages. The Tavulairs however score enough points off Port Maxhestic to overtake them for the lead. Good day for Cyclohexane and Cjovani too, with Yates's resurgence offering both struggling teams a break.

As mentioned earlier, João Almeida was ill with Covid and did not start. Definitely bad news for most of the field, chiefly leading trio BDC, PTM and GHST; CHX and Fieschă at least have Yates to pivot to, with Cjovani and Velociposse having Yates alone. Velociposse particularly seems well placed, with Carlos Rodriguez, Florian Lipowitz and Enric Mas showing good form - the former two are even unique riders.

Not finishing stage 9 either, Rainer Kepplinger (GHS).

Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Banqeu da Cézembre Tavulairs (BDC)	3127	+556
2nd	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3091	+410
3rd	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2749	+423
4th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2483	+673
5th	(-1)	Dead Last (DED)	2209	+269
6th	(+1)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2002	+469
7th	(-1)	Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1981	+332
8th	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1686	+464
9th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1640	+578

Yesterday was a rest day, we ride again today with another stage fit for a breakaway or GC contenders - there's immediately a category 2 climb which may force an early selection, and three back-to-back categorised climbs towards the end, the last being a category 1 climb summiting a mere 20 kilometres from the finish.